Personal Information
Discourse ID: @BoredApeG
Twitter: x.com
Nomination Statement
Concise statement on why you are running for the Special Council
Bored Ape G
While we have accomplished much together over the past year, our ApeCoin DAO continues to face significant challenges to achieve its goal of making APE the token of choice for the web3 economy. We have addressed significant operationalization issues and we have removed roadblocks to innovative proposals, but now it is time to ramp up and take full advantage of the infrastructure we have laid.
I am seeking re-election simply because I believe the best use of my time serving the ApeCoin ecosystem still lies in being a steward of ApeCoin from within the APE Foundation.
From an administrative standpoint, a few top priorities the community has voiced: i. solve for specific roles and action needed in our ecosystem in a compliant manner, ii. evolve pieces in our ecosystem to bring in more core contributors to the table who can create meaningful value to the DAO, iii. facilitate the development of ApeChain(s), iv. increase automation where reasonably possible, vi. support community sustainability initiatives, and vii. get the Special Council back focused on being the Board it was originally intended to be.
My nomination profile will detail how I continue to be the best individual to deliver on the above pressing needs of our ApeCoin DAO community and much more. I have the proven track record of success both prior to joining Special Council and throughout my time while serving this term. With your support I can continue my work in stewarding the growth and development of the APE ecosystem.
Motivation
Details on your motivation for becoming an ApeCoin DAO Special Council member
Reporter: Are you not happy or youâre only half happy? Or?
Kobe: Whatâs there to be happy about?
Reporter: Youâre up 2-0.
Kobe: Jobâs not finished.
Candidly, I have a lot more to accomplish on Special Council that I believe will be to the betterment of the ecosystem. I would characterize the first 4 months on Special Council as primarily dealing with the administration transition. Of course we still had onboarding and other duties, but I definitely think itâs fair to say we were handcuffed and preoccupied with the Administrator transition. I know it was what we signed up for (especially for me being the one who personally kicked off the initial Cartan transition/contingency plan call) x.com
As the first Special Council openly discussed, the administrative tasks/operationalization of the Foundation required of the role was something they did not originally anticipate. Needless to say it was incredibly time consuming, but certainly well worth it for our DAO long-term. While the new Administrator, Webslinger, has had its fair share of growing pains, they are a great long-term partner who share the DAOâs vision of decentralization, the need to work with the APE community, and more. This has been comforting to see considering there are limited options of top-tier providers on-island (Cayman). Please note that I have nothing but respect for Cartan (our previous Administrator); they helped to successfully launch ApeCoin/APE Foundation. Cartan presented what they thought worked best for their business, and that ultimately enabled ApeCoin DAO to decide upon the path it wished to take instead.
What truly motivates me?
People throwing shade on our ApeCoin ecosystem as if we have done nothing. Moreover, individuals seeking to tear down what we have worked so hard to build because they werenât around from the start or they arenât paying keen attention now. We effectively started with nothing but a decentralized network of contributors. Fast forward to today and we have the foundation for a robust ecosystem of contributors working towards shared alignment! We have the Governance working group and more in the pipeline, community members into formal positions around the DAO, activity and voting delegations on the rise, APE Improvement Proposals (AIPs) moving faster than ever, immense work towards sustainability, and so much more.
If you have not figured it out by now, I am ultra-competitive. The market does what the market does but we have our eyes set on the long-term and I firmly believe what we have accomplished to-date is only the beginning for ApeCoin. We are a community, we are a team, and this clip also summarizes my sentiment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho91tvyhmVg&t=42s
Iâm here for ApeCoin to WIN.
Simple as that. I know and understand the work I do on the Special Council is important but only a piece of a bigger puzzle that the community together will complete over a long period of time.
Rationale
Share relevant experience and skills that will bring value to the ApeCoin community
ApeCoin â Special Council 2023
Certainly the experience I bring from being amongst the first cohort of the Special Council that was elected by the ApeCoin community is invaluable. It should come to no surprise how active of a role I have taken this past year both within and outside of Special Council to ensure I am delivering to the best of my abilities within this role.
Furthermore, being potentially the only returning Special Council member of this first cohort, I bring unique perspective and experience when it comes to the work done to operationalize the internal administrative functions of APE Foundation. This includes working through a very time consuming, yet necessary, transition of the Foundationâs Cayman Islands Administrator team. Therefore, I bring continuity and efficiencies that are extremely valuable as we navigate the next phase of the organization and how the role Special Council and other contributors will play into it.
Seasoned Finance and Accounting Professional
I am both a United States CPA and Canadian CPA (Chartered Accountant). My wife and I have a consulting company that offers Executive Officer services (CFO and COO) with a portfolio of clients that include traditional brick-and-mortar, web2, and web3 venture-back blockchain start-up companies.
