This week, on August 1st, 2021, the Mina Foundation welcomed Evan Shapiro and others onto the team. Their focus will be on growing awareness of Mina’s technology, attracting the next wave of individuals and partners who want to become involved, and building the community infrastructure & technical architecture for Mina to ultimately self-direct.
Alongside an extraordinary Board of Directors including Josh Cincinnati, Formerly of Zcash Foundation, Jill Carlson of Slow Ventures, and Tess Rinearson of Interchain GmbH, we are excited to introduce our extended world-class team in line to help sheppard these initiatives.
Evan Shapiro, CEO
Previously, Evan was CEO and Co-Founder of o1Labs, a software development company and leader in verifiable computation that incubated Mina. Evan graduated from Carnegie Mellon with a BS in computer science. He then obtained his research MS while working in the CMU Personal Robotics Lab, where he did research for the HERB robotics platform. He has also worked as a software engineer for Mozilla. Evan is an expert in the application of zk-SNARKs and is a prominent voice in the blockchain industry, regularly appearing on shows and podcasts as an industry leader.
Joon Kim, General Counsel (GC)
Prior to working as GC at Mina Foundation, Joon served as GC at o1Labs, GC at Terra, and Assistant GC and Vice President at Goldman Sachs. At the Mina Foundation, he will support the protocol by issuing grants to third parties that make significant contributions and by maintaining & managing community assets and members worldwide. Joon is also a regular contributor to Bloomberg News on the topics of legal regulations and the blockchain industry. He provides research and commentary for legal publications such as Bloomberg Law and Oxford Law and shares regulatory insights and topics in the public interest.
Sherry Lin, Interim Head of Marketing & Community
Sherry’s career has focused on building community to increase engagement and opportunities for individuals. Previously she led the exponential growth of the Mina community at o1Labs, the team which incubated Mina Protocol, as Marketing Manager. As an expert in digital marketing and technical communications, she will be stepping into the role as interim Head of Marketing & Community at the Mina Foundation with a focus on leading a team of marketing experts to grow awareness of Mina and serve the community.
Join the Team!
If you’d like to build the future of zero-knowledge applications or design ways to grow and empower the Mina ecosystem, please check out the available positions and consider applying.
We are currently looking for a Director of Business Development, Business Operations Lead, Product Strategy and Operation Lead, and Community Manager.
About Mina Protocol
Mina is the world’s lightest blockchain, powered by participants. Rather than apply brute computing force, Mina uses advanced cryptography and recursive zk-SNARKs to design an entire blockchain that is about 22kb, the size of a couple of tweets. It is the first layer-1 to enable efficient implementation and easy programmability of zero knowledge smart contracts (zkApps). With its unique privacy features and ability to connect to any website, Mina is building a private gateway between the real world and crypto—and the secure, democratic future we all deserve.
