Welcoming Mercury Protocol’s Newest Team Members

Hello Fellow Mercurians, this is your determined leader, Ryan [Ozonian], checking in with a team update. At the beginning of the new year we shared a blog post with an updated roadmap for 2018. As promised, we have expanded our Mercury family by adding four new team members to our hardworking team. I’m thrilled to announce the four newest additions to our team are: David Ou, Andrew Hunt, Talal Barakat, and Amy Askin.

Read below to get to know more about the new faces behind the Mercury Protocol Team

Originally from King Williams Town, South Africa — David is man of many lives. After graduating from the University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business, David started his career as an Investment Banker at Bear, Stearns & Co. and Bank of America Merrill Lynch where he focused on mergers and acquisitions in the fintech and media sector. As attractive as the opportunity was, David wanted to take it step further. Something you should know about this guy is that he’s always hungry for MORE. Thus, David took his skills to Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) where he was part of their Corporate Development team dedicated to mergers and acquisitions and investments in social and mobile gaming.

He later moved on to become a part of a 6-person Executive team at Creative Artists Agency spearheading all of CAA’s digital initiatives. In five years time, David became well-versed in corporate consulting, digital strategy, venture investing, and new company incubations. He took all his learnings and was a founding member of WAV Media Inc., a music focused mobile live-streaming startup, where he was the Co-Head of the Electronic Dance Music department, and also lead the company’s strategy and business development efforts. This is where I came to recognize David and his high-profile network of partnerships. It may have taken a few extra rounds (of beer) to get him onboard, but soon after he was sold on joining the crew. I can’t express how excited I am to see David Ou join the team and take GMT to the next level, but I’m sure you’ll notice his efforts in the coming weeks!

Fun Facts about David

1. Favorite book? Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl.
2. How do you like to spend your free time? Training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
3. What flavor do you add to the Mercury Protocol team? I provide a balance of professionalism and go getter attitude while having a fuck ton of fun.
4. What excites you most about the Mercury Protocol? Having the opportunity to work with some really talented and amazing human beings.
5. How would you explain Mercury Protocol in 3 words? Game changing technology.
6. What’s your secret? I hold citizenship from 3 different countries: South Africa, Canada and Taiwan.

Andrew was born in Salt Lake City, Utah and later moved to California where he received his Bachelors of Science in Computer Engineering from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cum Laude). He spent six years with the Eurotech Group in a market development role, and was instrumental in their successful I.P.O. in 2005. A few years after, he went on to earn an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Fast forward to today, Hunt joins us from a very well-rounded professional background spanning from managing international solar deals (SolarReserve), to launching his own Venture Capital Firm (TYLT Ventures), and formerly advising other crypto start-ups. His speciality is bringing products to market while building commercial interest.

Andrew is going to help lead the Mercury Team as the Head of Strategy. To exemplify the type of leader he is — Andrew hit the ground running with the team weeks before his official start day — quickly establishing his presence and support amongst the team. His eagerness to get acclimated to his new role goes hand-in-hand with his drive to move things forward as quickly and strategically as possible. Please give Andrew Hunt a warm welcome!

Fun Facts about Andrew…or should I say “G”

1. Favorite book? One Hundred Years Of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez.
2. How do you like to spend your free time? What is free time?
3. What flavor do you add to the Mercury Protocol team? They call me “Uncle Andrew”.
4. What excites you most about the Mercury Protocol? We have a real opportunity to breakout as a leader in a new space with huge growth potential.
5. How would you explain Mercury Protocol in 3 words? Applied Blockchain Enabler.
6. What’s your secret? My first name is the letter “G”.

Talal is a native Angelino, born in the backyard of Mercury HQ, and bred to design cool shit. Jokes aside, he received his formal education in Cognitive Science — with a focus on user-centered design — from the University of California San Diego so you could (almost) say he was born for this job. In his previous role, he led a team of designers in optimizing the front end and user experience of the Yourder Inc. application. He continued develop his user experience knowledge base as the UX Interaction Designer for Blackline, where he collected user-feedback, created storyboard and prototypes to improve UX features and behaviors. If you want to get a better picture of Talal’s meticulous design work check out his portfolio on his website.

Fun Facts about Talal

1. Favorite book? Frankenstein by Mary Shelly.
2. How do you like to spend your free time? Walking my dogs, experimenting in the kitchen, and working on new design concepts.
3. What flavor do you add to the Mercury Protocol team? I feel I bring a mix of basic user centered methodologies as well as crazy experimental ideas.
4. What excites you most about the Mercury Protocol? The opportunity to work with a company that leverages today’s most innovative technology as well as working with a brilliant team.
5. How would you explain Mercury Protocol in 3 words? Recreating social interaction.
6. What’s your secret? I speak French and Arabic.

Amy is from sunny Laguna Hills, CA where the happiest and friendliest faces are born (at least in her case). She’s a scholar, an international human rights activist, and most notably the mother to a fluffy panda hamster. She comes from a diverse background that includes human rights agencies,
NGOs, pharmaceutical, healthcare, manufacturing, and finance industries. Now she’s ready to take on the next big thing, crypto regulations! Bless her heart.

She was eager to get her hands dirty so I plucked her from her curriculum and placed her on the team. Prior to joining the team, Amy graduated from the Santa Clara University School of Law. She also carries a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Philosophy from Boston University.

Of all the people we’ve hired this is the one that brings me peace of mind. When Amy first joined us in December 2017, there was a lot regulatory measures to investigate and not enough time in my day to stay up-to-speed, needless to say I was ready to pound my head against the wall. Luckily, we hired Amy! It’s not an easy task to take on but I’m confident that we can protect this company and all parties involved with Miss Amy Askin taking the lead as our Compliance Officer.

Fun Facts about Amy

1. Favorite book? Naked Pictures of Famous People by Jon Stewart.
2. How do you like to spend your free time? Horseback riding, geography trivia and Cards Against Humanity.
3. What flavor do you add to the Mercury team? Sugar, spice and everything nice!
4. What excites you most about the Mercury Protocol? The limitless possibilities for application and being at the forefront of moving towards decentralized communication and the protection of user privacy.
5. How would you explain Mercury Protocol in 3 words? Just Send It!
6. What’s your secret? I am passionate about human and civil rights and hope to start a foundation to empower future generations through educational programs on coding and tech. Oh, and I have a panda bear hamster named Sammie the Hammie.

Let’s Rock‘n Roll

Mercury fam, I have never been so excited to work with such a stellar group of guys and gals! From developer relations, to crypto strategy, to working through the nitty gritty regulatory research — I am certain that the team we have will continue kicking ass and keep Mercury Protocol at the forefront of the communication space.

Looking Ahead

We’ll be looking to fill even more positions in the coming months, so keep an eye out here for an up to date list of openings. If you don’t see your ideal job title listed but still think you have a skill set to offer the Mercury project, send us an email at jobs@mercuryprotocol.com.

Please give a warm welcome to our newest team members in any of the community channels linked below!

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Learn more about the Mercury Protocol
Read the Mercury Protocol whitepaper
Follow +mercuryprotocol on Dust