Ripple Labs Names Former State Department Official Anja Manuel as Advisor

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - Mar 18, 2015) - Ripple Labs today announced that it has named Anja Manuel, Co-Founder and Partner at RiceHadleyGates LLC, and a former U.S. Department of State official, as an advisor to the company.

"Ripple is one of the most innovative technologies I have seen," said Manuel. "It has the potential to expand the global economy through increased trade, and enables better, more transparent regulatory oversight of payments. I am excited to help build on Ripple's impressive momentum and help it to gain traction internationally."

Manuel is a Co-Founder and Partner along with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, and former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates in RiceHadleyGates LLC, a strategic consulting firm that assists senior executives at major U.S. companies in key emerging markets such as China, India and the Middle East. She also teaches in Stanford University's International Policy Studies program.

Previously, Ms. Manuel served as an official at the U.S. Department of State, where she held responsibility for South and Central Asian policy, congressional outreach, and legal matters. She was part of the negotiating team for the U.S.‐India civilian nuclear accord, helped to secure passage of the accord through the U.S. Congress, and was extensively involved in developing U.S. policy toward Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Prior, Ms. Manuel was an attorney at WilmerHale and investment banker at Salomon Brothers International in London. She holds a B.A. and M.A. from Stanford University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

"I am excited to welcome Anja to the Ripple Labs team," said Ripple Labs CEO and co-founder Chris Larsen. "Her advice will be key as we grow our international presence and Ripple's adoption by financial institutions and payment networks across the world."

Ripple Labs supports the adoption of Ripple, a settlement protocol that enables the world's disparate financial networks to securely transfer funds in any currency in real time. Banks, money transmitters and clearing houses can use Ripple as an alternative to correspondent banking to facilitate straight through processing with no reserve funding required. Earthport, the largest open network for global bank payments, and three banks in the United States and Germany recently announced integrations with Ripple.

Ripple was created to enable the world to move value as easily as information moves today, giving rise to an Internet of Value (IoV) akin to today's Internet of Knowledge. For more information about Ripple Labs, please visit http://www.ripplelabs.com. For more information about Ripple, please visit http://www.ripple.com. 

About Ripple Labs
Ripple Labs is the global leader on distributed financial technology. The team supports adoption of the Ripple protocol, an Internet of Value (IoV) that enables the free and instant exchange of anything of value. The San Francisco-based startup is funded by Google Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, IDG Capital Partners, Core Innovation Capital, FF Angel, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Bitcoin Opportunity Corp. and Vast Ventures.

Named one of 2014's 50 Smartest Companies by MIT Technology Review, Ripple Labs' team of 100 is comprised of deeply experienced cryptographers, security experts, distributed network developers, Silicon Valley and Wall Street veterans. They contribute code to the open-source software, as well as develop tools for and recruit financial institutions and payment networks to use Ripple. The team shepherds a movement to evolve finance so that payment systems are open, secure, constructive and globally inclusive.

About Ripple
Ripple is an Internet protocol that interconnects all the world's disparate financial systems to enable the secure transfer of funds in any currency in real time -- consider it an Internet of Value (IoV). As settlement infrastructure, Ripple transforms and enhances today's financial systems. Ripple unlocks assets and provides access to payment systems for everyone, empowering the world to move value like information moves today. For more information about Ripple, please visit http://www.ripple.com.