Jarrod Barnes

Jarrod Barnes is a multifaceted leader, currently serving as the Head of Ecosystem & Founder Success at NEAR Foundation, a Research Scientist at Dynamical Systems, and a Co-Founder at Arc Intelligence.

Jarrod's expertise lies in technical leadership, AI ecosystem building, and open-source contributions, with a strong focus on MLOps, Python, and TypeScript.

At NEAR Foundation, Jarrod architects developer tooling and leads the Founder Success team, driving ecosystem growth, strategic partnerships, and initiatives to support and retain developers. Jarrod's efforts have facilitated over $100M in external funding for NEAR Protocol-based projects.

As a Research Scientist at Dynamical Systems and Co-Founder of Arc Intelligence, Jarrod is involved in autonomous materials discovery and building adaptive environments for real-time AI learning, including distributed AI training frameworks and privacy-preserving federated learning systems.

Jarrod's diverse background also includes entrepreneurial ventures as Co-Founder of Compass.io, a mental health platform that utilized tokenized rewards, and Founder & CEO of PRIME U, a learning and development platform for sports organizations.

Additionally, Jarrod has significant experience in venture capital as an Investor at Emerson Collective, Investment Partner at Dorm Room Fund, and Venture Analyst at Unshackled Ventures. Jarrod was also a Clinical Assistant Professor at New York University, where Jarrod taught courses on entrepreneurial thinking and crypto-native bootcamps.

Earlier in Jarrod's career, Jarrod worked in professional sports as a Player Marketing Manager for the Los Angeles Rams and held coaching roles at The Ohio State University, where Jarrod was also the first football player to pursue a Ph.D. while on the active roster.

Jarrod holds a Doctor of Education (EdD) in Learning Design & Leadership from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, a Master’s Degree in Sports Management from The Ohio State University, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Kinesiology and Exercise Science from the University of Louisville.

Currently, Jarrod is focused on scaling open-source AI ecosystems and advancing autonomous materials discovery.

Bio is AI generated & may not be accurate.