Notably, over the past 10 years I have been the Chief Financial Officer of a regional healthcare system based in Southern California that primarily consists of acute care hospitals and skilled nursing facilities. During my time I have helped it grow through acquisitions and improving operational efficiencies, which have led to more than doubling its revenues over the years to presently >$250,000,000USD annually.
I am also the CFO of ThriveCoin, which is funded by OG Web3 VCs and powers Thank APE.
I am an experienced professional who is also a 100% NFT degen, including being a Bored Ape Yacht Club member since month-1; I intimately understand the requirements of being a representative of the ApeCoin community.
Advisory Board
AIP-124: Thank APE: Rewarding ApeCoin Members for DAO Contributions
As one of the founding members of Thank APE, I have continued to volunteer my time as a member of its Advisory Board. From what was an idea I worked on since Summer of 2022, Thank APE came to fruition early in 2023 has since seen ApeCoin DAO members rewarded in $APE for their meaningful contributions to our ecosystem. Thank APE has become arguably the most successful and impactful AIP that has driven attention and brought value to the DAO to-date.
Value this brings to the ApeCoin community:
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I am already up to speed with our DAO community and the workings of the Special Council; my time can be better focused on pushing progress rather than getting up to speed. My professional expertise means I can fully comprehend the legal, tax, and regulatory issues facing the DAO. The community can continue to trust in my ability to understand, distill, and then work with fellow council members to attack the most beneficial issues to address for the DAO in the near and long-term.
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Navigating the complexities around legal and regulatory compliance required of this role has never been an issue for me. This allows me to critically think of issues independently of ApeCoin DAOâs legal counsel, administrators, and other partners; this means providing counter positions appropriately should I feel there is a need to challenge for a better position on behalf of the DAOâs community.
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I have proven my ability to work professionally with the current and new council members to ensure our abilities are optimized to execute the vision of the community.
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My familiarity of the DAOâs AIP processes, combined with my professional experience, means I can make an immediate impact and hit the ground running again for the start of the next term.
Specifications
Further describe relevant experience, including crypto and governance participation, and/or ideas for DAO improvement
Crypto governance participation:
Hip Hop Apes DAO
In the Summer 2021 I led the founding of this DAO amongst Hip Hop trait Bored Apes. Given how fast the NFT space moves, we faced a problem with our assets being locked in a multi-sig wallet. To increase efficiency by establishing a hot wallet, I recommended for myself to put up personal NFT collateral to the DAO. This solved the problem to allow the DAO to move quickly on purchases and sales, but still be protected from down-side risk (i.e. still be able to maintain the quality of a trustless environment). Ever since then, I have been the trusted steward of the DAOâs holdings.
Iâm a problem solver and I will take the initiative to get the job done, including finding creative solutions to achieve our collective goals.
Curators Society DAO
I wanted to create and launch an NFT Collector DAO that could scale its participation in a legally appropriate way. Unlike most DAOs in the space that remain unregistered, this meant creating a legal wrapper entity and conducting our activities in a way that we believed could stand up to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, should it ever come under scrutiny.
I went from a simple idea to executing this project with three co-founders, which eventually led us down the path of working with legal counsel in Panama, United States, and Cayman Islands. On the back end, the Curators Society DAO is a foundation based in the Cayman Islands.
Why is this particularly relevant? Because ApeCoin DAO is also a foundation based in the Cayman Islands! Additionally, this gave me the opportunity to directly work with Fenwick & West on this structure, which also happens to be the same firm that represents APE Foundation.
My ambition in this space led me to founding Curators Society DAO and this invaluable experience is something I said last year I would be able to uniquely leverage when working for the ApeCoin DAO community. This has been the case. The unique experience I obtained from setting up a similarly structure DAO as APE Foundation from scratch (months of legal, operational structuring, etc.) has been key to my ability to execute immediately for the DAO within the legal and regulatory constraints ApeCoin DAO and Special Council operates in.
AIPstatus.com
My passion for ApeCoin DAO always extends beyond my work on Special Council. Together with our community at Curators Society and ApeCoin DAO Secretary @Vulkan, I worked on creating a public goods service of AIPstatus.com
This website allows the ApeCoin community to easily review, keep track of AIPs in progress, and visit the deliverables of completed AIPs. Additionally, we created a page that lists top active voter delegates and delegations in order to help AIP author with their work on voter outreach.
Retrospective:
Last year I promised you More Action, Improved Communication, and Better Representation. Below is a quick review of what I presented that we would tackle in my Nomination profile and subsequently, the work I have done together with fellow Special Council members and the DAO to address them:
More Action
- Operationalize processes and frameworks: We completed our Cayman Islands Administrator transition which no other top DAO had done previously to-date. We worked with WG0 stewards and the community to do so efficiently and effectively.
- Established Working Groups: We worked with community members to make this happen. Governance Working Group has been established and now we have elections as well for stewards of Marketing & Communications and Metaverse Working Groups.
