Hello members, It’s been a pleasure to work with Rob for the past year, I’m happy to second his candidacy.
Regards, Thib > On 4 Jun 2022, at 00:55, Robert McQueen <ra...@gnome.org> wrote: > > Dear members, > > I am announcing my intention to stand for re-election to the GNOME > Foundation board of directors in the upcoming 2022-24 election. My > employer affiliation is Endless OS Foundation. > > In brief, I would like to make sure the GNOME Foundation is well set-up > with a new Executive Director; continue supporting efforts to bring > diverse contributors and make the Linux desktop attractive to users; > and use my and others experience on the board to make sure the > Foundation is governed and run effectively. > > As I am already serving on the board as President, on the Executive and > Finance Committees and managing the Executive Director, some members > may already be aware with what I've been working on and why. Should I > be re-elected, my top priorities would be as follows: > > 1. Ensure a smooth transition to the new Executive Director > > In February I announced together with Neil McGovern that he would be > moving on from his role of Executive Director of the GNOME Foundation > this year. For the board this is a key time in terms of ensuring the > Foundation is set up for success with another strong leader who can > carry our vision and strategy forward, support the team, guide the > community and represent the Foundation externally to build up new > partnership and funding opportunities. > > As President I am working with Neil and Thibault as the Chair to launch > the search process - we have been working on better articulation of our > strategy so that it's clear to candidates what the board is hoping for > them to achieve, consulting with recruitment agencies who will help the > Foundation cast the net a little wider for potential applicants, and > we've prepared a draft job description ready to launch the search in > the next couple of weeks. > > It's my hope that if re-elected and I have the ongoing support of the > board, I can continue my part in this process and help maintain > consistency for the board and get the Foundation well set up with a new > Executive Director in place for the coming years. > > 2. Complete the next phase of setup for Flathub > > The Linux desktop has had commercial investment coming and going in > waves over the past 20 years, depending on what’s been happening in the > tech sector. Throughout that time, one thing that has not been possible > – and is possible on every other successful device platform – is for > developers to build apps which add value to the to the platform, and > get paid for their work. The consequence of this is a barrier that > prevents individuals from diverse backgrounds from engaging in and > remaining in our community, if they are not lucky enough to have a > salaried role to work on the desktop, or not otherwise supported with > time/money to spare to contribute more altruistically. > > Thanks to support from Endless Philanthropy, the GNOME Foundation has > been sponsoring work to add transactions and donations to Flathub to > bring direct financial incentives to participants in our community, > work which I have been closely involved in specifying and managing as > one of the individuals that helped to set Flathub up 5 years ago. We > hope to reduce friction for retaining contributors from different > backgrounds, as well as boosting the availability of apps to attract > and retain users on the Linux desktop more broadly. > > In parallel with the development, I have been working with Neil and a > nascent Flathub governance team including representatives from KDE and > the Flathub community to work out the accounting, legal and governance > questions which arise when Flathub starts handling funds on behalf of > application developers. I'd like to see this through, and make sure > that Flathub is set up in a way that allows it to handle payments > safely from a legal/liability/financial perpective, has clear and > transparent governance that reassures participants and sponsors, and > ideally raises funds so that we can invest in improving the security, > end-user story and developer experience. > > 3. Promote good governance of the Foundation > > As a former company founder and current nonprofit CEO with several > years of experience sitting on nonprofit boards, I'm comfortable and > familiar with the legal and financial aspects of 501(c)(3) compliance, > overseeing the Foundation's finances and inputting into the budget as > part of the Finance Committee, helping to guide the board and > highlighting when we need to seek professional advice. I've also helped > to establish the Executive Committee to help move some of the week to > week issues out of the regular board meetings, freeing time for more > in-depth conversations and reducing the time commitment for other > directors. > > I'm comfortable in saying I am not able to do this alone; the whole > point of having multiple directors on the board is that mine should > just be one voice in a far more detailed conversation, but I believe I > have useful perspectives and experience to share with the board, and as > you've seen I've been working to try and bring new perspectives into > our discussions as well. I'd like to continue supporting and improving > governance of the Foundation through the board and committees, work > with Neil and the subsequent Executive Director to set up our new > initiatives, increase partnerships and fundraising for the Foundation, > and ensure that the Foundation uses our funds effectively to advocate > for and contribute to the GNOME project. > > Many thanks for your consideration. > > Regards, > Rob > > _______________________________________________ > foundation-announce mailing list > foundation-annou...@gnome.org > https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-announce _______________________________________________ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
