Chairman & CEO of RippleNami | Driving National Sovereignty and Economic Resilience Across Africa through Big Data, AI, and Blockchain Transparency | Author of Carbon Credit$ are Crap | TEDx Speaker & Global Systems Architect.
For Jaye Connolly, leadership is not defined by a title, but by the courage to fix broken systems at their root. As the Chairman and CEO of RippleNami, Inc., and a recognized global authority on big data and blockchain, Connolly has spent the last decade working directly with African presidents and senior government leaders. Her mission is clear: to deploy technology that strengthens national sovereignty and economic resilience. By providing end-to-end visibility into assets and revenue systems, she empowers nations to fund their own healthcare, education, and infrastructure—achieving what she calls “real independence”.
Texas Roots and the Discipline of the Team
The daughter of a deeply athletic family in Texas, Connolly grew up with the expectation that “bigger and better” was the baseline. In a household where sports were a way of life, she learned early that doing one’s best was not an option, but the standard. Her parents reinforced a simple belief: you can do anything you choose, as long as you put your all into it.
Connolly was a pioneer on the Texas All-State soccer team at a time when girls’ soccer barely existed, often traveling across the country to compete against boys’ teams. These early arenas built a resilience that would later define her boardroom presence. “Those experiences instilled discipline, accountability to the team, and comfort performing under pressure,” she reflects, noting how those lessons translated directly into leadership and high-stakes negotiations.
She carried this drive to Texas Tech University, where she graduated with a degree in accounting with an emphasis in oil, gas, and computers. This unique academic blend of finance and technology became the lens through which she views the world—analyzing systems through the intersection of risk and scale.
A Front-Row Education in Crisis Management
Connolly’s professional journey began with a trial by fire. Starting her career at Pennzoil in the mid-1980s, the global oil market collapsed during her very first week on the job. As crude prices plummeted to $12 a barrel and hundreds were laid off, Connolly was thrust into roles far beyond her years.
At just 19 years old, she was navigating corporate consolidations, internal audits, and the spinning off of major profitable entities like Battle Mountain Gold. During this same era, she witnessed the resolution of one of the most significant legal cases in U.S. history: Pennzoil’s $11 billion judgment against Texaco. This environment provided a profound education in corporate governance and accountability. “It was an education that no classroom could replicate, and it shaped how I approach leadership and decision-making to this day,” she notes.
Following her tenure in the energy sector, Connolly’s ascent continued through executive leadership roles where she led acquisitions totaling more than $2 billion in revenue over a 25-year career. From serving as CEO of PathCentral, Inc. (acquired by Xifin) to her current global leadership at RippleNami, she has consistently been an “A player that gets the job done efficiently, completely and timely,” as noted by colleague Bob Mentzer. Tim Horton, former Controller at InSight Health Corp, further emphasizes her impact, stating she was “integral in the proformas of acquisition candidates” and showed a “strong analytical skill of financially assessing acquisition candidates.”
Democratizing Solutions for a Global Legacy
Today, Connolly’s focus is on the “climate economy” and the systemic failures within carbon markets. Her recent book, Carbon Credit$ are Crap, and her TEDx Talk on the subject, were born from a realization that nearly 90 percent of forest-based carbon credits were effectively worthless. She observed intermediaries generating hundreds of millions while the small-scale farmers who make up 60 percent of Africa’s population received little to no benefit.
Rather than criticizing from the sidelines, Connolly is using RippleNami’s blockchain-enabled platform to bring traceability to the most obscure sectors of the global economy. Her work ensures that data is verifiable and that communities actually see the impact of climate investments. As she often says to maintain objectivity in these complex environments: “It’s not personal, it’s business”. For Connolly, this mindset allows for the discipline and accountability required to make fair, fact-based decisions that prioritize long-term outcomes over ego.
A Legacy of Integrity and Vision
As she looks toward 2030—a year when Africa is projected to have the largest workforce in the world—Connolly remains committed to building systems that are measurable, audited, and trusted. Her goal is to leave a lasting, measurable legacy by improving lives and democratizing solutions that create sustainable income.
Her advice to the next generation of leaders is as practical as it is profound: “Show up. Preparation and consistency compound over time, and people notice both”. Above all, she champions integrity as the ultimate differentiator. “Trust that instinct and do the right thing, even when it is inconvenient. In the long run, integrity always wins”.
Editorial Note
Jaye Connolly’s journey from the soccer fields of Texas to the presidential offices of Africa serves as a powerful reminder that leadership is a discipline of preparation and a commitment to transparency. Her work invites us all to look past the surface of “broken systems” and instead invest in the technology and integrity required to fix them permanently.
