Blaine Cook (he/they)

Blaine Cook was the founding engineer at Twitter and created OAuth, now a foundation of authentication and identity on the web, and was a pioneer of decentralized social systems. In his current role at New_ Public he leads engineering on Roundabout, a digital public space for local communities.

Previously, he co-founded Poetica, a collaborative editing startup acquired by Condé Nast, and has worked with the Government Digital Service in the UK, research lab Ink & Switch, and infrastructure startup Fission. After a spending two decades living abroad in San Francisco and London, he now calls the Slocan Valley home, near Nelson, BC, where he lives with his partner and their cat. He remains hopeful about the power of online networks to connect and empower humanity for good.