- Implement best practices from other DAOs: All throughout the operationalization of the DAOâs internal administrative processes this year we have integrated best practices in all the work we have done.
- Other highlights include implementation of Trademark agreement requests: Process for Requesting a Trademark Agreement [AIP-291]
- For me personally, this also includes the work at Thank APE in collaborating with Nouns Prop House to facilitate grant contests: Prop House
- Committing more than 3 hours per week: there is no question efforts are 10x+ more than this
- Proactive in steering the ship: If the Special Council is not proposing the big ideas, then it needs to be facilitating the environment that ensures they can come from the community.
- While there are always improvements to be made, the confidence for AIPs to make it to vote in a reasonable timeframe is night and day when compared to the past.
- Special Council has worked closely with the discourse facilitators to ensure efficient processes.
- Personally, increasing Governance participation has always been dear to me and the opportunity to have AIPs for staked voting to count in governance for BendDAO, JPEGâd, and ParaX was a long process, but a highlight: x.com
- Be Bold: ApeCoin Guiding Value â âWe donât shy away from the weird, the hard, or the newâ
- A keen observer will notice the types of AIPs going up to vote have ensure minimal roadblocks to the communityâs creativity. This does not happen overnight. We have collectively been an efficient and sophisticated group as a steward in the DAOâs governance process.
Better Representation
- Creating leadership roles outside of the Special Council and increasing the number of active community members.
- We had/have Working Group Zero stewards, Governance Working Group stewards (and Ape Assembly), discourse facilitators, secretary, and more working group stewards on the horizon.
- Building for a Global community
- ApeCoin is making is presence felt globally, but I believe we have much more to go with increasing global representation within the DAOâs day-to-day participation. This is one of my priorities that I continuously work on both in my activities within and outside of Special Council.
- ApeCoin was recently featured and was a visible participant in Hong Kong during ApeFest:
- I worked with our Thank APE Board to support ApeCoin events during ApeFest; here are few:
- Connecting with the ApeCoin community IRL is also important to me:
Improved Communication
- We will have (2x) Community Meetings via Twitter Space with Special Council (at least me):
- Shoutout to @ApeComms holding down 2x Community Hour and a Special Council space each and every week. It is because of them that every week there has been hours each week I have been on stages ready and available to connect with the community.
- Undoubtedly I have been the Special Council member most public on Twitter spaces. I have been open to discourse and regularly provide insights as best as I can.
- I have always been available, answered every DM, call schedule requests, provided AIP feedback, fielded business questions, tax questions, etc.
- Transparency in the AIP proposal process
- The discourse facilitators have been absolutely fantastic and the Special Council supports them as requested; standing meetings included.
- Information from the DAO needs to be made more digestible
- This is an ongoing process that will always be improved. Personally, I have always been available to make clarifications when asked.
- Thoughtful Transparency throughout the organization
- Transparency reports have been implemented on a quarterly basis; wallets listed and can be tied on chain. Monthly grant reports are also issued. Treasury tracker is also on the way. Similar to the above, this is an ongoing process that will always be improved with community feedback.
Last, I pride myself in being a good representative of the ApeCoin community. This year I spoke on numerous panels (always in my personal capacity and never speaking on or behalf of the APE Foundation of course 
). Here is one of my talks at Outer Edge 2023 â Evolution of a DAO:
Ideas for Improvement:
Essentially all of the work above I have been doing related to More Action, Better Representation, and Improved Communication: we are going to run it back, amplify them, and do them much better.
Iterating again top priorities I am keenly tracking and will be elaborating more throughout my election campaign:
- i. solve for specific roles and action needed in our ecosystem in a compliant manner,
- ii. evolve pieces in our ecosystem to bring in more core contributors to the table who can create meaningful value to the DAO,
- iii. facilitate the development of ApeChain(s),
- iv. increase automation where reasonably possible,
- vi. support community sustainability initiatives, and
- vii. get the Special Council back focused on being the Board it was originally intended to be.
Concluding Statement
Summarize your statement as to why you are the best choice for Special Council
I campaigned last year that I could bring my professional experience and skills to be counted upon to operationalize the APE Foundation and ApeCoin DAO. Due to my ability to work collaboratively with all parties involved I humbly offer a proven track record of fulfilling this role, commitment to my word, and ability to get things completed. We have achieved significant success together, but the job is not done.
Your support for me is not a shot in the dark. I have demonstrated that I can be trusted to continue building on our momentum as we look forward to navigating the next chapter for ApeCoin DAO.
I can continue to optimize the value provided by the current council and new members by letting them focus on their strengths, while I do the work in the trenches to support the infrastructure required to bring to life the communityâs vision.
I look forward to connecting and to responding to inquiries here on discourse; my DMs are also open (discourse or Twitter: @BoredApeG).
Thank you again for your consideration.
Gerard Hernandez, CPA
Bored Ape G
) and will require your collaboration and understanding of current SC duties.
