[Board] President and President-elect

[Seven (aka Arnulf)]

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Jeff,
thanks for picking up the thread. One year as president-elect and one
year as regular president sounds like a natural fit for our staggered
board election process which is why I proposed it. But I am not
adamant about the timing it would just make things easier.

This should now probably be discussed in a board meeting (or in other
words: hopefully it is minor enough that we do not need to involve a
larger group).

Thanks,
Arnulf


On 31.08.2013 16:12, Jeff McKenna wrote:
> Hi Arnulf,
> 
> Thanks for bringing this up again.
> 
> I just went back and read my response to this idea, written back
> in March 
> (http://osgeo-org.1560.x6.nabble.com/President-elect-and-limiting-terms-td5042497.html).
>
> 
Ever read your own words and think: "wow, I said that well"? ha.
> 
> I totally agree with my own words back in March.  Here is a
> summary and some additions, as I grow into this role:
> 
> - I enjoy the position (maybe this is the most important point in
> my email)
> 
> - There is more work to do than most know, in the OSGeo President 
> role.  Almost every day a direct email comes with a request or a
> need to talk.
> 
> - I agree that having a President-Elect, to take over the current 
> president's term, is needed
> 
> - Having a current President, a President-Elect, and a Past
> President would create an Executive Board, which may be used for
> important decisions.  And also the Executive plus the Treasurer
> would be the only ones with signing privileges for the Foundation
> (this still needs to be resolved)
> 
> - I strongly suggest having a two year term in the President role
> (one year is not even close to long enough to apply your vision)
> 
> - in my case, I came into the position in December.  I request that
> I be given a full 2 year term, starting after this Board election.
> 
> I am proud and committed to represent the OSGeo community.
> 
> -jeff
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On 2013-08-31 6:16 AM, Seven (aka Arnulf) wrote:
>> Board, picking up an idea we tossed around for two consecutive 
>> years but never got around to actually implementing. In my
>> opinion the OSGeo president  is not a power position (like the
>> US president) but a more formal role. The most contentious thing
>> the president of OSGeo will ever do is adjudicate in cases of
>> ties. And represent OSGeo. This means that we will probably never
>> see retail politics with election campaigns and people overly
>> attaching to the role. Hopefully.
>> 
>> Another aspect is that it is hard stop being president when it
>> is an indefinitely termed position. It will always make the
>> impression of "stepping down" for some unknown reason. I actually
>> know from own experience. It will always leave some room for
>> speculation and gossip which is never good for an organization
>> that lives off its kudos, transparency and authenticity.
>> 
>> Therefore I suggest that we limit the term for presidents to two
>>  years, the first of which is as president-elect. It is a common 
>> model to elect the upcoming president a year before their term
>> so that there is no void at the end of the current president's
>> term. It would also fit in with our staggered board elections -
>> given that someone from the "new" half of the board volunteers
>> for the role of president-elect. It should probably be possible
>> to run again for presidency after a full term has ended but then
>> first starting in the president-elect role again. I don't think
>> that 4 years in a row as I did are that good an idea. Plus it
>> burnt me out quite a bit.
>> 
>> Things obviously go wrong all the time: a director leaves the 
>> board early, president has to / wants to step down in mid-term,
>> we have an interim director with only one year, none of the new 
>> directors wants to become president-elect right away, etc. So
>> the president-elect role is no silver bullet and will not fix 
>> everything but it might help to stabilize things a bit and take 
>> away some pressure and expectations from that role.
>> 
>> Best regards, Arnulf
>> 
>> PS: There are more issues around elections and governance in 
>> general which I hope to address with a small sub committee or
>> some such in October. Some of these changes (bylaws) will require
>> a charter member vote which is a big thing we never before had
>> to do.
>> 
>> I brought this one up now because we might want to have it
>> sorted out for the next presidential term which starts after
>> board elections are done. And I think the board should be OK to
>> decide this on its own because it does not remove a key position
>> but just changes some modalities around it.
>> 
>> _
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- -- 
Exploring Space, Time and Mind
http://arnulf.us
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