{"version":1,"id":"yijing-shi","title":"Yijing Shi","summary":"Yijing Shi is a person who is a tech startup leader and operations executive who has held senior roles at Kite (formerly ZettaBlock), VMware and McKinsey and holds a PhD in materials science.","content":"**Yijing Shi** is a business operations and strategy executive with a background spanning technology, corporate venture, management consulting, engineering, and business development. She is Head of Business Operations and Marketing at [Kite](https://iq.wiki/wiki/kite-ai), having previously served as Head of Business Operations and Chief of Staff at [ZettaBlock](https://iq.wiki/wiki/zettablock) and held strategy and corporate venture roles at VMware. [\\[3\\]](#cite-id-x2AZr78ojcpj8cAS) \n\n## Education\n\nShi graduated from Shanghai Jiao Tong University with a BS in Materials Engineering and a Master’s in ME from the Illinois Institute of Technology. In 2015, she earned her PhG in Materials Science, Corrosion, and Electrochemistry from the University of Virginia. [\\[2\\]](#cite-id-7s8j35fa5c) \n\n## Career\n\nShi began her career as a Research Engineer at Hitachi from 2008 to 2009 in Farmington Hills, Michigan, where she worked on an automation system designed to improve automotive assembly efficiency. In 2014, she joined ExxonMobil as a Summer Research Engineer in the Houston area, where she developed an automated protection system for field pipelines in support of facility integrity and production safety. She then joined McKinsey & Company in 2015 as an Engagement Manager in the San Francisco Bay Area, working on corporate and business-unit strategies, product planning, growth strategies, post-merger integration, and strategy implementation for clients in the automotive, fintech, and high-tech industries.\n\nFrom 2019 to 2021, Shi worked at VMware in Strategy and Corporate Venture, focusing on strategic and investment-related activities. She subsequently joined [ZettaBlock](https://iq.wiki/wiki/zettablock) in August 2022 as Head of Business Operations and Chief of Staff, a role she held through October 2024. In November 2024, she joined [Kite](https://iq.wiki/wiki/kite-ai) as Head of Business Operations and Marketing, where she works on business operations and marketing for the company's payments infrastructure focused on the agentic internet. [\\[1\\]](#cite-id-ye5cdgjew6) \n\n### Kite\n\n![](https://ipfs.everipedia.org/ipfs/QmNVo1fjFxgBiLrKu99egZVAj2dgQpzyGK8YhyPkTZmgCU)\n\n​[Kite AI](https://iq.wiki/wiki/kite-ai) is developing payment infrastructure for autonomous [AI agents](https://iq.wiki/wiki/ai-agents), designed to support agent identity, programmable governance, and [stablecoin](https://iq.wiki/wiki/stablecoin)-based settlement. Its infrastructure uses a framework called SPACE to provide agent authentication, cryptographically enforced transaction constraints, immutable audit trails, and micropayments, while separating user, agent, and session identities through a hierarchical architecture. Kite also uses state channels for low-latency payments and includes mechanisms to revoke compromised agent credentials. The platform is designed to integrate with standards and protocols including [x402](https://iq.wiki/wiki/x402), Google A2A, Anthropic MCP, OAuth 2.1, and the Agent Payment Protocol, to support transactions and coordination between autonomous agents and external services. [\\[4\\]](#cite-id-Dm2PVibIneL6qvCk) \n","categories":[{"id":"people","title":"people"}],"tags":[{"id":"Founder"},{"id":"Researcher"},{"id":"Speaker"}],"images":[{"id":"QmVweBQRstzfKpqTeSGeiUHDyeDyWpEGY1bSYKwhJzCGAv","type":"image/jpeg, image/png"}],"media":[{"id":"QmNVo1fjFxgBiLrKu99egZVAj2dgQpzyGK8YhyPkTZmgCU","name":"4Z3NXwf4qZfI1IkU.jpeg","source":"IPFS_IMG","thumbnail":"QmNVo1fjFxgBiLrKu99egZVAj2dgQpzyGK8YhyPkTZmgCU","caption":""}],"metadata":[{"id":"references","value":"[{\"id\":\"ye5cdgjew6\",\"url\":\"https://www.linkedin.com/in/yijing-shi-phd-34389a31/details/experience/\",\"description\":\"Shi's self-reported profile summary and current role\",\"timestamp\":1789126960598},{\"id\":\"7s8j35fa5c\",\"url\":\"https://www.linkedin.com/in/yijing-shi-phd-34389a31/details/education/\",\"description\":\"Undergraduate and master's education listed on profile\",\"timestamp\":1789126960598},{\"id\":\"x2AZr78ojcpj8cAS\",\"description\":\"Kite AI\",\"timestamp\":1789127069592,\"url\":\"https://gokite.ai/\"},{\"id\":\"Dm2PVibIneL6qvCk\",\"description\":\"About