Leadership Team
The 21Peaks management team is a group of veteran Financial-Technology professionals with a multi-year history of managing a privately-held crypto currency company. Their experience also includes construction and operation of an active light-industrial mining facility.
The managers bring a depth of professional background across technology, investment banking, portfolio management, engineering, and economics, as well as application and understanding of the crypto currency and blockchain space.
Robert R. Griffin
Managing Director/Principal
Mr. Griffin has over 15 years of investment industry experience including positions on the buy-side, the sell-side, and as a Senior Investment Officer & Portfolio Manager at a large U.S. Public Pension Fund. As a fiduciary of public assets, he and the team developed the research, asset allocation framework, risk analysis, and manager framework for a $10 billion fund. He most recently served as the Director of Fundamental Fixed Income Securities for a $350 billion global asset management firm and helped lead a 35-member team of Portfolio Managers, Analysts, Client Portfolio Managers and Traders. He currently lives in Denver, Colorado where he and his family take full advantage of the Rocky Mountain frontier.
William M. LaPrise
CEO and Co-Founder
Mr. LaPrise has over 18 years of professional experience in the U.S. Securities industry and held numerous State and Federal Securities licenses. During his career, he served as a Managing Director in Fixed-Income Capital Markets at global and regional Investment Banks and directed their strategic analytics group. His responsibilities included the oversight of quantitative financial analysts, market and economic research, and the development of complex financial measuring and modeling systems. His work in crypto-currencies began in 2014, and he later co-founded Merkle Tree Capital, LLC, a crypto currency mining and management company. Mr. LaPrise is a 1984 honors graduate of the University of Illinois, Champaign with a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering. In his early career, he was a commissioned U.S. Navy Submarine Officer, and served as a Trident Nuclear Submarine Chief Engineer. He later retired from military service as a Commander in 2005 following two Naval Reserve command tours.
Michael C. Sutton
CIO and Co-Founder
Over the past 17 years, Mr. Michael Sutton has held senior IT positions at a large midwestern industrial supply company. His work there involved strategic technology research, planning, and implementation of enterprise systems. He also worked closely with the company’s family office, assisting with the launch of numerous side companies and special investment ventures. Since 2014, his focus shifted toward the growing digital asset space, resulting in a crypto mining operation launched in 2016. This was quickly followed in 2017 by the formation of Merkle Tree Capital. He currently lives in southern Wisconsin, where he and his wife enjoy exploring the great outdoors with their young daughter.