MARA's 2026 proxy statement lists Thiel as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and gives his start on the board as 24 April 2018. He signed the company's Form 10-K for 2025 as principal executive officer on 2 March 2026.
The same proxy sets out his professional history in the company's own words. Before leading MARA in 2021 he was Chairman of Thiel Advisors, which "Provided deep technology sector operating expertise and strategic advisory services to private equity and venture capital firms, as well as public and private company boards". Earlier he was chief executive of two other listed technology companies, Local Corporation and Lantronix, Inc. The proxy states he has over 35 years' experience in the technology sector and attended classes at the Stockholm School of Economics and Harvard Business School.
His tenure covers the period in which the company renamed itself twice, from Marathon Patent Group to Marathon Digital Holdings in March 2021 and to MARA Holdings in August 2024, and shifted from holding all mined bitcoin to selling and lending part of it.