[OSGeo-Discuss] candidate manifesto - Jeff McKenna

Fri Oct 13 00:15:50 PDT 2017

Jeff

Thank you for you eloquent account of your upbringing and the list of your contributions to OSGeo over many years. The community is fortunate to be the beneficiary of your passion. 

Could you please respond to Cameron's request for an explanation of your two previous mid term resignations from the board. I think the members deserve openness on this matter

Steven

> On 12 Oct 2017, at 20:01, Jeff McKenna <jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com> wrote:
> 
> Jeff McKenna
> 
> About me
> --------
> 
> Hey friends and family!  To say it is an honour to be nominated to again help represent the whole OSGeo community, is kind of an understatement for me.  I’ve been working hard within the community for so long, lately helping with the little things for the foundation, that when Nick and others reached out to me asking for me to help the organization at the leadership level for 2017, there was only one answer for me, yes!  :) Thank you to all that have reached out to me in support recently, so many from all over the world, your support means so much to me.
> I think who I am has a lot to do with my parents, and I give them credit for giving me the opportunity to grow and then shine.  I am a product of a working-class family; my father was born and raised on a farm, and as I am the first-born, he taught me to get to know what hard work is.  My mother was the lead nurse in the Emergency hospital ward for 46 years, and she taught me true compassion for people, for everyone, no matter who they are – this ‘caring’ of people really stuck in me from my mother.
> I would go on in life to become many things, which I was for many years so embarrassed by, but later I would become proud of them: 1) many years in university as a Civil Engineer (too young, from age 17, just wrong timing), 2) registered nurse (you have to step into someone’s shoes sometimes to really understand them), 3) initial attack forest fire fighting (making it to the elite 4-person heli-tack team in Canada was a proud moment, and again taught me hard work ethic and to help people and the environment, literally at the sound of an alarm bell and having to run to a helicopter within 3 minutes, to help some remote area anywhere in Canada, with no questions asked – got to experience remote areas of Northern Canada where few people get to see, and meet & become friends with so many good people, that are unfortunately underrepresented – this taught me to help stand up for those underrepresented, and help them shine),  4) hard manual labour directly on an automotive line making Honda Civics (during my summers as a student), really gave me early interactions with a successful Asian company, in a production line the size of 3 football fields long, teaching me the importance of quality assurance, & teamwork, and how important even the smallest of tasks is, for the end product, 5) professional ice hockey (playing in the United States, where I learned to respect the effort required to be a professional athlete, and that even playing a ‘game’ takes a lot of non-glorious tasks all year long), someone recently reminded me that I was a team captain at every level I played (college, university, etc.) and 6) finally back to my love of the world, and innovation, to find my calling in a new program (at the time the first ever 4 year degree program in North America in GIS), then called “Geographic Information Processing”, for my thesis I focused on “freeware” and Open Source. Somehow the Open Source community was an absolute natural fit me for, where teamwork, caring, doing the little things, hard work, and getting to know friends from all over the world, became my true calling.  With OSGeo and the community, I had found my true home.
> I hope this helps people understand me, why I care, about people and communities from all over the world, why I literally hop on a plane with little notice to go help an OSGeo community grow, and share the OSGeo passion.
> 
> My vision
> ---------
> 
> My vision has always been to help all communities, to give the quiet new person sitting at the back of the huge room the spotlight in OSGeo, to help that community grow, and then shine.  I have also tried to make OSGeo feel like a family, where the family stretches all over the world.  I have tried to make local leaders more visible, promoting their local events to the world stage.  Really my vision for OSGeo is, and has always been, to share, to laugh, to make friends, and to have fun.
> 
> What you have done within the community in the past
> ---------------------------------------------------
> 
> Much of my focus is around FOSS4G, in the past and currently.  I have tried to bring the event, as any size big or small, to all areas of the world.  Early on I created a process and a document (still used today in some form) to help make sure that FOSS4G moves around the world, to all parts, with the goal of planting a seed in the local community.  More recently I focus on smaller FOSS4G events, just doing the little things to help those communities grow, for events such as FOSS4G-Asia in 2018 in Sri Lanka, or discussions of new events such as FOSS4G-MENA (Middle East and North Africa), or FOSS4G-Kuwait (initial discussions happening now).  At FOSS4G-Boston there was talk of another FOSS4G-Australia, in 2018, and I am excited to throw my hat in for that too.  At the recent FOSS4G-Paris I happily committed to help the FOSS4G local event in Ireland as well, in 2018.
> 
> Speaking of FOSS4G-Paris, it was there and also at FOSS4G-Boston where I met face-to-face with LocationTech leaders Marc Vloemans and Thea Aldrich; great discussions, and I would do anything to do that again with them.  Maybe Marc is more known in OSGeo circles, but Thea is also a true leader, and I hope everyone reading gets a chance to meet Thea and talk with her and experience her passion for Open.  Thea: you could be getting a keynote invite from me, for a future FOSS4G event ;)
