Fresno, Calif., June 22, 2021 – Today, Bitwise Industries (www.bitwiseindustries.com) announced the strategic hiring of LaMar Bunts as Chief Revenue Officer and Johnathan Holifield as Senior Vice President of New Economies. LaMar and Johnathan will be key in driving revenue and furthering expansion growth for Bitwise through existing and new city relationships.

Johnathan most recently served as a Presidential Advisor for the White House Domestic Policy Council and executive director of the Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), where he translated inclusivity concepts into policy and federal law, strategy and investment. He gained administration support for a $2.5B total investment in HBCUs — the largest amount the federal government has invested in HBCUs and produced the first, government-wide competitiveness strategy. 

“Bitwise creates bridges between people with stories of systemic poverty, to skills and resources necessary to win opportunities in the tech industry,” said Johnathan Holifield, Senior Vice President of New Economies, Bitwise Industries. “My mission is to enhance our public-private partnerships that provide paid apprenticeships and connect them to meaningful tech opportunities, ultimately building vibrant local economies in underestimated cities.”

LaMar brings more than 15 years of experience in the C-suites of companies addressing barriers to education and job opportunities through creative technological solutions. LaMar has launched visionary programs that served stranded adult learners, connected students to jobs and established strategic partnerships across emerging markets like Mexico, China, Brazil, and the Philippines to bring new opportunities for hundreds of thousands of people.

“Bitwise is a perfect fit for my skill set and my passion for creating opportunities through education,” said LaMar Bunts, Chief Revenue Officer, Bitwise Industries. “Growing up in Oakland, I experienced the transformative change that occurs with the exposure to education and now Bitwise is bringing that opportunity to underserved communities across the country.”

“As Bitwise Industries continues to scale, Johnathan and LaMar have both demonstrated leadership in forwarding economic policies committed to inclusivity, diversity and equity,” said Jake Soberal, CEO and co-founder of Bitwise Industries. “With their expertise, Bitwise is positioned to advance our mission across the nation – serving more marginalized communities, uplifting more people with high-growth, high-wage jobs and further developing a representative workforce for the technology industry.”

About Bitwise Industries

Bitwise Industries creates a bridge between humans from marginalized communities and stories of systemic poverty to skills and resources necessary to access opportunities in the tech industry. By leveraging public-private partnerships, Bitwise provides paid apprenticeships to students to learn tech skills, connects them to meaningful tech opportunities, and builds vibrant buildings in underestimated cities to house their work. By upskilling disenfranchised humans, it empowers them to change their own lives—which ignites and transforms the regional economies of the cities in which Bitwise serves.

Bitwise has raised more than $100M in support of this important work; expanded its model to serve five cities (Fresno, Bakersfield, Merced, Oakland, and Toledo); and built a tech apprenticeship engine that will drive national jobs/economic recovery in 2021. To learn more about Bitwise Industries, check out www.bitwiseindustries.com.