[Board] Choosing the next President of OSGeo

[Cameron Shorter]

Thanks Jeff for pushing this along. I also wanted to give ourselves a 
bit more time than a 1 hour IRC using allows to consider selection of 
the president. More inline ...

On 18/08/2012 5:28 AM, Jeff McKenna wrote:
> On 12-08-17 3:47 PM, Jeff McKenna wrote:
>> Arnulf did an amazing job as President.  He traveled the world
>> representing OSGeo for many many years.
>>
>> Now I wonder how anyone else could do that, and yet still "keep the
>> lights on".  He worked so hard at it that it is almost impossible to
>> fill his shoes (and be able to pay the bills, have a regular life).  He
>> did it all on his own money, never once requesting financial assistance.
>>
>> So how do we adjust this role to life-after-the-Arnulf-borg ? :)
>>
>> Mike Smith and I had a long Skype talk this morning about this. But I
>> feel we should all openly discuss our thoughts, before the short meeting
>> slot on Monday.  Mike did say that a lot of Arnulf's role would now be
>> filled by Cameron's "OSGeo Advocates".  But I'd love to hear everyone's
>> thoughts on this.

I agree with you Jeff. If we are limited to one person being the face of 
OSGeo, then we limit advocacy provided to that one person's time 
availability.

I believe we should play up the importance of all board members, and 
play down the importance of president/chair, such that we can spread the 
advocacy workload.

And as much as possible, we should be pushing advocacy to the greater 
"OSGeo Advocate" roles.

I'd also be suggesting that conference insisting to have an OSGeo Board 
member over an OSGeo Advocate speaking at their conference should be 
paying expenses (which would probably also include paying for the board 
member's time).

> In my offlist talks with Mike this morning, I came up with my own
> shortlist of OSGeo Presidential candidates on the Board: Frank, Daniel,
> and Cameron.
>
> Frank: needs no explanation.  He may not have time for outreach though,
> but he is high on my list.
>
> Daniel: well spoken and professional, thorough and good at everything he
> tackles.  This role may clash with his treasurer role though.
>
> Cameron: a strong international voice for OSGeo, and his written
> documents/emails are always very impressive.

I agree with your recommendations for all bar myself. While honoured to 
be suggested, my family commitments are such that I'm not expecting to 
do any travel on behalf of OSGeo during my time as a board member. 
Despite what I've mentioned above, there will be significant pressure on 
the president to travel, and I'm not up for it.

>
> Other thoughts:
>
> Venka used a term to describe several of us recently: "FOSS4G Heroes".
> Great description.  Call it also evangelist if you wish.  I see myself
> in that category.  I/we are boots-on-the-ground guys, and I don't
> necessarily see myself fitting well in such a presidential role (indeed
> I lack the funding to do the necessary outreach).  I'd much rather
> continue my low-level focus on FOSS4G and local chapters.
>
> By the way, if I could actually nominate anyone from the OSGeo community
> to be the President of OSGeo, I have no doubt, it would be Venkatesh
> Raghavan. http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Venkatesh_Raghavan

Looking at our Advocate page, we are still missing yourself Jeff, Frank, 
and Venka.
Any chance we could get that updated.
http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/OSGeo_Advocate#Process_for_becoming_an_OSGeo_Advocate
Note that I've been strict on people sticking to the template in order 
to keep consistency and a look of professionalism.

>
> -jeff
>
>
>
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Cameron Shorter
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