From theblock by Zack Abrams

Microstrategy, shortly before its addition to the Nasdaq 100 stock index on Monday, has added 3 members to its board of directors, bringing the total count to 9 members, a recent filing shows. 

The new board members are Brian Brooks, Jane Dietze, and Gregg Winiarski, who all have experience with large corporations that deal with digital assets, according to the filing. Each board member will receive an equity package with a value of $2 million, with half in options and half in RSUs which will vest over four years. 

Brian Brooks is likely the most well-known among crypto investors, having formerly served as CEO of Binance.US, the US-based arm of the global Binance exchange, from May 2021 to August 2021. Brooks was also the chief legal officer at Coinbase from September 2018 to March 2020. Brooks' experience also includes a stint as the Acting Comptroller of the Currency from April 2020 to January 2021, a role in which he headed the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), a regulatory body which helps oversee banks' digital asset-related activities. Brooks also served as CEO of Bitfury, a Bitcoin mining company, from October 2021 to December 2022.  

Jane Dietze has served as the chief investment officer of Brown University since July 2018, overseeing the Ivy League university's $7.2 billion endowment. Dietze has also served on the board of directors of Galaxy Digital, the digital asset company founded by Mike Novogratz, since February 2022. 

"I find her smart, curious, she understands our space, I think she is a thought leader in the endowment space," Novogratz said in an interview with Bloomberg at the time. "I think she helps credentialize us with the endowment space."

Finally, Microstrategy's board added Gregg Winiarski, who has served as the chief legal officer of sports apparel and collectibles company Fanatics since February 2023. Winiarski was a senior adviser to Fanatics from August 2021 until taking the top legal job in February 2023, and boasts—like the other new board members—an Ivy League degree. 

The new board members have joined just as Microstrategy will be added to the Nasdaq 100 index on Monday, Dec. 23. The company recently acquired another $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin, taking its total holdings to 439,000 BTC. MicroStrategy’s total holdings were bought at an average price of $61,725 per bitcoin, a total cost of around $27.1 billion, including fees and expenses, according to the company's co-founder and executive chairman, Michael Saylor.