Intersect isn’t a traditional institution. It’s a growing, open, member-led organization made up of the same dedicated individuals who drive Cardano forward every day: builders, SPOs, developers, dApp teams, researchers, governance thinkers, and more.

As Cardano continues to move forward toward fully decentralized governance, Intersect is also evolving and refining its role, recommitting to its founding purpose and stepping further into a lighter support layer for the ecosystem.

In that spirit, following initial decisions by our current member-led Council, the Steering Committee, and the Board, we’ve made a decision: Intersect will not stand for election to the forthcoming Constitutional Committee.

This completes the mix of all appointed seats on the ICC not seeking election, but all continuing to serve up to their term length, expiring at the end of Epoch 580

This move presents another opportunity further to establish Intersect as a neutral and impartial body. This is a deliberate transition, affirming Intersect’s long-term direction: to serve the Cardano ecosystem as a neutral enabler, creating the conditions for others to build, govern, and thrive.

Why this decision matters

Intersect stepping aside from candidacy is a reflection of the values we aim to uphold - decentralization, participation, and trust.

• It creates space for fresh, elected voices from across the ecosystem while moving towards a more neutral and impartial supporting body.
• It is a clear signal that community-led governance is the goal.
• It enables those who served to bring their experience into new constellations, whether through consortia, advisory roles, or governance innovation.

Several of our Council members have expressed interest in continuing their contributions through new community-formed groups, bringing with them the lessons learned in this formative chapter. 

A role played with purpose

During the interim period, Intersect was given a role to act as one of seven voting members of the ICC, stewarding the Constitution and evaluating governance actions for alignment with the founding principles.

Though unelected, this role was designed with checks and separation in mind. The Intersect Constitutional Council, comprising named individuals from the Intersect membership, operated independently of the organization’s operational committees and working groups. Every decision was made with impartiality and constitutional fidelity.

The members who have represented Intersect’s Constitutional Council are Hosky, Jose Miguel De Gambo, Mercy Fordwoo, Mauro Agustin Andreoli, Ubio Obu, Ian Hartwell, Juan Sierra, and Eystein Hansen.

As with all members of the interim Constitutional Committee, Intersect’s seat and Council will continue in this interim capacity until the newly elected Constitutional Committee takes effect.

What was it like to serve?

To understand the value of this service, we would like to share reflections from our Council members, individuals who have taken on the serious and sometimes invisible work of Cardano’s constitutional guardianship.

"It’s less about what any individual member wants and entirely about whether a proposed action is constitutional."  Juan Sierra — Council Member

From long hours spent interpreting proposals to balancing nuance and neutrality, the role has been far more than administrative. It’s been foundational. We’ve seen how difficult and delicate it can be to navigate the intersection of principle, interpretation, and community expectations, but also how rewarding it is to do so with transparency and respect.

Members have reflected on their experiences with us, which included unexpected camaraderie, the steep learning curve, and, importantly, the pride that comes from building something new and necessary.

Enabling Governance: The Council Toolkit

To support Intersect’s Council through this period, we developed bespoke tooling to aid operations. The open source Council Toolkit (see repository) was designed to enable council members to use standard wallet software to control Intersect’s ICC voting keys (as per the Credential Manager system).

The toolkit achieves this by;

• Using standard wallet interfaces to connect to Cardano wallets
• Automating vote transaction inspection and validation
• Allowing users to produce signatures for vote transactions

With the stepping down of the Intersect Council, Intersect plans to continue maintaining and developing this toolkit to support Cardano’s Constitutional Committee. The high-level plan is to improve the toolkit to be more generic for all Committee members, with a broader scope and feature set - see discussion Future Direction for this project.

Looking ahead

As with all members of the ICC, Intersect’s role was always intended to be temporary and fixed-term. From the outset, we knew we would seek guidance from our current Council, Steering Committee, and Governing Board on the role we should play once our term concludes. With a clear signal to step back from the decision-making seat and support others in moving forward, we remain fully committed to fostering education, participation, and the smooth functioning of decentralized governance.

We’ll continue working with DReps, committees, toolmakers, and community groups - not to steer the ship, but to help ensure everyone can navigate it together.

Thank you to our Council Members

As the tenure of the Intersect Constitutional Council winds down, we extend deep thanks to every individual who took on this responsibility. Your service helped shape a pivotal moment in Cardano’s governance history. A big thank you again to all who served on the Council: Jose Miguel De Gambo, Mercy Fordwoo, Mauro Agustin Andreoli, Ubio Obu, Ian Hartwell, Hosky, Juan Sierra, Nicodermus Rodriguez, Adam Rusch, and Eystein Magnus Hansen.

The work of the Intersect Constitutional Council will continue until the fully elected Constitutional Committee has been ratified on-chain.

If you have a passion for constitutional governance, value thoughtful decision-making, and want to help shape Cardano’s future, we encourage you to consider standing as a candidate. Applications close May 31st, 6 pm UTC
Apply here.