Don Seymour
Founder, Caymanians First Charitable Foundation
Don Seymour is the founder of the Caymanians First Charitable Foundation, a mission-driven organization dedicated to advancing the prosperity, opportunity, and long-term wellbeing of Caymanians in their own homeland. Caymanians First is built on a simple premise: a country succeeds only if its people do. The foundation focuses on practical, results-driven initiatives that create jobs, build skills, strengthen families, and ensure Caymanians benefit directly from economic growth.
Through Caymanians First, Don applies global experience to local impact—building sustainable opportunities and empowering the next generation of Caymanian talent and innovators.
Background & Legacy
Don is an accomplished founder, investor, and philanthropist with a career spanning financial services, technology, and media. He is also the founder of Black Unicorn, a Cayman Islands–based single-family office, where he combines deep operating expertise with a disciplined, value-building investor mindset focused on high-potential fintech and strategic media investments.
Entrepreneurial Track Record
Across three decades, Don has founded and scaled multiple category-defining institutions:
- FundBank — A global digital institutional banking platform serving the asset management industry across the Cayman Islands, the United States, and the European Union.
- RACE Digital Bank — A next-generation institutional bank delivering bank-grade services to the digital asset ecosystem, with operations in Austin, Texas and George Town, Cayman Islands.
- Simur — A RegTech company with four patented customer due-diligence technologies that reduce compliance costs by up to 90%.
- Stingray Media Group — The Cayman Islands’ leading media-technology platform, spanning print, radio, digital marketplaces, loyalty and payments infrastructure, and local journalism.
- Waystone — Under Don’s leadership, grew into the world’s largest fund governance firm and became the Cayman Islands’ first “unicorn,” exiting at over $1.3 billion and winning multiple international Deal of the Year awards.
Public Service & Regulatory Leadership
Don played a formative role in shaping Cayman’s modern financial framework. As founder and Head of the Investment Services Division at the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority, he authored and implemented the regulatory regime that established the Cayman Islands as the world’s leading hedge fund jurisdiction, now hosting 80% of investment funds worldwide.
He began his career at PwC in New York, where he led audit and advisory engagements for Soros Fund Management.
Philanthropy & Education
Philanthropy is central to Don’s work. Through Caymanians First Charitable Foundation, he emphasizes accountability and measurable outcomes for Caymanians. His commitment to developing future leaders also extends to his alma mater, the University of Texas at Austin, where he established the Seymour Family Seed Fund at the McCombs School of Business. Through the fund, he provides capital and hands-on mentorship to early-stage ventures in fintech and enterprise software, reflecting his belief in empowering the next generation of innovators.
Recognition
- First recipient of the President’s Impact Award from The University of Texas at Austin for transformative contributions to the global financial industry.
- Named by the Financial Times as one of the global hedge fund industry’s most influential figures.
- Featured in Transforming Wall Street: A Conscious Path for a New Future alongside leading financiers and thinkers including Bill Ackman, John Bogle, and John Whitehead.
Focus Today
- As founder of Caymanians First, Don brings the same discipline, independence, and insistence on accountability that defined his global career—now applied with singular focus to ensuring Cayman’s future works first and foremost for Caymanians.
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