> 
> For a very long time now I have focused on local chapters, helping create a new chapter, maybe just little things like helping setup a new mailing list, copy/pasting a new chapter page, and giving them the tools and passion they need to shine.  I also, and many can attest to this I bet, follow and comment on most local chapter mailing lists, even if discussions are happening in other languages.  For 10 years now I have been using translating tools (Bablefish, GoogleTranslate, whatever) to follow discussions and comment, which helps local communities feel part of the whole foundation.  It’s just what I do, every single day, for OSGeo.
> 
> More recently in the past few years I have helped as a co-CRO for elections.  Again, just doing the little things that are needed in this community, and helping new members shine.  The joy and honour I see from new Charter members, when they learn of nominations, is so special to me, and really it’s why I do this – to give them that joy, and make them feel special and part of OSGeo, part of something special.
> 
> Even more recent I have tried to help with Google Summer of Code, and now the Google Code-in.  I just really think that these are the future leaders of our industry, and if I can do a few things to help them experience OSGeo, that is a good thing.  This experience has helped me too, as I’ve watched OSGeo leaders and do-ers Madi and Helli in action, up close, and I’ve actually learned a lot from both of them.
> 
> I should probably mention the MapServer project, where I try to help too – funny, a few weeks ago someone said to me in person at an event “I saw you do a release, the night before you flew in for your talk”, I said “yes of course, this is what I do” with a smile ha.  For the OSGeo community.
> 
> What your interests are in terms of the board
> ---------------------------------------------
> 
> During my past years on the Board I focused on helping new initiatives grow, often by documenting MoU’s (wiki editing, nothing glorious), documenting new OSGeo projects (again nothing glorious, just wiki edits and website edits), and in general working with these new teams and welcoming them into OSGeo.  I am proud to be part of important meetings with other community leaders in the early stages of GeoForAll, for the critical initial meetings for the OSGeo-UN relationship, and countless others.  I take those meetings very seriously, and did everything I can to make sure I was there in person.  I know the importance of these meetings and MoUs, even if they seem more for visual than for outcomes, at the time – the outcomes come years later, making those initial meetings very important.   In my next Board term, I would again like to focus on those relationships.
> 
> Any things that you would like to change or introduce
> -----------------------------------------------------
> 
> I would like to introduce leveraging our ~390 Charter members more often at the Board level.  This means: I actually want to install LimeSurvey (the Open survey software we use for elections) on an OSGeo server, create voting.osgeo.org domain, and then regularly ask the Charter members for input on foundation decisions.  We haven’t really leveraged the strength of our Charter members, other than for elections.  I feel that our Charter members should have more say in the decisions of our foundation.
> As I already mentioned above, we really need to focus on sharing OSGeo to new focus areas, such as the Middle East, and have more representation from areas all over including South America, Russia, etc.  I would like to see Board members in the next few years from those areas that I mentioned, playing a big part in the future of OSGeo.
> 
> What role you would wish to fulfill on the board (if any)
> ---------------------------------------------------------
> 
> I would like to help with the leadership of OSGeo, in any capacity. Many years ago I mentioned what I called an “Executive Board” for OSGeo (a president, and a VP) so that the executive board can all help with important high-level tasks – I think it is superb that the recent OSGeo Board has setup this, with 2 VPs.  This will really help spread tasks around at the highest level. (to be honest, I only mentioned “Executive Board” for OSGeo because many years ago I was a VP of a local non-profit organization with what they called an “Executive Board”, and that’s why I knew it worked)    I look forward to working in the OSGeo Board with that structure in place, it really helps.  Thanks current OSGeo Board!
> 
> Why OSGeo?
> ----------
> 
> I’m adding this question, because I think it is an important question to ask, whether you are new to OSGeo, a founding Charter member, new to the Board, or possibly entering another term at the Board level.  To me OSGeo is a foundation that is truly Open.  We share, our software, our passion, our code, our fun, our laughter, our struggles, our challenges, and we grow into one big strong family.  Our community is special, we are vibrant, we hold events that are fun, where people are approachable, where learning and sharing is most important, where no judging or criticisms exist, where people can be themselves, as themselves, and be part of the OSGeo community, just like that, for life.   I am proud to be a part of this community, and proud to dedicate time to the OSGeo foundation.  Thank you for reading, and, I hope to see you in person soon, at an OSGeo event big or small, where I can share my big laugh and big smile with you.
> 
> Fate: on the exact day that this voting decision is announced, I’ll be right where I am supposed to be: with OSGeo friends and family, keynoting a core FOSS4G event, FOSS4G- State of the Map-Argentina.
> 
> Please take the time to read and learn to know each 2017 Board nominee. Your vote as a Charter member is important and valued.
> 
> -- 
> Jeff McKenna
> President Emeritus, OSGeo Foundation
> http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Jeff_McKenna
> 
> 
> 
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