The Cardano Community team is proud to announce our new Community Managers: Niels Schoof (@Katsumoto) and Andy Hendrikx (@Andy_Hendrikx)! To all of you in the Cardano community, these won’t be new faces! Both Niels and Andy have been a part of the community since Cardano’s official mainnet launch in October 2017 and have actively been a part of the community’s moderation team for Telegram and Reddit.

We met Niels in the online world when the community team set up the official Cardano Telegram groups. There was an existing unofficial group where Niels was an admin and we collaborated with him to help with the transition to ensure the community wasn’t fractured. Niels comes from a medical background where he worked with x-ray imagery, machinery and patient care. And one of his past hobbies was building PC’s from scratch and playing FPS and MMORPGs. In the early 2000’s, he came across a project called BOINC (Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing). With this project, one could use their computer’s processing power to help solve advanced and difficult medical, mathematical & scientific problems. And because of its similarities, when Bitcoin came along, Niels was automatically interested in blockchain technology. When he’s not at his computer answering community queries about the project, you can find Niels in his garden, out in nature, relaxing and spending time with family and friends. He’s also very interested in Japanese swords and culture, and can speak three languages!

Andy’s role prior to joining the Community team was a teacher in IT for youth and adults. His experience in teaching has already proven beneficial when educating and informing users in the cryptocurrency space. After surviving the MT.Gox and BTC-E collapse, Andy went searching for trustworthy exchanges and upon registering for Bittrex, discovered Ada. He read all of the Cardano documents available at the time and was hooked by the philosophy behind the project. He liked that Cardano had a scientific research basis, how it analysed lessons learned from other projects and its growing team of brilliant researchers, cryptographers and developers. Andy first joined the community through the Cardano Reddit, which was not the most welcoming place at that time. He quickly took the initiative and contacted the Community team to volunteer his time to help manage the page and to moderate. Andy is also a car enthusiast, Belgian beer lover and PC Gamer.

When we separately asked Niels and Andy what their favourite thing about the community was, it was interesting to hear that both of them had the same response. They appreciate that the community is made up of committed, intelligent people who can engage in well-balanced, meaningful discussions. There’s a no-nonsense approach that focuses on all the good research and advances being made in the project, rather than complaining or attacking other projects.

Both Andy and Niels were also a part of the Guardians of Cardano and it is clear that they truly care for the Cardano community. As they join the team, they will continue to focus on improving all of the Cardano community channels, growing out the Ambassador program and helping to be the ears and voice for the community!

Please join us in officially welcoming them!