[Board] Support fot OSGeo officers (Re: My attendance in Portland)

Fri Jul 18 05:15:31 PDT 2014

I just would like to make my position clear on this point as well, as
being board member:

Thank you, Arnulf, for you letter, you said, you would write something
like this and I'm very thankful, this happen (sorry, if I missed some
of yours previous e-mails on this topic)

Thank you, Jeff, for being such president, you are. I'm not writing
"such great president", because everybody knows, how tall you are. I
appreciate and support the way, how you do it, because of I think,
it's representing our most important aspect - the community - very
well. Even I might disagree with you on some points.

Arnulf stated it clearly: regardless which "types of business cards
you have", it does not make your profit any higher, when being
president.

Therefore, we should always ask: do we want to have our president at
some event? Can it be covered by some other member of the community?

I've meat so many people within and around OSGeo community, and I do
*not* remember, if there would be someone, who would ask for refunds
from OSGeo, if it could not be covered from custom/other resources.
And I'm sure, such guy would *not* be elected as board member and
later president. And since we all, even members of academic community
are living in real world, we all are pretty aware, that bills must be
clean, so getting payed means you show all bills at the end (no reason
for specially asking for it).

My point: When someone within this board of directors is asking for
financial cover, the only question should not be "how much", or "shall
we", but "do we need him/her at the event"? Everything else is
pointless. He is putting himself into very embarrassing situation. And
if we say "yes", the other question must be "mr. President, would you
please be so kind and invest a little of your time, so you could be
participating on the event on behalf of OSGeo?", since nobody is
covering other expenses, or time he has to invest. Remember: we are
all volunteers, even president is.

I'm always looking forward to see Jeff and I'm glad, I had the chance
to see him at FOSS4G-Europe this week, but I do not thing, it's
required and if Jeff would be asking for cover to come to Europe, I
would probably not support it.

But FOSS4G is still considered *the* *our* conference and I'm strongly
supporting Jeff's appearance there as OSGeo President. And I'm kindly
asking him to volunteer to go there. And everybody says that: the
conference is *so* expensive, that common developer can not cover the
costs by himself. I've personally failed as this point as board member
and I would like to find some solution for this.

Longer than I wanted, sorry

Jachym

P.S. Remember last year's discussion, whether OSGeo covers costs for
the OGC-OSGeo boards dinner? I could not allow to be there and thank
you for covering it at the end, after discussions. Ask again: was I
elected for the board for being rich, so I will not require anything
from it or because I was considered valuable person? If the first
reason, I move for every board member candidate shall deposit certain
amount of money before elections to prove, his situation is
appropriate. Same applies for President candidate, but at least three
times higher.  And btw: Jeff shall take his personal business cards as
well. Just for the case, anybody would ask.

P.P.S If you think, I'm hysterical at the moment, it's not the case.
Just said, we need talk about this topic and that we are talking about
it for so long.

2014-07-17 11:35 GMT+02:00 Bart van den Eijnden <bartvde at osgis.nl>:
> I agree. I'd say 4 years is good for both min and max (so nothing less than 4, but also nothing more than 4 ideally).
>
> First step is for the (Charter Member) community to re-elect Jeff in the upcoming board elections. Then the board can vote him into presidency again.
>
> Best regards,
> Bart
>
> On 17 Jul 2014, at 11:17, Suchith Anand <Suchith.Anand at nottingham.ac.uk> wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> My humble suggestion is that President term should be min 4 year term . This is what many other organisations do as it takes time for people to learn and grow into the role.  Having yearly changes is not good for the organisation.
>>
>> Jeff is doing an amazing role as President of OSGeo actively promoting us globally and providing strong leadership. I requested him when i met him at FOSS4G-E  , if he is happy to continue as OSGeo President to please consider min. 4 year term.  I am happy to see he is considering this.
>>
>> Suchith
>>
>>
>> From: board-bounces at lists.osgeo.org [board-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of Jeff McKenna [jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com]
>> Sent: Thursday, July 17, 2014 9:59 AM
>> To: board at lists.osgeo.org
>> Subject: Re: [Board] Support fot OSGeo officers (Re: My attendance in   Portland)
>>
>> On 2014-07-16, 10:07 AM, Seven (aka Arnulf) wrote:
>>> Next: Yes, my business suffered a lot during my presidency. It is
>>> one of the reasons why I think that the term should be limited.
>>> Oher than Jeff I think that one year president elect followed by
>>> one year full president is enough. There is nothing worse than
>>> burning out your presidents and discarding them when they are done.
>>> Not good.
>>>
>>
>> Hi Arnulf,
>>
>> On your point about the length of term for OSGeo President I strongly
>> disagree, and it is becoming more clear to me as I grow into the
>> position.  I had the pleasure of spending a lot of time privately
>> recently with Georg Gartner (president ICA) and Chris Rizos (president
>> Int Assoc Geodesy) on the road (sometimes there is no better way to
>> get to know someone than to be in a foreign country with them, as you
>> know), and I asked them their own opinions - both said adamantly, 4
>> year term.  And yes I fully agree.  It takes time to figure out the
>> role, build relationships, and make an impact.
>>
>> Even here at FOSS4G-E I was twice pulled aside by (very very
>> prominent) community members and told/asked to stay on as president
>> for a term like 4 or 5 years, as a stable face and representative of
>> the community.  I agree with them, but limited to 4 years.
>>
>> And for the record, Georg actually asked me to stay on that length, to
>> work with him and our organizations.
>>
>> Those who witnessed my talks here at FOSS4G-E or at AfricaGEO recently
>> also saw a different side of me - the president is actually emerging
>> (that's the best way I can say it).
>>
>> I really appreciate you explaining the demands and assumptions of the
>> position, this really helps to explain how 'awkward' it is for me to
>> have to ask for such things, to function as president.  Thank you.
>>
>> Your friend,
>>
>> -jeff
>>
>> PS. I am sitting outside now with Astrid in your beautiful country,
>> she says hi too :)
>>
>>
>>
>>
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-- 
Jachym Cepicky
e-mail: jachym.cepicky gmail com
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