[OSGeo-Discuss] Nomination for Board: Venkatesh Raghavan

[Jeff McKenna]

I second the nomination.  As mentioned by Markus, it was Venka's vision 
that brought (and will bring) the GRASS and MapServer communities 
together initially.  He is already a respected voice in SE Asia for 
FOSS4G, and his voice would be even stronger with a seat on the board.

Having travelled to SE Asia, I can tell you that I was surprised and 
impressed with how vibrant and active the FOSS4G community is there. 
It's for this reason that I think this is an important nomination.

jeff




Markus Neteler wrote:
> Dear all,
> 
> I am honored to nominate Dr. Venkatesh Raghavan
> (http://www.media.osaka-cu.ac.jp/~raghavan/indexe.html), professor at
> Osaka City University in Japan, for one of the OSGeo board of directors
> seats.
> 
> Venka is well known in Asia for his promotion of FOSS4G.
> He co-ordinated the successful FOSS/GRASS 2004 International
> conference in Bangkok, Thailand (http://gisws.media.osaka-cu.ac.jp/grass04/).
> 
> Preceeding this conference Jeff McKenna from DM Solutions and me
> (I was  awarded a fellowship from Venka to come to Japan and hold a
> couple of seminars in FOSS geomatics) came to Osaka to join the
> discussions. It was there in Bangkok then, over a few drinks, that
> initial discussions of a joint international FOSS geomatics conference for
> 2006 were discussed, in particular by Venka, Dave McIlhagga, Jeff
> and me. But I can honestly say that it was Venka's passion for FOSS
> geomatics that got the ball rolling. A very personable person, Venka
> has a way of setting you at ease, that hopefully all of you will get to
> experience.
> 
> Venka has been a big promoter of FOSS geomatics in the Asian market.  He
> has personally contributed to FOSS by being instrumental in bringing
> international character support (i18N) to GRASS and MapServer (see
> http://www.foss4g.org/), writing a tutorial as well as creating FOSS4G
> installers for Mandrake Linux (including a MapServer/MapLab rpm available
> on maptools.org).
> 
> Venka possesses a passion for FOSS geomatics, and, after discussing this
> with Jeff McKenna, we both feel that he would be a great asset to have
> on the board.
> 
> Venka is currently traveling through Vietnam and Thailand, but he
> has said that when he returns he is excited to take more of an active
> role in the OSGeo discussions.
> 
> Best regards
> 
>  Markus


-- 
Jeff McKenna
DM Solutions Group Inc.
http://www.dmsolutions.ca