This month, we are privileged to have our very own John Licciardello and Clara Shikhelman joining us as speakers.



John Licciardello (Ecosystem Development Fund Managing Director) will discuss IOTA's plans to support the development of projects within the IOTA ecosystem, and how your project can receive financial support from the fund. More about the IOTA Ecosystem Fund:

https://blog.iota.org/announcing-the-iota-ecosystem-339612656bc3



Clara Shikhelman (Research Scientist) will discuss more about the fundamental technical underpinnings of the IOTA Tangle as well as some of the latest research topics she is covering.



*EDIT* please use this sign up link to register for our event space. They need our names in their system for entry. Don’t worry though, it’s free!



https://theassemblage.spaces.nexudus.com/en/events/view/579752204/iota-foundation-april-meetup)



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Once a month, IOTA brings together speakers, builders, and technologists to discuss innovations in cryptocurrency, decentralized systems, and distributed ledgers.



*NOTE: We will be sending out a free registration link to all participants for the event space in a separate message. Keep a lookout.



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About the Speakers:



John Licciardello

John has built a career focused on financial innovation. Following his undergraduate degree, John moved to Mexico City where he played a key role in an early stage financial technology startup. The venture developed and brought to market an innovative and patented product to empower unbanked remittance beneficiaries to access any ATM. From 2011 to 2015, John had an active role in all aspects of the business from IT to finance. He spearheaded the integration of the technology with over 2,000 points of sale across Mexico, and played a leading role in closing a $10 million Series-A financing round. This experience — developing a market-based solution to help those most disadvantaged by the current financial system — ignited a passion in John to build a career working on financial innovations enabling the economically disenfranchised to build a better life.

Building on this career focus, John has recently spent time with the Innovative Finance and Program Related Investments divisions of The Rockefeller Foundation. In this role, John learned how to view an original finance solution from the investor’s point of view. These teams at The Rockefeller Foundation deploy ‘high-risk’ capital to state-of-the-art finance solutions with the potential to mobilize significant private sector capital towards positive social and environmental impact. John completed the necessary due diligence of new proposals and assisted in the management of the active portfolio which included financial technologies using blockchain, financial engineering solutions, and pioneering fund structures. John currently manages the IOTA Ecosystem Fund.



Clara Shikhelman

Clara has shown interest in mathematics from a young age. Following her passion for the field, she commenced her studies at Tel Aviv University at the age of 14. After serving in the IDF as an R&D team leader in a leading intelligence unit, she resumed her studies. She received her Masters degree from the Weizmann Institute and returned to Tel Aviv University where she is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Mathematics under the supervision of Prof. Noga Alon.

Her main research interests are Graph Theory, Combinatorics and random aspects of both. In recent years she became interested in the emerging field of cryptocurrency/distributed ledger technology, and the mathematics behind it.

Clara is a frequent visiting scholar in universities such as Harvard and Princeton. She also loves giving public talks about mathematics and especially about the hidden mathematics in ״Alice in Wonderland״.