The Libra Association, following a series of high profile defections from some of the nation's leading payments companies, formalized its governing structure at a board meeting Monday in Geneva where it announced 21 founding members. 

The Libra Council announced a board of directors, which includes Matthew Davie, of Kiva Microfunds, Patrick Ellis of Pay U, Katie Haun, of Andreesen Horowitz, David Marcus of Kalibra Inc. and Wences Casares of Xapo Holdings Ltd.

"We reaffirmed our commitment to the Libra Association,"Haun, general counsel at Andreesen Horowitz, said in a release from Libra Association. "As an elected board member, Andreesen Horowitz will work closely with fellow members to build a modern, easy to use and secure payment network that can empower billions of people."

Bertrand Perez was named COO and interim managing director, while Kurt Hemecker was named head of business development and Dante Disparte was named head of policy and communications. 

The meeting came after several high-level supporter defections from the Facebook backed organization, including Visa, Mastercard, eBay, Stripe and others. 

Libra officials said 1,500 entities have expressed an interest in joining the organization and 180 have met the preliminary membership criteria. 

Cover image: iStock