A motivating leader with an amazing presence and incredible ideas, Bob Houghton — RYVYL’s VP of Special Projects and IT — employs a proven ability to manage digital transformation and propel corporate performance forward. He supports the POS program for American Samoa, Pacific Islands and the U.S. West coast, and manages all IT functions and responsibilities for RYVYL.

Houghton, a forward-thinking catalyst, strategist and technologist, combines a range of specialties to drive innovation through transformational organizational changes. With three-plus decades of experience in various director positions and roles as ERP project manager, senior director of information technology research and development, technical advisor, VP of IT, CIO and CTO, Houghton’s vast experience and depth of knowledge will help him navigate his responsibilities at RYVYL.  

RYVYL first appealed to Houghton because of its innovative leadership looking to transform the fintech landscape for the benefit of everyone. He hopes to lead programs that accelerate the global adoption of RYVYL as a closed-loop currency, POS and blockchain leader. His greatest professional milestones to date are working for more than 20 years as a CIO, facilitating Fortune 300 data centers moving to the cloud without incident, five different ERP global implementations and — most importantly — developing multiple staff members into successful IT managers and leaders.

Greatly inspired by watching and learning from his father, local community leaders and pastor Rick Warren, Houghton describes himself as compassionate, a teacher and a defender. To him, RYVYL symbolizes the courage to do things differently to improve performance and sustainment by trusting the whole team to drive toward these attributes as one. When he is not working, you can find him out sailing, cooking or passing along experiences that help others succeed.

Houghton received his bachelor’s degree in criminal science and sociology and professional certifications in computer science from CDI, Association for Supply Chain Management, AMA, Vision Program and a CPM from RWD, Oracle Leaders  and SoCal SIM. He is also a member of the Stanford Executive Program; IT, Oliver Wight CMP, APICS leadership, UCI CRITO CIO Innovation Council.