Us | Kite\",\"timestamp\":1789127081257,\"url\":\"https://gokite.ai/about-company\"}]"},{"id":"github_profile","value":"https://github.com/yijingshi"},{"id":"linkedin_profile","value":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/yijing-shi-phd-34389a31"},{"id":"website","value":"https://gokite.ai/"},{"id":"previous_cid","value":"QmXtSP6RUt2ux767vAwvejEYymT3RjzmiL9LTUMmErsbXk"},{"id":"commit-message","value":"Apply minor edits to Yijing Shi wiki"},{"id":"previous_cid","value":"QmXtSP6RUt2ux767vAwvejEYymT3RjzmiL9LTUMmErsbXk"}],"events":[{"type":"DEFAULT","title":"Joined Hitachi as Research Engineer","date":"2008-01-01","description":"Started working at Hitachi as a Research Engineer (per LinkedIn profile).","link":null,"multiDateStart":null,"multiDateEnd":null,"id":"8fb66e06-508e-4916-96db-e93f992e10ef"},{"type":"DEFAULT","title":"Left Hitachi","date":"2009-01-01","description":"Ended role at Hitachi (per LinkedIn profile).","link":null,"multiDateStart":null,"multiDateEnd":null,"id":"3d46a7af-685d-4d56-9f23-c5ce3eb3bf75"},{"type":"DEFAULT","title":"Started PhD at University of Virginia","date":"2009-01-01","description":"Began PhD studies at the University of Virginia (per LinkedIn profile).","link":null,"multiDateStart":null,"multiDateEnd":null,"id":"fe240b73-c999-46e9-be0f-5e3610b8b911"},{"type":"DEFAULT","title":"Summer Research Engineer at ExxonMobil","date":"2014-01-01","description":"Summer Research Engineer role at ExxonMobil (per LinkedIn profile).","link":null,"multiDateStart":null,"multiDateEnd":null,"id":"ab4d82f8-4b95-42b7-98bc-da91d0ec35d6"},{"type":"DEFAULT","title":"Joined McKinsey & Company as Engagement Manager","date":"2015-01-01","description":"Joined McKinsey & Company as an Engagement Manager (per LinkedIn profile).","link":null,"multiDateStart":null,"multiDateEnd":null,"id":"9d8d6a93-91fc-41c2-97d8-4e7add8197a4"},{"type":"DEFAULT","title":"Completed PhD at University of Virginia","date":"2015-01-01","description":"Completed PhD at the University of Virginia (per LinkedIn profile).","link":null,"multiDateStart":null,"multiDateEnd":null,"id":"ae987c6c-211b-46c4-8867-ecef6dc98e71"},{"type":"DEFAULT","title":"Joined GitHub","date":"2016-11-01","description":"Began an affiliation with GitHub (profile found at github.com/yijingshi).","link":"https://github.com/yijingshi","multiDateStart":null,"multiDateEnd":null,"id":"366fa6de-ef14-4ee0-b2c8-4409ae093a59"},{"type":"DEFAULT","title":"Joined VMware (Strategy and Corporate Venture)","date":"2019-01-01","description":"Joined VMware in Strategy and Corporate Venture (per LinkedIn profile).","link":null,"multiDateStart":null,"multiDateEnd":null,"id":"34fcb8ba-2416-4457-a7b8-ca8e46933483"},{"type":"DEFAULT","title":"Left VMware","date":"2021-01-01","description":"Ended role at VMware (per LinkedIn profile).","link":null,"multiDateStart":null,"multiDateEnd":null,"id":"9940fd04-53a2-481f-9d19-571382c4f852"},{"type":"DEFAULT","title":"Joined ZettaBlock as Head of Business Operations, Chief of Staff","date":"2022-01-01","description":"Joined ZettaBlock in a Head of Business Operations / Chief of Staff role (per LinkedIn profile).","link":null,"multiDateStart":null,"multiDateEnd":null,"id":"efa91da6-ee05-4ab8-864f-cdd1e11a8571"},{"type":"DEFAULT","title":"Joined Kite as Head of Business Operations and Marketing","date":"2024-04-01","description":"Joined Kite as Head of Business Operations and Marketing (per LinkedIn profile).","link":null,"multiDateStart":null,"multiDateEnd":null,"id":"6b158cc4-f64c-4f32-8f25-795f32e732d5"},{"type":"DEFAULT","title":"Left ZettaBlock","date":"2024-10-01","description":"Ended role at ZettaBlock (per LinkedIn profile).","link":null,"multiDateStart":null,"multiDateEnd":null,"id":"5388345f-fe32-4c9a-8fb7-8c794695cdee"},{"type":"DEFAULT","title":"Kite announced $18 million Series A funding round","date":"2025-09-01","description":"Kite announced a $18M Series A; announcement was shared on Yijing Shi's LinkedIn account.","link":"https://www.linkedin.com/posts/yijing-shi-phd-34389a31_yesterday-we-has-announced-that-kite-has-activity-7368965298751762435-alRM","multiDateStart":null,"multiDateEnd":null,"id":"d4aac522-2f69-4644-a211-cdcec4afc227"}],"linkedWikis":{"founders":[],"blockchains":["kite-ai"],"speakers":[]},"user":{"id":"0x8af7a19a26d8fbc48defb35aefb15ec8c407f889"},"author":{"id":"0xacb6c5AD52b8f605299B0d774CE97F26e3DB80c2"},"language":"en","operator":{"id":"0xacb6c5AD52b8f605299B0d774CE97F26e3DB80c2"}}