Inveniam hires Bain veteran Richard Walker as private markets shift toward autonomous capital

Inveniam hires Bain veteran Richard Walker as private markets shift toward autonomous capital

Inveniam Group has appointed Richard Walker as Managing Director, Strategy and Market Development, as the firm accelerates the deployment of AI-native infrastructure to enable the next evolution of institutional finance: autonomous capital.

The appointment comes as private markets face a structural liquidity gap. While the asset class continues to expand, it remains constrained by fragmented data and infrastructure not built for institutional scale. Simultaneously, financial institutions are deploying AI onto data architectures at a time when governance, auditability, and data sovereignty have become critical requirements for institutional participation.

Patrick O’Meara, Chairman and CEO of Inveniam, said, “Richard brings a rare combination of deep financial services expertise and hands-on leadership in blockchain and digital asset transformation. His experience advising global banks and financial institutions will be instrumental as we scale the trusted data infrastructure needed to unlock systematic trading in private markets."

Inveniam defines autonomous capital as capital that can think, decide, and move—powered by AI agents operating on verified data and executed through blockchain-based infrastructure. This infrastructure automates rule enforcement, settlement, and auditability. Inveniam is building the connective layer that links verified asset data directly to digital market rails, enabling more efficient, scalable trading.

Richard brings more than three decades of experience advising global financial institutions on technology and market transformation. A veteran of top-tier consulting, he previously served as a Senior Partner at Bain &Company, where he helped lead the firm’s digital assets practice in financial services. Prior to Bain, he spent 12 years as a Partner at Deloitte Consulting, leading its blockchain and digital assets practice for the financial services sector

Commenting on the shift toward programmable finance, Richard Walker said: "This is a crucible moment for the industry. Private markets are growing at a pace, but liquidity is being choked by outdated infrastructure. Modernizing that foundation is the only way to bridge the gap.”

“We are seeing the convergence of two critical layers: AI agents acting as the brain to determine what to trade and why, and blockchain serving as the nervous system to route, settle, and enforce rules that no agent can bypass. Inveniam has assembled the technology and talent to sit at this exact intersection of data sovereignty and autonomous execution."

Inveniam’s platform combines data and market infrastructure into a unified system, bringing together capabilities traditionally associated with institutions such as NYSE and Bloomberg, but re-engineered for private assets and in one platform. Following a series of strategic acquisitions of technology and talent, including MEASA Partners, Swarm, and a strategic investment with Rialto Markets, the firm now provides end-to-end capabilities from data ingestion and verification to tokenization, AI-driven analysis, tradability, and asset management.

Walker will work closely with financial institutions, asset managers, and sovereign entities to drive the adoption of Inveniam’s end-to-end platform and support the transition toward liquid, data-driven, and increasingly autonomous private markets.

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