Career profile
David Schwed
Chief Operating Officer, SovereignAI
- Current role, per sources checked 29 April 2025
- Not stated in the sources
David Schwed is the Chief Operating Officer of SovereignAI, known as SVRN, a company building private, verifiable and user-owned AI systems.
Career path
Schwed began his technology career at Citibank, where he took a full-time position in information security after leaving college early.
In 2008 he helped start a telecommunications company, serving as its Co-Founder, General Counsel and Chief Information Officer; the business was acquired in 2018.
He went on to become Managing Director and Chief Information Security Officer at Galaxy Digital, where he helped build the firm's security program.
Schwed also consulted for RTI Cable as its Chief Information Officer before becoming Global Head of Digital Assets Technology at BNY Mellon.
He then served as Chief Operating Officer and Advisor at cybersecurity firm Halborn.
In August 2024, Schwed was named Chief Information Security Officer of the Brokerage division at Robinhood, a role later described as Chief Information Security Officer, Brokerage & Money, in which he was responsible for protecting the core infrastructure of the trading platform.
"Robinhood is a crypto-friendly company, and its mission is to democratize finance for all, which aligned with my goals," Schwed said of joining the company.
He later became Chief Operating Officer of SovereignAI, his current role.
Advisory work and publications
Schwed was the founding director of the Cybersecurity Master's Program at the Katz School, where he designed curriculum, hired faculty and taught, and he remains a practitioner-in-residence there.
He also teaches cyberlaw at Hofstra Law, his alma mater, where he earned a Juris Doctor magna cum laude.
He advises digital-asset security firm Dfns, invests in blockchain and fintech startups, and serves as an expert witness in cases involving computer forensics, cybersecurity and cryptocurrency.
His published work includes the pieces A Tale of Two CISOs: Why An Engineering-Focused CISO Can Be a Liability, The modern CISO is becoming the next CFO, and PHP2Shell exposes the weakness in coordinated vulnerability disclosure.
