Grace Rachmany is taking over as the executive director of the Decentralized Identity Foundation (DIF), with Kim Hamilton Duffy announcing she is stepping down from the position in the organization’s last newsletter of 2025. The organization says its new ED is a leader in new economic models, blockchain governance, digital democracy and distributed organizational leadership.
Rachmany is best-known to most as the founder of DAO Leadership, a training and consultancy resource for decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). She is also the co-founder of event and technology development organization Sideways. Sideways says its goal is “evolving shared infrastructure for planetary governance.”
Hamilton Duffy took the ED role with DIF at the beginning of 2024, and remains a member of the MOSIP Technology Committee and of the Board of Directors of the Accountable Digital Identity (ADI) Association.
Digital identity is currently both “a hot topic” and “a hot mess,” Rachmany writes in her welcome address. And she has a few good examples of how from her own recent, real-life experience and developments in the UK and Switzerland.
“As Executive Director, one of my objectives is to bring in a wider group of participants to the discussion,” Rachmany writes. “I hope to have more outreach to our partners in different areas of the globe, and will be spending the first quarter of 2026 located in Southeast Asia to get to know those of you in that area of the world. As a ‘crypto native’ and governance expert, I’ll be inviting in more members from the Web3 and Network State communities, as we deepen our relationship with the Ethereum Foundation and others in the space.”
“Grace has been deeply involved in building communities around decentralized technology that prioritize individual rights and human agency,” says Hamilton Duffy. “She brings a rare combination of governance expertise, practical execution, and a deep understanding of how people collaborate in decentralized environments. I’m especially excited about her commitment to global outreach.”
Hamilton Duffy also reviewed DIF’s accomplishments and contributions to the privacy, user control and interoperability of digital identity over the past year in the newsletter. Those include the “No Phone Home” campaign, which Hamilton Duffy joined the Biometric Update Podcast to discuss in June.
