Celsius Network named Rod Bolger its Chief Financial Officer on February 22, 2022. The hire brought in a banker who had spent three decades at Bank of America, Citigroup, PwC and most recently RBC, Canada's largest bank1. Bolger reported to Chief Executive Officer Alex Mashinsky and arrived days after the company closed an oversubscribed Series B funding round.
The second executive hire at Celsius Network on the record since 2021
Leadership moves CryptoLately has verified at Celsius Network, by year
- 2022: 4
- 2021: 2
Moves: The Moves Ledger, CryptoLately's record of verified leadership moves, Oct. 3, 2016 to Oct. 2, 2026.
Read the chart as a table
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 2 |
| 2022 | 4 |
37 executive hires on the record in 2022
Executive hires CryptoLately has verified, by year; 2026 through Oct. 2, 2026
- 2022: 37
- 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026
Moves: The Moves Ledger, CryptoLately's record of verified leadership moves, Oct. 3, 2016 to Oct. 2, 2026.
Read the chart as a table
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 11 |
| 2020 | 12 |
| 2021 | 27 |
| 2022 | 37 |
| 2023 | 20 |
| 2024 | 39 |
| 2025 | 59 |
| 2026 | 45 |
The move
Celsius framed Bolger's hire as part of a broader leadership build-out. The company's own release said the appointment “follows recent news that Aslihan Denizkurdu has joined as Chief Operating Officer and Tushar Nadkarni as Chief Growth & Product Officer, two leaders with deep experience in financial services and consumer technology respectively”1. Bolger answered with a statement about the company's mission. “I am thrilled for the opportunity to join such a fast growing mission-based company such as Celsius,” he said.
Mashinsky described what he wanted from the hire in terms that reached past accounting. “Celsius Network's mission of bringing the next 100 million people to financial freedom on the Blockchain rails involves building a bridge between TradFi and CeFi as well as paving roads between the 200 different Blockchain's that exist in the digital asset space,” he said, adding that Bolger was "not just a world class CFO but a master builder"1. Finance Magnates reported a detail Celsius left out of its own release: Bolger was replacing Yaron Shalem, “who was arrested in Tel Aviv in November last month in connection with massive crypto fraud in Israel,” after which "Celsius suspended the involved employee"2.
Before and after the hire
Bolger came to Celsius from RBC, where he had served as CFO. He brought experience in mergers and acquisitions and IPO transactions from his earlier stops at Bank of America, Citigroup and PwC1. Finance Magnates reported his job would include “optimizing the company's financial performance, ensuring compliance with global accounting standards and helping direct the firm's growth strategy”2. Celsius itself said Bolger would focus on "implementing financial controls to continue safeguarding client assets". He earned his undergraduate degree cum laude from Georgetown University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.
An April 2021 cyberattack on Celsius had exposed customer data and generated a phishing campaign against the firm's own users, Finance Magnates reported2. Celsius had also just closed its Series B round, which the company's own announcement said positioned it for further expansion1.
What came next
Celsius stopped processing customer withdrawals in June 2022, four months after Bolger's hire. Chapter 11 bankruptcy followed in July 20223. Mashinsky resigned as chief executive on September 27, 2022. He said in a statement on September 27 that he wanted to focus "on a plan that would provide the best outcome for creditors". CryptoSlate reported that Mashinsky had been “accused of promoting false information about the safety of users' funds when the crypto lender was on the brink of bankruptcy”. Celsius hired Bolger to build its financial controls four months before it froze customer withdrawals in June 20221.
Sources
- Celsius Network, "Celsius Announces Rod Bolger as Chief Financial Officer," PR Newswire (Celsius Network), Feb. 22, 2022, https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/celsius-announces-rod-bolger-as-chief-financial-officer-301487479.html
- Finance Magnates, "Crypto Lending Firm Celsius Appoints Rod Bolger as Chief Financial Officer," Finance Magnates, Feb. 23, 2022, https://www.financemagnates.com/executives/crypto-lending-firm-celsius-appoints-rod-bolger-as-chief-financial-officer/
- CryptoSlate, "Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky resigns; CEL tanks," CryptoSlate, Sep. 27, 2022, https://cryptoslate.com/celsius-ceo-alex-mashinsky-resigns-cel-tanks/