[OSGeo-Discuss] Re: [Board] Resignation from Board

Wed Feb 8 12:47:33 PST 2012

Folks,
this thread is growing way too big in my opinion. If you want to know
why Jeff resigned, please ask him.

I am not going to thank and farewell him because I don't think that he
is leaving and I want to leave a door open for him to just continue
doing what he is good at. This is not an employment situation where you
kicked out or go and that's it.

And I certainly do not want to make it feel like I am relieved that he
resigned from two important roles. It is going to be hard to impossible
to quickly fill the vacancy in the conf committee - anybody interested?
Jeff acknowledged that he sent a mere two emails to the conf committee
since FOSS4G and that this is simply not enough to run this committee.
Now before more speculation start: The board has NOT suggested him to
step down from the committee, neither explicitly nor implicitly - he did
this on his own. So we might say that he was not happy in the lead of
both the conf committee and board and that both eat up quite some time
which he currently is not prepared to spend, so he decided to resign.

All else is speculation and currently it is being done to the detriment
of the board and OSGeo as a whole which I find inappropriate. It is
probably just a coincidence that he chose to do this right after the
board meeting. He as well might have done it when he decided to not
attend to the board meeting about a week ago but chose not to. Lets get
on with things, again thank Jeff for all he has done welcome him back
whenever he feels like it.

Best regards,
Arnulf.

PS:
I am writing this as Seven of Nine, not as the president of this
organization. If anybody thinks the board really screwed up I know that
Arnulf is prepared to take the consequences and step down as president.
This won't help anybody and I don't feel at all like stepping down but
if we are collectively interested in growing this into a major
demolition then I am happy to follow suit.

PPS:
This is all you are going to hear from me in a while because I am away
from the Web now. This is an annual measure I take to avoid burning out
and has nothing whatsoever to do with OSGeo.

And thanks to several people who thanked the board for the work done and
the report to the discuss list and reassuring that we are on track.
Unfortunately these mail only come in personally, so I thought I'd
forward here to also thank the other board members for their good work.
Including Jeff for the time he was with us there.

Done.

On 02/08/2012 02:37 AM, Ravi Kumar wrote:
> Hi Board,
> pl do discuss this in the OSGeo Discuss list. I feel sorry to loose Jeff
> (from the board) who has showcased OSGeo in non-english speaking China,
> Vietnam and many more.
> Is there any connection with FOSS4G 2012. 
> Remember his talk at Cape Town, and the thunderous applause received. 
> Ravi
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* Tim Sutton <tim at linfiniti.com>
> *To:* maria.brovelli at diiar-topo.polimi.it
> *Cc:* osgeo-board List <board at lists.osgeo.org>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, February 8, 2012 1:51 PM
> *Subject:* Re: [Board] Resignation from Board
> 
> Dear all
> 
> I have also been watching this thread from the sidelines and feeling
> like things are being mishandled.
> 
> If Jeff was leaving because of e.g. family obligations or something
> far removed from the activities of the board there would be no issue
> here. However it seems quite clear that he is leaving due to finding
> the internal machinations of the board untenable. My perception is
> that the board happily accepted his resignation rather than trying to
> understand why one of it's leading lights is leaving - and what can be
> done to remedy the situation so that he will stay on. I am sure others
> share this feeling.
> 
> While it may be the case that the board is acting within its
> guidelines, it is important that from a public relations point of view
> that you try to address this issue in a better way. Take the time to
> do some PR to explain what is going on rather than simply quoting
> bylaws. At the very least some publicity (mailing lists, web site
> etc.) thanking Jeff for his time with the board and showing your
> appreciation for all the work he has put into OSGEO would be a nice
> send off for Jeff.
> 
> Best regards
> 
> Tim
> 
> 
> 
> On Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 8:56 AM,  <maria.brovelli at diiar-topo.polimi.it
> <mailto:maria.brovelli at diiar-topo.polimi.it>> wrote:
>> Dar All
>> I agree with Venka and Jeroen and I'm also very sad because Jeff has
> done a
>> lot for our community.
>> Bset.
>> Maria
>>
>>
>>
>> Def. Quota Venkatesh Raghavan <raghavan at media.osaka-cu.ac.jp
> <mailto:raghavan at media.osaka-cu.ac.jp>>:
>>
>>
>>> On 2012/02/07 20:21, Michael P. Gerlek wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Jeff's decision to resign from the board and the conference
> committee was
>>>> his own decision, and I think his two emails covered what needed to
> be said.
>>>>  This is sad, of course, but Jeff has his reasons and beyond that we
> should
>>>> respect his privacy.
>>>
>>> Jeff has made most of his recent views public
>>>
>>> http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/board/2012-January/009364.html
>>> http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/board/2012-February/009394.html
>>> http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/conference_dev/2012-February/001633.html
>>>
>>> I think the Board owes an explanation to the community (on osgeo-discuss)
>>> about
>>> the reasons/circumstances that led to acceptance of Jeff's resignation.
>>> This will
>>> be no disrespect to his privacy.
>>> This should be done before Board Members start expressing thier private
>>> views
>>> about how the vacant Board member seat can be filled.
>>> ....
>>>>
>>>> On 2012/02/07 18:23, Jeroen Ticheler wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> My questions to you are now if will you come up with a statement
> related
>>>>> to this and if you will make an announcement on OSGeo Discuss
> before more
>>>>> discussion and gossip starts to take place.
>>>
>>> I fully agree with Jeroen on the that.
>>>
>>> Venka
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Board mailing list
>>> Board at lists.osgeo.org <mailto:Board at lists.osgeo.org>
>>> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/board
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------
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>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Board mailing list
>> Board at lists.osgeo.org <mailto:Board at lists.osgeo.org>
>> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/board
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
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