Daniel Gorfine
Founder & CEO
Gattaca Horizons LLC was founded by Daniel Gorfine, an experienced regulatory, public policy, strategic communications, and business executive with substantial in-house, government, and think tank experience across the technology and financial markets & services sectors. As an attorney and subject-matter expert, Gorfine was previously appointed by the Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to serve as the Agency’s first Chief Innovation Officer and Director of LabCFTC.
In this capacity, Gorfine developed and led the Commission’s new technology innovation and regulatory modernization effort focused on informing policy and helping the Agency keep pace with modern, digital markets. Gorfine served as a senior Agency representative on FinTech and crypto-asset issues, worked with staff and Members of Congress, coordinated with domestic and international regulators, and provided expert testimony before Congress.
Gorfine currently serves as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center teaching FinTech Law & Policy. He is also a Director and Co-Founder of the Digital Dollar Project, a not-for-profit effort to advance exploration of a United States Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). Gorfine is a senior advisor to Flourish Ventures and recently helped launch the Financial Technology Association, where he currently serves as senior policy advisor, and the Cloud Service Providers-Advisory Board (CSP-AB), where he is a senior advisor.
Prior to his CFTC appointment, Gorfine was Vice President, External Affairs & Associate General Counsel at OnDeck where he spearheaded efforts to create a new industry trade association and business standards. Gorfine also previously served as Director of Financial Markets Policy and Legal Counsel at the Milken Institute think tank, earlier in his career worked at the international law firm Covington & Burling LLP, and served a clerkship with U.S. District Court Judge Catherine C. Blake in the District of Maryland.
A graduate of Brown University (A.B.), Gorfine holds a J.D. from the George Washington University Law School and an M.A. from the Paul H. Nitze School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University.
Contact: dgorfine@gattacahorizons.com
Laura Navaratnam
Director
Laura joins Gattaca Horizons LLP following 7 years at the UK Financial Conduct Authority serving as a senior leader on key policy and fintech initiatives.
Prior to Laura going on maternity leave in December 2020, she served as the Acting Head of the FCA’s Innovate function, which included all aspects of fintech regulation and support (sandbox, firm support, policy and strategy).
During her time in Innovate, Laura established a Policy team which led on high profile, cross-divisional subjects, including cryptoassets and stablecoins. Laura also spearheaded the FCA’s participation on the UK Domestic Cryptoasset Taskforce. She has represented the FCA in global forums on fintech and cryptoasset matters at the UK, European and International levels.
Laura was also instrumental in spearheading the Global Financial Innovation Network (GFIN). The GFIN is an FCA-established international network of more than 60 financial regulators and related organisations committed to supporting financial innovation in the best interests of consumers. The GFIN was created to provide a more efficient way for innovative firms to interact with regulators, helping them navigate between countries as they look to scale and test new ideas.
Prior to her leadership roles in fintech policy, Laura played a leading role in implementing the Senior Managers and Certification regime (“SM&CR") in the UK. The SM&CR aims to reduce harm to consumers and strengthen market integrity by making senior financial services executives more accountable for their conduct and competence. It also aims to establish healthy cultures and effective governance in firms by encouraging greater individual accountability and setting a new standard of personal conduct. Laura also played a key role during the global pandemic, helping the FCA respond at speed to emerging threats to non-bank lenders and novel consumer harms in the credit markets.
Prior to working for the FCA, Laura was a management consultant, first at Hay Group and then at EY. Laura’s clients included a wide range of FS firms from large FTSE350 retail banks, as well as public and private PE and asset management clients.
Contact: lnavaratnam@gattacahorizons.com
Natalia Bailey
Principal
Natalia joins Gattaca Horizons after a decade of experience collaborating with and advising institutions on financial technology regulation, AI/ML, and inclusion. Her leadership roles at FinRegLab and the IIF have given her valuable insights into shaping strategic agendas and addressing regulatory and policy implications in the dynamic world of emerging financial technologies.
Her most recent role was as Senior Research Manager at FinRegLab, a nonprofit innovation center that tested new technologies and data to inform public policy and drive the financial sector toward a responsible and inclusive marketplace. In this capacity, she led programs exploring consumer protection implications of alternative data for credit underwriting of micro and small enterprises (MSEs) and women-owned MSEs in Kenya. Natalia also managed FinRegLab’s policy working groups, evaluating the need for new policy and regulatory frameworks, and considering the evolution in market practices in the use of ML for credit underwriting in the U.S.
Prior to her role at FinRegLab, Natalia served as a Policy Advisor with the Digital Finance Department at the Institute of International Finance (IIF). She led machine learning and data ethics workstreams, shaping the IIF’s strategic agenda and exploring regulatory and policy implications. She conducted research and analysis through surveys on the application of ML by IIF member firms, focusing on credit risk, anti-money laundering, and governance of ML models. Additionally, Natalia developed strategies to address implementation challenges and opportunities for ML adoption, including issues related to model explainability and fairness.
Natalia holds a Master of Public Policy from George Mason University and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Hollins University, where she attended as a recipient of an IIE-Fulbright Scholarship.
Contact: nbailey@gattacahorizons.com
Julianne Brands
Senior Associate
Julianne joins Gattaca after graduating from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where she was active in the fintech community and co-founded the Stanford Blockchain Club’s Crypto Graduate Podcast.
Prior to business school, Julianne was Director of Strategy at Sila Money, an API platform to make it easy for fintech and crypto developers to program with money. She led strategic partnerships, community development, and strategy.
Julianne spent five years as Partner at the Oregon Venture Fund, a leading seed stage venture capital fund focused on investing in Pacific Northwest-based startups. Julianne led fintech, consumer and crypto investments at the firm.
Julianne is Co-Founder of Jinjur, a women’s investment community. She is an active angel investor in early-stage startups, and she serves as Advisor to The 23 Fund.
Julianne started her career in financial services, working as Research Associate at Pacific Crest Securities (acquired by KeyBanc Capital Markets), a leading technology-only investment bank, and as Program Coordinator at the Milken Institute's Center for Financial Markets, a Washington DC think tank.
Julianne holds degrees in Economics and Political Science from Santa Clara University, graduating magna cum laude and phi beta kappa in 2012. Julianne graduated from Stanford Graduate School of Business in 2022.
Contact: julianne@gattacahorizons.com