Dr. Johnna Powell is Managing Director, and Head of Technology, Research and Innovation at DTCC. Within this role she drives external and internal innovation through strategic thought leadership, enterprise-wide advocacy, collaborative sponsorship and execution. She has driven instrumental impact in AI, Digital Assets & web3, and Emerging Tech & Next-Gen Capabilities at DTCC. She drives the AI transformation at DTCC, including defining the AI strategy, running execution of enterprise-wide prioritized use cases, establishing AI policies, governance and enablement teams (in close partnership with every DTCC department), responsible for democratizing AI and onboarding impactful genAI technologies. She also drives enterprise-wide AI upskilling programs and industry-wide innovation events such as hackathons and showcases. Dr. Powell also leads the team responsible for designing, building and executing DTCC’s Digital Asset Launchpad, which also led the technical due diligence that enabled DTCC’s first blockchain acquisition and integration. Dr. Powell recently was listed among the World Federation of Exchanges’ Top Women Leaders for 2025. She currently serves on the Boards of Fnality, Inc. and Linux Foundation Decentralized Trust.
In addition to her work at DTCC, Johnna was the Global Co-Head of ConsenSys NFT and Head of US Professional Services at Consensys, a leading blockchain and web3 software company, where she served multiple Fortune 100 clients on product design, development and launch. Her work included bringing to market a carbon credit trading platform with a global alliance of 4 banks, designing a digital securities issuance and lifecycle management platform with 10 of the largest global banks, and launching an NFT ticketing and collection platform with Sports Illustrated and several other Fortune 100 companies. Under her leadership, the ConsenSys NFT team spearheaded several high-profile endeavors in NFT collections across industries, including art, entertainment and music, including marquis collections such as Damien Hirst’s: The Currency Project and The Merge: Regenesis.
Prior to that, Johnna was a Vice President and Head of User Engagement within GLG, and senior Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company, where she focused on corporate strategy and commercial engagements including marketing & sales optimization and go-to-market strategies.
Dr. Powell holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science from MIT, where she conducted research in millimeter-wave imaging systems and Ultra-Wideband ("5G") antennas for military applications. While at MIT, she won the IEEE International Best Paper Award for her research, along with a patent for her designs. In addition, BMW used her designs and prototypes in their Ultra-Wideband systems testing.