Governor Note: Sushi Head Chef

Key Insights

• Jared Grey became the Head Chef of Sushi after receiving 11 million out of the 13 million total votes.
• Asset management firms Cumberland and GoldenTree swayed the election with a combined 8.1 million votes.
• Community backlash surfaced with criticisms of overly centralized voting practices and allegations of Grey’s past dealings.
• Jared Grey will begin his term optimizing user experience and development processes in order to create a solid foundation for Sushi to extend product offerings.

Introduction

On May 11, 2022, the Sushi community voted in favor of a four-year plan to restructure the Sushi organization (again), which included the introduction of a new Head Chef. Despite Sushi DAO having been without a Head Chef since 0xMaki stepped down in September of 2021, the first proposal nominating Jonathan Howard, an NFT project leader with prior experience in computer science and art, to fill the role sparked a large debate within the community. The initial proposal saw immediate backlash regarding the compensation package and Jonathan Howard's qualifications to fulfill the duties of the role. After large community debates, five Head Chef nominations, and multiple votes, Jared Grey was ultimately elected to fill the role of Head Chef.

Head Chef Election Timeline

The election process lasted a little over two months beginning with the proposal to elect Jonathan Howard on July 26, 2022. After a large community debate, new proposals were posted to the Sushi forum to gauge community sentiment on Head Chef compensation and to separate all potential candidates.

The results of the Head Chef Compensation and Candidate Separation proposal voted on by the community are as follows:

• Annual Base Salary: $500,000
• Sushi Price Target Ranges for Bonus Compensation: $5, $7, $9, $11, and $13
• Total SUSHI for Roadmap and Price Targets: 750,000 SUSHI
• Initial Cliff for Sushi Compensation: 12 month cliff
• Contract Length: 24 months
• Severance Length: 6 months

With the compensation parameters approved, a follow-up forum post and Snapshot vote were created. They outlined the month-long process for electing the next Head Chef, as well as nominating the five candidates running. Jonathan Howard was not included in the final list of candidates for the Head Chef position. The five nominees were Jared Grey, Andy Forman, Kenneth Hurley, Jared Cohen, and Paul Walton.

Sushi Head Chef Election: 2 Out of 391 Equals a Majority

Voting on the Sushi Head Chef Election - Final Vote lasted from Sep. 2, 2022, to Oct. 3, 2022, at which point Jared Gray was elected as the next Head Chef of Sushi, receiving over 80% of the votes. Although the election drew attention from across the ecosystem, only a small fraction of eligible voters participated in the final vote, which ultimately led to two large voters deciding the results of the election. Cumberland and GoldenTree, two large stakeholders, accounted for 8.1 million of the 13 million total votes.

There’s nothing new about substantial DAO votes being decided by VCs and other large stakeholders. Various community members voiced concerns over the election being decided by these larger groups/tokenholders, while others took the backing of VCs as a positive signal. With one of the larger KPIs for the Head Chef role surrounding the price of SUSHI, it does seem logical for the largest stakeholders to participate in the election. The relationship between stakeholders, token price, and governance is further reinforced by the SUSHI price target bonus package included in the proposal.

However, 389 of the remaining 391 voters could have voted for a different candidate in opposition to Cumberland and GoldenTree, and the election results would have remained the same. The outcome provides a clear example of inequalities within the coin voting governance model. Because individuals or entities can buy voting power, there is no guarantee that proposals that pass through governance are aligned with the long-term health or vision of the DAO.
The Sushi community has explored the flaws of token governance in previous proposals, such as the Sushi Meiji Restoration proposal. This proposal was introduced on August 3, 2022, and it outlines a new governance model that separates the token price and protocol governance as an alternative to the current model.

Head Chef

The Head Chef role acts as one of the critical pieces in the DAO’s transition to Sushi 2.0. After emphasizing organizational efforts in the Sushi 2.0 roadmap, the community turned its focus to recruiting leadership capable of executing this roadmap. The Head Chef of Sushi acts as the CEO and is tasked with the day-to-day management of operations. With Sushi’s transition to Sushi 2.0 underway, the goal of the Head Chef search was to bring on a highly motivated candidate to lead the development and fulfill the roadmap as proposed.

While the blog post did not outline a clear compensation package, the Sushi community quickly started to debate this topic. Jonathan Howard’s initial Head Chef proposal included a compensation package consisting of $800,000 (in USDC) annually as a base salary, 350,000 SUSHI upon milestone completions, and 1.2 million SUSHI to be issued upon SUSHI hitting various price targets.

Jared Grey, Head Chef of Sushi

Source: Sushi

Background

Jared Grey graduated from Middle Tennessee State University with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering and worked as a computer engineer for over twenty years in the tech industry. From 2004 to 2016, Grey worked at MultiPlex PC, a high-performing IT and engineering consulting firm that he founded. Since 2016, Grey has served as CEO of a centralized exchange (Bitfineon), founded his own DeFi project (EONS), and raised millions in both public and private rounds to build out projects. Grey’s focus as Head Chef will primarily be on optimizing user experience, brand messaging, and operations.

Just a few days after the election, a Twitter thread made multiple allegations dating back to 2012 concerning Grey’s past. These allegations include copyright infringement via MultiPlex PC, charging 1 BTC for Bitfineon asset listings that were ultimately never listed, questionable activity in regards to ALQO (which was later renamed EONS), and more. A Twitter account was created in 2019 to track the activity of ALQO. Shortly after these accusations were made, Grey claimed the accusations to be false.

Roadmap

Grey’s roadmap for the first year as Head Chef will emphasize user experience optimization, brand messaging, and operations. He will first focus on optimizing Sushi’s user experience, starting with user experience audits and gathering feedback from focus groups while outlining the highest ROI improvements.

Following user experience optimization, Grey’s focus will shift to new product offerings as an addition to Sushi’s current product offering. Some proposed products include a Sushi mobile app and possible asset-backed token additions to the Kashi lending market (including real-world assets).

Conclusion

The election of Jared Grey as the Head Chef of Sushi was proclaimed as the “first-ever community/DAO driven election of a Head Chef,” but the decision really came down to two large voters.

In the near term, Grey’s primary goal is to create a solid foundation upon which the Sushi protocol can thrive. The first steps will be to optimize the development processes and user experience. Once a solid foundation is established, the focus will shift to developing new products to expand the Sushi protocol’s offering. If the allegations against Grey are any signal of what’s to come, Sushi DAO could potentially witness more drama around leadership positions in the future.