October 20, ISC Meeting
Agenda:
Committees Update
ISC Actions/Update from last week
Committee Service Reward
Intersect 2026 plan drafting timeline
ED Process Update
Committee Election Update
AOB & Meeting Close
Attendees:
Name
Attendance
Role
Voting Seat (Y/N)
Jack Briggs
Yes
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
Yes
Community Member Seat
Y
Fred Tanaka
Yes
Community Member Seat
Y
Elaine Cardenas
Yes
OSC Chair
Y
Samuel Leathers
Yes
Product Chair
Y
Darlington Welsh
No
MCC Chair
Y
Kristijan Kowalsky
Yes
CBC Chair
Y
Kevin Hammond
No
TSC Chair
Y
Wes Parkison
Yes
GMC Chair
Y
Nicolas Cerny
Yes
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
No
Head of Comms
N
Lloyd Duhon
Yes
Secretary of Budget Committee
N
Larisa Mcfarlane
No
Secretary of CCC
N
Terence McCutcheon
Yes
Secretary of OSC
N
Additional Attendees:
Rand McHenry - Member of the Board
Mercy - Member of the Board
Kyle Solomon - Vice Chair of Product Committee
Valeria Devaux - Observer
Thiago Nunes - Observer
Discussion/Actions
1. Welcome and Introductions
The meeting opened with a welcome to two newly elected Board members, who joined the ISC call for the first time. They introduced themselves, expressing gratitude for the opportunity and emphasizing their intent to listen, learn, and represent community priorities moving forward.
2. Committee Updates
Civics Committee The Constitutional Amendment Working Group officially launched, with strong participation from contributors across Intersect and the wider community, including representation from the Cardano Foundation legal team. The group will meet weekly to advance governance health metrics and educational initiatives.
Budget Committee A new blog post was published introducing the 2026 Budget Process, accompanied by an open feedback form. The committee has also begun a series of X Spaces and AMAs to collect sentiment from DReps, vendors, and the community, with a dedicated session planned on the Net Change Limit (NCL). The goal is to refine the process through transparent feedback.
GMC (Growth & Marketing Committee) The committee is finalizing analysis of its pre-Rare Evo community survey. Data has been reviewed internally, and a summary report is being prepared for publication next month, followed by a comprehensive white paper by year-end.
Product Committee The committee shared updates from recent workshops across Asia (Singapore, Osaka, and Tokyo). A shared draft vision statement has been developed for the Cardano 2030 Strategy, with additional sessions planned for the Japanese community and ecosystem partners to ensure broader stakeholder representation.
Open Source Committee (OSC) The Developer Advocates Program is operational, with participants preparing onboarding materials for new developers entering Cardano from other ecosystems. All contracts for the first batch of contributors are signed. The committee has also finalized its Q4 events schedule, including participation in the Cardano Summit and the Open Source Summit Japan.
3. Committee Reward Policy
The Committee Reward Policy received full legal approval with two clarifications:
The term “committee member” has been refined to “active committee member,” and both roles (members and chairs) are now clearly defined.
A compliance clause was added requiring submission of IRS Form W-8BEN (non-US) or W-9 (US citizens) before rewards can be processed. These forms must be renewed annually.
Members discussed implementation logistics. It was confirmed that submission will be integrated into the Intersect member portal, with forms required twice in this cycle (covering 2025–2026). The policy is now ready for implementation, with the process to be reviewed once in place.
4. Member Survey and AMM Preparation
The Annual Member Meeting (AMM) is planned for late November 2025 and will be hosted virtually in collaboration with the Clay team to maximize global participation.
The Intersect Member Survey has been open for three weeks, with around 30 responses so far.
Results will inform a draft proposal summarizing Intersect’s mission, vision, and strategy, to be shared one week before the AMM for review.
During the AMM, members will discuss and refine the proposal, with a post-event poll confirming the final version.
5. Executive Director (ED) Process
Applications and nominations for the Executive Director role remain open until Friday, 24 October.
Next week, after an initial screening by the People Lead and Board, sentiment polls will open for both Intersect members and DReps.
The ISC confirmed that three members have volunteered to join the ED Selection Panel, with up to five total nominees to be forwarded to the Board.
The Board will then select two ISC representatives for the panel.
6. Committee Elections
Committee election applications have significantly increased compared to the prior week, with 44 candidates across eight committees.
Open Source (8), Product (8), Growth & Marketing (9), Civics (4), and ISC (4) are well-represented.
The Technical Steering Committee (3) and Budget Committee (1) still have fewer candidates than available seats.
The application deadline is Friday, 24 October at 12:00 UTC. Members were encouraged to share the call for candidates within their networks as the final push.
7. Other Business
Members revisited a prior request to organize a special joint session between the ISC, Board, and Executive Team to discuss Intersect’s identity as a Member-Based Organization (MBO) and the evolving role of members. The proposal received general support and will be raised at the upcoming Board meeting.
8. Next Steps & Actions
Proceed with implementation of the Committee reward policy; integrate tax form process into the member portal.
Executive Team to raise with the Board members proposal for joint ISC–Board discussion on MBO structure.
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