Open Source Initiative (OSI) Announces Results of 2008 Board Election

The Open Source Initiative (OSI) held its annual election during its regularly scheduled April board meeting (2 April 2008). In 2007, the OSI Board of Directors were:

  • Mr. Michael Tiemann, President
  • Ms. Danese Cooper, Secretary and Treasurer
  • Mr. Russell Nelson
  • Ms. Alolita Sharma
  • Mr. Ken Coar
  • Ms. Nnenna Nwakanma
  • Mr. Rishab Aiyer Ghosh
  • Mr. Raj Mathur
  • Mr. Bruno Souza
  • Mr. Matt Asay

Mr. Mathur served his one-year initial term and decided to not stand for reconfirmation. Mr. Asay retired from the board after two years of service. Ms. Sharma and Ms. Nwakanma both served their one-year initial terms and were reconfirmed to complete a full three-year term. Mr. Coar, Mr. Nelson, and Ms. Cooper were re-elected to each serve an additional three year term.

To fill the two vacancies left by Mr. Asay and Mr. Mathur, the OSI Board nominated two potential candidates for election to the board, Martin Michlmayr and Harshad Gune. Bruce Perens launched a public write-in campaign to join the OSI Board, and he was therefore nominated by Mr. Ghosh as a potential candidate for election to the board, seconded by Mr. Coar, and the motion carried. The Board voted unanimously to elect Mr. Michlmayr and Mr. Gune to an initial one-year term that may be extended an additional two years upon reconfirmation.

Mr. Gune teaches at the Symbiosis Institute of Computer Studies and Research (SICSR) in Pune, India. His primary experience with Open Source is as as educator. He has organized an annual FOSS conference “GNUnify” (www.gnuify.in) for the past 6 years and helped promote FOSS technologies in India as well as support the FOSS community to grow stronger. The conference has grown to unite the FOSS community in India. As an active member of the Pune Linux Users Group (PLUG), Mr. Gune has worked with others to educate students with FOSS software on computers, and has helped the industry learn more about the power of Linux through participation in trade shows and holding workshops.

Mr. Michlmayr has been an active contributor to the open source community for almost 15 years. He was the Volunteer Coordinator for the GNUstep Project and acted as Publicity Director for Linux International. In 2000, he joined the Debian project, was elected Debian Project Leader in 2003, and after a successful term, was reelected. In his two years as the leader of Debian, Mr. Michlmayr represented the project and performed important organizational and coordination tasks within the project. He also served as an advisor to Software in the Public Interest (SPI) for several years. Last year he completed a PhD thesis on Release Management in Open Source Projects. He then joined HP’s Open Source and Linux Organization in December to lead content and community related activities of FOSSBazaar, a new community HP launched with other partners as a Linux Foundation workgroup to provide neutral information about issues related to the governance of open source software. Mr. Michlmayr holds Masters degrees in Philosophy, Psychology and Software Engineering, and a PhD from the University of Cambridge.

The OSI is excited to have such distinguished members of the open source community join our board, and we look forward to a productive 2008. For more information about the election, please contact Danese Cooper, Secretary of the OSI. For more information about the OSI and its 2008 agenda, please read our blogs and/or contact Michael Tiemann.