John O’Connor is an experienced technology leader with deep experience in the blockchain space, most prominently as the first hire for the Cardano Foundation. After graduating from Oxford he spent five years in business development and product roles in the advertising technology space before moving into blockchain to help launch Cardano. His roles included Head of Strategy and Ecosystem where he helped propel Cardano to a top ten cryptocurrency. He subsequently moved to Input Output, the engineering company that developed Cardano as the Director of African Operations. In this role he secured a contract with Ethiopian government to build and deploy a blockchain digital identity solution to five million students across the national education system. He is currently working as the CEO of RealFi, a spinout from Input Output. RealFi is a new platform that enables investors to discover and support the growth of underbanked businesses across the global south.