<div dir="ltr"><span id="gmail-docs-internal-guid-8f3939c9-7fff-b3df-2c5d-5530c8fbde61"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Dear OSGeo Community,</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">We trust you are all doing well and we wish you a happy new year, full of happiness, peace, and power to achieve whatever you plan. </span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Let us take a moment to reflect on the last year and congratulate ourselves for the amazing work we accomplished as a community. </span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">After a 2-year break, our community enjoyed a successful FOSS4G 2022 in Florence, Italy. A big shout out to the FOSS4G 2022  LOC (local organizing committee) for their immense hard work. </span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Now, we are excited to support FOSS4G 2023 [1] which will take place in Prizren, Kosovo. We wish the best to the LOC, the FLOSSK in their work and echo they have our full support.</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">It is extremely satisfying to see that our community is expanding. This year, we had 37 new members joining as Charter Members [2]. A warm welcome to all and we look forward to your continued contributions in 2023. OSGeo’s official Telegram channel [3] was reactivated just after FOSS4G 2022 for enhancing connectivity. It is also bridged via OSGeo’s matrix - so you can communicate with everyone if you want to use IRC, Element, or a matrix client of your choice [4] - as well as the Telegram client. Please join in if you haven’t already (<a href="https://t.me/+CPX1K4L0uuY0MDA0">https://t.me/+CPX1K4L0uuY0MDA0</a>). 😀</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The board elections were also conducted successfully with Ariel Anthieni joining the board and replacing Dr. Michele Tobias who decided to not run again. We thank Dr. Michele Tobias for her timely and productive contributions to the Board. The new board [5] convenes for the first time in  January 2023.</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">With the intention of being closer to the community, in 2022 the OSGeo Board started to send a succinct summary of meetings. We hope that in the rush of every day’s work, the community members can find out in a 3 min read what the board has been up to. For a more direct line, the meetings are held on an open platform and are open for public participation. The meeting minutes for the last meeting can be found at [6].</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">In 2022, we progressed with starting and concluding various initiatives and signing new MoUs. This truly strengthens our community, so we plan to keep it up in the year to come! </span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">In name of the whole board, I wish you all the best for 2023!</span></p><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Cheers,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Rajat</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><font color="#000000">[1] </font><a href="https://2023.foss4g.org/" style="background-color:transparent;font-family:"Times New Roman";font-size:11pt;white-space:pre;text-decoration-line:none"><span style="font-size:11pt;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">https://2023.foss4g.org/</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:"Times New Roman";font-size:11pt;white-space:pre-wrap">[2] <a href="https://www.osgeo.org/foundation-news/welcoming-our-new-osgeo-charter-members-2022/">https://www.osgeo.org/foundation-news/welcoming-our-new-osgeo-charter-members-2022/</a></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><font color="#000000">[3] </font><a href="https://t.me/OSGeoorg" style="background-color:transparent;font-family:"Times New Roman";font-size:11pt;white-space:pre;text-decoration-line:none"><span style="font-size:11pt;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">https://t.me/OSGeoorg</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt">[4] <a href="https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Matrix" style="background-color:transparent;font-family:"Times New Roman";font-size:11pt;white-space:pre;text-decoration-line:none"><span style="font-size:11pt;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Matrix</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="background-color:transparent">[5] </span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:"Times New Roman";font-size:11pt;white-space:pre-wrap"><a href="https://www.osgeo.org/about/board/">https://www.osgeo.org/about/board/</a></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;text-align:justify;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><font color="#000000">[6] </font><a href="https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Board_Meeting_2022-12-29" style="background-color:transparent;font-family:"Times New Roman";font-size:11pt;white-space:pre;text-decoration-line:none"><span style="font-size:11pt;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Board_Meeting_2022-12-29</span></a></p></span><br class="gmail-Apple-interchange-newline"><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="georgia, serif" color="#0000ff">--</font></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="georgia, serif" color="#0000ff">Rajat Shinde</font></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="georgia, serif" color="#0000ff">Vice President - <a href="https://www.osgeo.org/about/board/" target="_blank">Board of Directors</a></font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font face="georgia, serif" color="#0000ff">Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo).</font></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12pt"><font face="georgia, serif" color="#0000ff"><a href="http://home.iitb.ac.in/~rajatshinde" target="_blank">http://home.iitb.ac.in/~rajatshinde</a></font></p></div></div></div></div></div>