Alan Fairless has built privacy into the architecture of software since long before it was common, designing products whose operators cannot read what their users store. He now serves on Sovright's board, drawing on both a builder's history in consumer encryption and years of board-level experience in the Zcash ecosystem.
In 2006 he co-founded SpiderOak, an encrypted backup and communications company built on a strict principle. Encryption happens on the user's own device, so the company that stores the data can never read it. On that model SpiderOak built private backup and secure messaging tools that were adopted by businesses and governments, and Edward Snowden pointed to it publicly as a privacy-respecting alternative to mainstream cloud storage. Fairless led the company for a decade as its chief executive.
That commitment to privacy carried into Zcash. In 2019 he joined the founding board of a core Zcash organization, where he helped guide its shift from a company into a nonprofit built to serve the network rather than shareholders. He brings that governance experience to Sovright's board today.
The principle behind all of it, that your data should be readable only by you, is the one Sovright is built to defend. Fairless has spent close to two decades building and governing toward exactly that.
Areas of expertise
Applied cryptography, end-to-end encryption, secure systems architecture, consumer privacy, and nonprofit governance.
Track record
- Sovright: Member of the Board of Directors (2026–present)
- Zcash core nonprofit: Founding board member (2019–present)
- Transportant: Co-founder and CTO (2017–present)
- SpiderOak: Co-founder and CEO (2006–2016)
Featured appearances and writing
- Privacy Engineering seminar,
- I, spy: Edward Snowden in exile,
- Snowden-endorsed SpiderOak doesn't want the key to your private info,