July 14, 2025 ISC Meeting
Agenda
Committees Update
ISC Actions/Update from last week
Board election question overview
Committee Member Dismissal Policy
New Updates Section Demo
AOB & Meeting Close
Attendees:
Name
Attendance
Role
Voting Seat (Y/N)
Jack Briggs
No
Interim Executive Director
Y
Nick Cook
No
Director - Operations (Interim)
Y
YUTA
Yes
Community Member Seat
Y
Phil Lewis
Yes
Community Member Seat
Y
Sheldon Hunt
No
Community Member Seat
Y
Fred Tanaka
Yes
Community Member Seat
Y
Pedro Lucas
Yes
OSC Chair
Y
Samuel Leathers
No
Product Chair
Y
Darlington Welsh
Yes
MCC Chair
Y
Kristijan Kowalsky
Yes
CBC Chair
Y
Kevin Hammond
Yes
TSC Chair
Y
Wes Parkison
Yes
GMC Chair
Y
Nicolas Cerny
Yes
Interim CCC Chair
Y
Christian Taylor
Yes
Head of OSO
N
Lorenzo Bruno
Yes
Head of Product
N
Matt Davis
No
Head of Tech Operation
N
Tim Richmond
Yes
Head of Comms
N
Duncan Soutar
No
Secretary of TSC
N
Lloyd Duhon
Yes
Secretary of Budget Committee
N
Larisa Mcfarlane
Yes
Secretary of CCC
N
Terence McCutcheon
Yes
Secretary of OSC
N
Additional Attendees:
Kyle Solomon - Vice-chair of Product Committee
Elaine Cardenas - Vice-chair of OSC
Thiago Nunes - Observer
Discussion/Action:
1. Committee Updates
Open Source Committee is relaunching the Developer Advocates program with a focus on higher quality and broader outreach. Increased internal engagement and frequent work sessions were noted.
Civics Committee has finalized its recommendation for submitting the updated Constitutional Committee governance action in epoch 572 (July 23–28). A roadmap for 2025 is also in development.
Technical Steering Committee (TSC) is working to improve coordination with technical working groups and increase community participation. Coordination challenges around hard forks and broader technical input were highlighted.
Budget Committee is exploring public access to meetings, possibly including live streaming. A recent internal retrospective workshop was seen as positive and in alignment with previously set timelines.
Governance and Marketing Committee (GMC) emphasized applying lessons learned from the previous budget cycle. Plans are in motion for targeted working groups (e.g., enterprise), and the committee will host sessions during Cardano’s Developer & Governance Day at Rare Evo.
2. Action Item Updates
Decision-Making Framework: No recent work due to focus on board election priorities. Still on the Governance WG agenda.
Consultant Transition Plan: Approved by the Board; one consultant is rolling off. Item marked as complete.
Treasury Withdrawals (39 actions): Final checks and mainnet deployment were underway during the meeting. Tests involving the oversight committee were expected to complete that day, with submission to the chain anticipated the following day (pending no blockers). Questions were raised about the feasibility of this timeline, but the process was on track.
Oversight Committee Clarification
Clarification was provided that the oversight committee comprises five third-party entities (Cardano Foundation, Sundae Labs, Dquadrant, Xerberus, and NMKR). These organizations ensure Intersect executes disbursements according to approved governance actions.
Several concerns were raised regarding transparency, potential conflicts of interest, and the role (or lack thereof) of internal committees in this oversight process. Further clarity was requested around how technical and open-source committees intersect (or don't) with oversight roles.
Future of Intersect Discussion
A broader discussion is underway regarding the long-term role of Intersect. Points raised included the need for deeper member involvement in strategic decision-making and budget planning.
It was noted that further input from the executive team and board is required to determine next steps.
3. Board Election – Application Process Draft
A new draft application process and question set for board candidates was presented by the Intersect election team.
The structure includes sections on understanding Intersect, the Cardano community, board duties, and a candidate declaration letter.
ISC members were invited to review and comment by the end of the week, with the aim to finalize and share the proposal with the Board.
Additional community-facing education (e.g., X Spaces) is planned to help members understand the role of the Board and the weight of the election.
A suggestion was made to require a minimum number of endorsements from existing Intersect members to filter low-effort applications.
4. Committee Member Dismissal Policy
A policy to formalize committee member engagement and dismissal for inactivity was approved by vote.
The policy includes:
Secretaries tracking inactivity at 4, 5, and 6 weeks.
Option for resignation or a vote of no confidence after 8 weeks of non-participation.
Notification and offboarding procedures.
The policy applies narrowly to non-participation; behavioral or disruptive issues would be handled via existing code of conduct procedures.
The policy passed with strong support (1 abstention; 8 in favor). Implementation will begin immediately, with the Board and committee secretaries to be informed.
5. Deferred Topics
An agenda item on the new update section demo was deferred to the next ISC meeting due to time constraints.
Next Steps & Action Items
Committees to review and comment on the board election application draft by end of the week.
Dismissal policy to be published and secretaries to begin internal tracking immediately.
Intersect team to confirm final execution of treasury withdrawals and provide updates to ISC.
Oversight committee clarification item to be closed, it will be open again for further discussion if needed.
The topic of Intersect's strategic role to be escalated for input from the executive team and board.
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