Board of Directors
Wences Casares | Co-Chief Executive Officer and Director
Wences Casares is a founder, co-Chief Executive Officer, and member of the Board of Directors of Bling Nation. In this role, he is responsible for overseeing the long-term direction and growth of Bling Nation. In addition to his role at Bling Nation, Casares is a founding partner of MECK, Ltd., a private investment firm based in Santiago, Chile. As a global entrepreneur specializing in the technology and financial markets, Casares was instrumental in several business developments before founding Bling Nation. In 1994, he launched and later sold Argentina's first Internet Service Provider, Internet Argentina S.A.
Meyer Malka | Founder, Co-Chief Executive Officer and Director
Meyer Malka is a founder, co-Chief Executive Officer, and member of the Board of Directors of Bling Nation. In this role, he is responsible for overseeing the long-term direction and growth of Bling Nation. In addition to his role at Bling Nation, Malka is a founding partner of MECK, Ltd., a private investment firm based in Santiago, Chile. Malka has been instrumental in several technology and financial services endeavors. He helped develop Patagon, an online brokerage and Latin America's first comprehensive Internet financial services portal, by founding and developing its Venezuelan branch. The company was later sold to Banco Santander, where Malka was the interim CEO for Santander's phone and online banking division, Spaniard Banco Openback. Malka was also a founding member of Classified Media Group, an online classified ads company focusing on Venezuela, Colombia and Central America, which was later sold to MercadoLibre (Nasdaq: MELI). In 2002, Malka and his partners at MECK founded Banco Lemon, a Brazilian retail bank serving the underbanked population, which they have helped grow into the largest microfinance institution in Brazil. Reaching beyond the technology and financial markets, Malka also founded and serves on the board of a Wendy's Hamburger franchise for Venezuela. In addition, Malka founded the broker dealer Heptagon Financial Group and is a board member of Clímax magazine. Malka is an Economist from the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello in Caracas, Venezuela.
Eric O'Brien | Director
Eric O'Brien is a member of the Board of Directors of Bling Nation. He is a managing director with Lightspeed Venture Partners, where he invests in digital media, data center infrastructure and semiconductors. Additionally, he helps oversee Lightspeed's investment efforts in China. O'Brien has ten years of venture capital experience and two years of industry experience. Previously, he worked in product management at Ciena (formerly Lightera Networks). Prior to Ciena, O'Brien served as an associate at InterWest Partners, an early-stage venture capital firm, where he focused on communications and software investments, and as an analyst at Morgan Stanley in the telecom mergers and acquisitions group. He is a member of the Advisory Board of DT Capital, a Shanghai-based venture capital firm of which Lightspeed is a limited partner. He is also Vice Chairman of Partners in School Innovation, an educational nonprofit working to improve student learning in low-income public schools in the San Francisco Bay Area. O'Brien holds an MBA degree from Stanford University and a bachelors of arts degree in economics from Harvard University.
Roberto Bonanzinga | Director
Roberto Bonanzinga is a member of the Board of Directors of Bling Nation and a partner at Balderton Capital. Prior to joining Balderton, he spent 15 years working with entrepreneurs in the U.S. and in Europe, acting as a non-executive director/adviser to numerous companies including Jaiku (acquired by Google), Jambaz, Mobango, Pageflakes (acquired by Live Universe), Piczo, and Woome. His past operational experience includes senior management roles at Viatel, Netscalibur, Topica, Fabrik (acquired by Critical Path), and Information Access Company (acquired by Thomson Corporation). Bonanzinga holds a degree in business administration from Bocconi University in Italy, and a European Commission-sponsored masters of science degree in electronic information management from Sheffield University in the United Kingdom.
Chamath Palihapitiya | Director
Chamath Palihapitiya is a member of the Board of Directors of Bling Nation. Palihapitiya is the Vice President of User Growth, Mobile and International Expansion at Facebook and is responsible for spreading Facebook throughout the world through new growth initiatives, mobile strategy and internationalization. Previously, Palihapitiya was the executive responsible for overseeing Facebook’s Platform as well as launching Facebook’s online advertising channel. Palihapitiya joined Facebook from The Mayfield Fund, a leading venture capital firm in Silicon Valley where he was focused on consumer Internet, advertising and technology investments. Prior to Mayfield, Palihapitiya spent five years with AOL, most recently as the Vice President and General Manager of AIM and ICQ, where he oversaw two of the most popular instant messaging businesses on the Internet. Palihapitiya began his career as a derivatives trader before leaving finance to work for Internet music pioneers Spinner.com and Winamp. Palihapitiya holds a degree with honors in electrical engineering from the University of Waterloo.
