Conflict of Interests Statement

This is a public statement by Bob Summerwill, last updated 29th February 2020, giving a full enumeration of his associations and financial arrangements.

Bob first announced the creation of this statement on Twitter on 29th November 2017:

“I have made a Conflict of Interests Statement on my website and will keep it updated in perpetuity. We are not playing games. We are now talking to heads of state, central bankers, Fortune 500 CEOs, etc. Ethics and transparency are critical.”

This statement is made in the spirit of full disclosure, to avoid any possible future accusation of conflict of interests or unethical financial conduct.

TODO – Version-control this document in git, and then anchor the hash on ETC mainnet periodically.

Crypto holdings

  • My bags:
    • 3.93 BTC (~$34K), 2.0 BTC of which was payment for work from Quantfury and the rest of which was purchased as investment Sep 2019 and Dec 2019
    • 3,160 ETC (~$24K USD)
      • 10 ETC sold for ETH to play CrytoKitties November 2019
      • 2,037 ETC purchased as investment October 2019
      • 1,132 ETC purchased as investment September 2019
    • 73.09 ETH (~$12K USD) … which was $1,000 USD of John Gerryt’s EthEmbedded devgrant, for implementing cross-compilation.
  • Sad story:

Canada Revenue Agency Tax filings

Active Compensated Roles

  • Co-Founder and CTO of Varro Technologies as of April 2018
    • Clients:
    • History of Varro Technologies:
      • Company founded by Alison Alexis and Marc Bellefeuille in Toronto, Ontario in February 2018, with 50/50 share split and just the two directors.
      • Unpaid advisor to Varro from March 2018 with an “unveiling” of Varro at Ethereum Community Conference in Paris 8th March 2018.
      • CTO and Co-Founder from April 2018.
      • Alison Alexis is the only other director and 50% shareholder (also my fiancé and we have a child together). Marc transferred his shares to Bob in August 2018. No money changed hands. Marc was just holding them and was not active in the company.
      • Paperwork as director and 50% shareholder completed August 2018.

Uncompensated, informal relationships

  • I have been a volunteer for the Ethereum Project since July 2015.
  • I am Community Ambassador for CryptoChicks since April 2018.
  • I unsuccessfully stood for election to the Hyperledger Technical Steering Committee (TSC) in August 2018.
  • I have a broad personal and professional network, spanning the games industry, open source projects, technology, financial, blockchain and Ethereum specifically. We talk about things, both publicly and privately.

Personal memberships and affiliations

  • I am a dual-citizen of the UK and Canada (since 1974 and 2010 respectively).
  • I have never been a member of a political party in any country.
  • I have never been a member of any church or religious institution as an adult in any country.
  • I attended state schools in the UK and never attended any private (“public”) schools.
  • I studied BSc Computer Science with Artificial Intelligence at the University of Leeds between 1993-1996. That study was partially state funded, partially funded by my parents and partially funded by student loans. I worked each summer as well.
  • I have never participated in any professional certification programs.
  • I have been an associate member of the Free Software Foundation since 2014.
  • I have been an individual supporter of the Linux Foundation since 2014 (some lapses).
  • I have been an individual member of the Open Source Initiative since 2018.
  • I have been a member of the IEEE since 2020.
  • Kitsilano Software Inc, my company, joined the Tizen Association in 2014.
  • I have been a member of DCTL since October 2019, though visitor since Feb 2014.
  • I have made donations to Wikipedia.
  • I have made donations to the Software Freedom Conservancy.
  • I have made donations to the Software Freedom Law Centre.
  • I first donated to Electronic Frontier Foundation in November 2019 and intend to make annual donations from now on.
  • I have made various other charitable donations in my lifetime. Not enough.

Prior Compensated Roles

  • Religious Education Centre, University College of Wales, Bangor (part-time work while at school and University, 1988-1993)
  • Poundstretcher and Halifax (clerical work via some awful temp agency in Leeds, 1994)
  • School of Computer Science, University of Leeds (work during summer, 1995)
  • Sony Psygnosis (full-time permanent employee, 1996-1999). Started at £18K, I think. Vacations and benefits.
  • Electronic Arts UK (full-time permanent employee, 1999-2003). Ranging from £25K to £40K, I think, plus stock options, plus restricted stock purchases and grants, paid vacation and benefits. Job transfer to Canada.
  • Electronic Arts Canada (full-time permanent employee, 2003-2014). $85K CDN to $125K CDN, plus stock options, plus restricted stock purchases and grants, paid vacation and benefits. Resigned to join Roadhouse.
  • Roadhouse Interactive (full-time permanent employee, 2014). $125K CDN, paid vacations and benefits. Failed probation after 3 months.
  • Kitsilano Software Inc (and the doublethink.co defacto Trade Name) was a BC Corporation with Bob Summerwill as the sole director and sole officer, operated from 2014 until late 2017. The corporation never generated any revenue from products – only from Bob’s own contracted work. Kitsilano Software Inc hired various contractors in 2014 and 2015 – Damien Diederen, Dimitar Dobrev, Thomas Hauk, Mahram Foadi, Anthony Cros.
  • DeNA (working as contractor via Kitsilano Software Inc, 2014). $120K CDN, 6% additional pay in lieu of paid vacation. Terminated after 6 weeks.
  • SCEA San Diego (working as consultant for The Payroll Edge via Kitsilano Software Inc, 2015). $120 USD per hour hours billable, plus expenses for travel to San Diego once, for around 6 weeks.
  • TD Securities (working as contractor for Procom via Kitsilano Software Inc, 2015). $120 CDN per hour, hours billable, capped at 37.5 hours per week. No vacation. No benefits. No expenses for travel or accomodation. 6 month contract expired and not renewed.
  • Prizorgo (working as contractor via Kitsilano Software Inc, 2015). $120 CDN per hour hours billable for several months, but low cadence, because I was spending so much time volunteering on Ethereum. Work transitioned to others.
  • Ethereum Foundation (working as contractor for ETHDEV Berlin via Kitsilano Software Inc, 2016). Hours billable at $60 CDN per hour, initially capped at 20 hours per week, updated to 40 hours per week after a month. No paid vacation. No benefits. Worked for around 8 months and then resigned in frustration.
  • ConsenSys AG (working as contractor via Kitsilano Software Inc, 2016-2017). Pro-rated at $120K USD p/a. No paid vacation. No benefits. Expenses. Worked there for a year – almost exclusively working on EEA. Resigned to join Sweetbridge.
  • Advisor for Finhaven (formerly Frontier Foundry, 2017-2018). Had potential to purchase 0.5% of Common Stock. Option not used. Expenses. $0 billed ever.
  • Independent Contractor, Sweetbridge Inc, Phoenix, AZ (via Kitsilano Software Inc) from October 2017 to May 2018. $11K USD per month (100% in CDN from Feb 2018 onwards). Was 90% in CDN, 10% SWC for Nov 2017, Dec 2017 and Jan 2018 invoices. 20% discount on token price though to 12/31/17 (unused). Expenses. Unlimited vacation. No benefits

There is more information on these roles in my LinkedIn profile.