Mina Foundation’s role is to support the growth of the Mina ecosystem, and after an exciting few months of developments and progress, we are excited to share that we have brought on more experts to support the anticipated growth and programs coming up.
Evan Shapiro, CEO of Mina Foundation, expressed, “Mina has experienced incredible growth in a very short time, and our new hires will be an integral part of the overall momentum we are building. Brian, Iryna, and Kate each bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to their new roles here at Mina Foundation that make our industry-leading team that much stronger.”
On the heels of announcing Former Diem Chief of Staff Kurt Hemecker as COO, we are thrilled to welcome three more team members.
Brian McKenna joins Mina Foundation as Head of Product.
Passionate about building products that allow people to self-organize and take back control and trust over their digital lives, Brian brings over four years of blockchain industry experience. In his most recent role as Product Manager at IOHK, Brian and his team worked on a variety of projects, most notably Cardano. As Head of Product at Mina Foundation, Brian will focus on the adoption of zero knowledge proof (ZKP) tech and the enablement of builders to further develop Mina Protocol’s roadmap and zkApps.
“What immediately struck me about Mina was the native incorporation of ZKPs into the protocol’s design in a real-world expression of the ethos of decentralization,” said Brian McKenna. “I have been a long-time follower of Mina, and I’m very excited to be joining the Foundation and support the global deployment of the protocol in support of a private, user-controlled Web3.”
Dr. Iryna Tsimashenka joins Mina Foundation as Head of Developer Relations.
With a history of involvement in novel technology education and the developer community, Iryna brings over ten years of engineering and management experience to her new role. With a PhD in Performance Optimization from Imperial College, Iryna previously taught computer science at various universities and worked as a Development Relations Manager at R3, leading developer education, support, and DevRel collaborations with external companies. In her new role at Mina Foundation, Iryna will lead the RFP grants program as well as the Developer Relations team in educating and supporting the developer community.
“Mina’s preeminent technology and core integration of privacy-preserving ZKPs is what caught my attention,” said Dr. Iryna Tsimashenka. “The Mina Foundation team members are the best and brightest in crypto and I am very much looking forward to bringing my experience working with developers to support the growth of the ecosystem.”
Kate Remias joins Mina Foundation as Head of People.
Kate has made a career of building people-driven systems and has deep knowledge of how to strike the right balance between business goals and objectives, corporate culture, and employee experience. As a Juris Doctor with a Master’s in Human Resources and Labor Relations, Kate previously served as a People Strategy Partner for a mobile app development company. In her new role at Mina Foundation, Kate will focus on building practices and processes to support the Mina Foundation team and mission which were inspired by the Mina community.
“The unparalleled growth across the Mina community is a testament to the incredible team at the Mina Foundation,” said Kate Remias. “Joining a team whose core values revolve around the mantra of ‘powered by participants’ is an absolute dream for me, and I am very excited about working with the Foundation team to ensure this vision continues to be reflected in every aspect of the ecosystem.”
Please join us in giving Brian, Iryna, and Kate a warm welcome to the Mina community. We are incredibly excited about the work they plan to accomplish and the impact they will make here.
Connect with Brian McKenna on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Discord (bpmckenna#7292).
Connect with Iryna on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Discord (Iryna#2022).
Connect with Kate on LinkedIn.
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.
