The Stellar Development Foundation said on March 14, 2019, that it had named Denelle Dixon its executive director and CEO. Dixon would start May 11. Jed McCaleb, Stellar's co-founder and the foundation's executive director at the time, moved into a role as chief architect. His new job: the network protocol and Stellar's adoption strategy. CoinDesk reported on March 15 that Dixon had been chief operating officer at Mozilla, "one of the most successful mission-driven open source organizations," before the move2.
Five leadership moves at the Stellar Development Foundation on the record since 2019
Every move CryptoLately has verified there, by the day it became public
Moves: The Moves Ledger, CryptoLately's record of verified leadership moves, Oct. 3, 2016 to Oct. 2, 2026.
Read the chart as a table
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| March 14, 2019 | Dixon became CEO. Denelle Dixon was named Executive Director and CEO of the Stellar Development Foundation |
| March 14, 2019 | McCaleb left as Executive Director. Jed McCaleb left as Executive Director of the Stellar Development Foundation |
| March 9, 2023 | Hirji joined the board. Asiff Hirji joined the board of the Stellar Development Foundation |
| July 16, 2025 | da Ponte became President. José Fernández da Ponte was named President and Chief Growth Officer of the Stellar Development Foundation |
| July 16, 2025 | Karsh became CMO. Jason Karsh was named Chief Marketing Officer of the Stellar Development Foundation |
Seven CEO exits on the record in 2019
CEO exits CryptoLately has verified, by year
- 2019: 7
- 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023
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 |
|---|---|
| 2016 | 2 |
| 2017 | 3 |
| 2018 | 2 |
| 2019 | 7 |
| 2020 | 9 |
| 2021 | 5 |
| 2022 | 18 |
| 2023 | 11 |
The move
McCaleb welcomed his successor in the foundation's own words. “We're thrilled to have Denelle lead the Stellar Development Foundation through its next phase of growth,” McCaleb said in the press release1. He added that Dixon's “long experience leading operations and business at Mozilla, as well as her work on the policy side, with advocacy around Open Internet and encryption and privacy, will be indispensable to SDF in the coming years”. Dixon told CoinDesk her early goal "will be to listen, learn, support and do." She called the move "my first role in the crypto space officially," adding, "It's awesome and exciting."2
CoinDesk placed the appointment inside a busy week for Stellar. Coinbase had just added XLM trading to its institutional Coinbase Pro offering. The outlet also noted that Stellar was “a key partner with IBM, which is working on stablecoin projects running on top of the blockchain”2.
Before and after at the foundation
McCaleb had held the executive director title at the foundation he co-founded. The press release described Dixon's prior role as chief operating officer of Mozilla, where the foundation said “she led the organization's ongoing fight for Net Neutrality and the global effort to ensure that people can control their personal data”1. CoinDesk added that Dixon had urged Mozilla to launch the Facebook Container browser tool within hours of the Cambridge Analytica scandal going public2.
The split divided the work. McCaleb took the network's technical side, and Dixon ran the foundation day to day. She wanted "to help move Stellar to the place it seeks to be," Dixon told CoinDesk, while his new job stayed fixed on "the network protocol and Stellar's adoption strategy"12.
What came next
Dixon held the chief executive seat for years afterward. A later Stellar Development Foundation press release, dated March 9, 2023, announcing board member Asiff Hirji's appointment, still identified her as "Denelle Dixon, CEO and Executive Director of SDF"3. Dixon said of Hirji's addition, “I believe Asiff's vision will help guide SDF and the Stellar ecosystem to deliver greater impact for more people.” She made that statement nearly four years into the tenure that began with McCaleb's handoff.
Sources
- Stellar Development Foundation, "Stellar Development Foundation Appoints Denelle Dixon, Previously Mozilla COO, As Executive Director and CEO," March 14, 2019, https://stellar.org/press/sdf-appoints-denelle-dixon-as-executive-director-and-ceo
- Leigh Cuen, "Stellar Foundation Hires Mozilla Exec as Its New CEO," CoinDesk, March 15, 2019, https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2019/03/15/stellar-foundation-hires-mozilla-exec-as-its-new-ceo
- Stellar Development Foundation, "Stellar Development Foundation Appoints Asiff Hirji of MoonPay to Board of Directors," March 9, 2023, https://stellar.org/press/stellar-development-foundation-appoints-asiff-hirji-of-moonpay-to-board-of-directors