Season 6 Nominations: Developer Advisory Board

Developer Advisory Board Self-Nomination Template

Please keep your answers as concise as possible while conveying all relevant information.

If you are a delegate, please provide the link to your delegate profile:

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If you are a delegate, please indicate what % of votable supply is delegated to you:

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If you are a delegate, please indicate your voting participation rate in OP governance to date:

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Please link to your voting history and any voting rationale you’ve shared: (You may link to your Snapshot and/or Agora profile for voting history. You may link to your delegate communication thread, or any other medium you use to communicate with your delegators, to share your voting rationale.)

n/a

Are you a representative of OP Labs:

No.

Please elaborate on your technical background. Please include information about the layer of the stack you have the most expertise on:

Two years ago (June 2022) I signed onto Spearbit as a Lead Security Researcher. In this role I teamed up with expert level security researchers to review and secure code for a variety of projects (from lending, to bridging, to governance, and more).

My focus is Solidity and EVM based systems, specifically the application layer. Including all aspects of the software development lifecycle; design, development, testing, etc.

At present, I am Head of Security Reviews at Spearbit, where I share best practices with the ecosystem at large, and pair clients with the best security researchers to review and secure their codebases. A sample of my ecosystem contributions while at Spearbit include the Security Review Readiness Guide along with other developer focused materials at Spearbit/Armory.

Going back further here are some technical highlights:

  • Worked on the precursor to Protocol Guild with ameensol and jamesfickel. (See Draft EIP: Open Grant Standard)

  • CTO @ KIT Researcher (Java, TS, R, data engineering and analytics project)

  • CTO @ Tag Innovation (Solidity, TS, dapp development)

  • Scientist @ Zero Gravity Labs (Python and Scala based ML and analytics experimental projects)

  • Director, Research Automation @ MARU/VCR&C (JS data graphics, R modeling and workflow automation)

Please demonstrate any non-Optimism experience you believe is relevant to this role:

In 2022 I spent time with CMCC Global assisting with technical due diligence, reviewing early stage projects for both technical and security related considerations.

I have hands-on experience helping projects work through protocol design and architectural planning. This has been a primary focus of my work at Tag Innovation.

Have you previously served in a representative (appointed or elected) role in the Collective? If so, please specify which:

No.

Please outline your contributions, and their impact, to the Optimism ecosystem to date:

Through my work with Spearbit, both as a Lead Security Researcher and a core team member, I assist Optimism Ecosystem projects and OP Stack projects in securing their protocols.

I also assist ecosystem projects in onboarding web2 development expertise onto OP Stack ecosystems (such as tea.xyz).

Please describe your philosophy on what makes a good Mission Application:

Would expect the following to be clear in a good application:

  1. Identify which intent the application aligns with;

  2. Describe how they will accomplish their goals;

  3. Demonstrate their ability to execute.

Please demonstrate your ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical audience:

I love talking tech but am particularly adept at translating for non-technical audiences. Some workshops I’ve delivered over the years include:

  • Introduction to Blockchain for Entrepreneurs @ VentureLAB

  • Smart Contract Vulnerabilities @ Blockchain Society

  • Metatransactions @ Deloitte Crypto Camp

  • Smart Contract Upgrade Strategies @ Crypto Chicks Hackathon Toronto

  • Smart Contracts 101: Peer to Peer Ecosystems for the Travel & Hospitality Industry @ Co-brand & Travel Rewards Conference

  • Gearing Up for Blockchain @ AiEvents MEGA

In addition to non-technical audiences, I have a history of introducing new technical topics to semi-technical crowds. Along with a team of Professors (Natalie from ToB, Jesse from Parity/Entropy, Stu from Chainsafe, and others), I designed, developed, and delivered the technical course content for the Blockchain Developer Program, the first of its kind in Canada.

Please disclose any anticipated conflicts of interest: If you are a top 25 delegate in another ecosystem, hold an elected position in another DAO, and/or are a multisig signer in another community please disclose here.

I am a Lead Security Researcher and Head of Security Reviews at Spearbit. While unlikely, a conflict of interest could arise on select topics related to Spearbit.

Otherwise there are no anticipated conflicts of interest.

Please verify that you understand you may be removed from this role via the Representative Removal proposal type in the Operating Manual 2:

Confirmed.

Are you interested in the Ops Lead or Upgrade Czar roles? If so, please share relevant experience and one idea you have for how the role could contribute to the collective.

At this time I’m interested in contributing as a non-lead. Open to assisting in other capacities if a gap exists.

Please verify that you understand KYC will be required to receive Council rewards at the end of Season 6:

Confirmed.

Please verify that you are able to commit ~20 hours / month to Board operations:

Confirmed.

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