Okta Ventures, the venture investment arm of Okta, Inc., the leading independent identity partner, proudly introduces "The Identity 25," an initiative that shines a spotlight on the trailblazers in the burgeoning field of digital identity. This 2nd annual report is a testament to the collective efforts of innovators who are tirelessly working towards building simpler, more secure, and scalable identity-centric technologies.

In a world where every digital experience, from website logins to e-commerce transactions to voting, is rooted in identity management, "The Identity 25" aims to recognize and elevate emerging leaders who are enhancing identity, security, and privacy for businesses, consumers, and global citizens.

This year's Identity 25 list is a diverse compilation of academics, activists, public servants, entrepreneurs, standard-setters, and technology pioneers. Working across various disciplines and capacities, these individuals contribute to making the world a safer place to live, work, and transact.

The Identity 25 Honorees

• Yodahe Zemichael, Executive Director, National ID Ethiopia
• Yang Xie, CEO, Authing
• Teresa Wu, Vice President, Smart Credentials, IDEMIA North America
• Andrew Shikiar, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, FIDO Alliance
• Eric Scouten, Identity Standards Architect, Adobe
• Nat Sakimura, Chairman, OpenID Foundation; CEO, NAT Consulting
• Gideon Lombard, Chief Operating Officer, DIDx
• Hanna Kim, Director, Login.gov
• Gail Hodges, Executive Director, OpenID Foundation
• Sasikumar Ganesan, Head of Engineering, MOSIP; Former Chief Security Architect, Aadhaar
• Ryan Galluzzo, Identity Program Lead, Applied Cybersecurity Division, NIST
• Naohiro Fujie, General Manager, ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation & Chair, OpenID Foundation, Japan
• Heather Flanagan, Principal, Spherical Cow Consulting
• Daniel Fett, Identity Solution Architect, SPRIN-D, German Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovation
• Diego Fernández, Co-creator, QuarkID & Co-founder, The Future Co.
• Kim Hamilton Duffy, Executive Director, Decentralized Identity Foundation
• Victor Dominello, Co-Founder, ServiceGen
• Rodger Desai, CEO, Prove Identity
• Paolo de Rosa, Policy Officer, European Commission
• Julie Dawson, Chief Regulatory & Policy Officer, Yoti
• Brian Campbell, Distinguished Engineer, Ping Identity
• Dan Boneh, Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, Stanford University
• Andrew Black, Managing Director, ConnectID, Australian Payments Plus
• Lincoln Ando, Founder, idwall
• Janelle Allen, Engineering Product Manager, WebEx Identity at Cisco

"The Identity 25 is an initiative designed to recognize the leading lights in the growing Identity space. With this report, Okta Ventures seeks to elevate the emerging leaders who are working together to improve Identity, security, and privacy for businesses and their clients, for consumers, and for global citizens," said Austin Arensberg, Senior Director Okta Ventures.

The honorees on this year's Identity 25 list are actively involved in creating laws to thwart identity criminals, advocating for individual rights and privacy, combating fraud and abuse, developing new technologies, teaching strong identity principles to the next generation of leaders, and setting standards for a safe, interoperable digital world. This is honorable in an increasingly complex world with new challenges like AI-enabled fraudsters and a plethora of new devices leading to a larger attack surface that makes the struggle to implement Identity solutions increasingly difficult.

As we navigate the complexities of an ever-expanding digital world, these brilliant innovators are only beginning to develop the systems of tomorrow, and they will undoubtedly continue to create and inspire solutions that challenge our current predictions. With "The Identity 25," Okta honors the magnitude of their achievements and the depth of their commitment as they advance identity standards, technology, and processes to better the lives of our shared global digital community.

To explore "The Identity 25" report and learn more about the incredible individuals shaping the future of digital identity, visit the full report here.