Claudia Rauch is an Open Source advocate and community building expert. She is the Open Source Program Manager for the global Open Standards Consortium OASIS Open where she facilitates collaboration between the contributors and stakeholders of several Open Source projects – from cybersecurity to enterprise blockchain applications. Additionally, she is a member of the DIN expert committee Focus.Digital which is tasked to counsel the DIN management board on digitalization topics.
From 2008 until 2014, she worked as the business manager for KDE e.V., the non-profit supporting the global KDE community. As the first employee, she played a crucial role in professionalizing and growing the organization. Working closely with the board of directors, she was in charge of partner management and the membership program, as well as organizing international KDE contributor conferences in Europe and the US, and supporting the global KDE contributor community. Claudia also has experience in marketing in the software industry.
Before joining OASIS Open in 2021, she worked as a consultant with large and small companies to help them develop and implement community building and marketing strategies with a focus on corporate Open Source software products.
How the candidate will contribute to the board
With 15+ years of experience working with community-led organizations as well as commercial enterprises in the OSS world, Claudia has a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities in this area. Working with Open Source projects in an Open Standards organization, Claudia can also bridge the gap between these two ecosystems.
Claudia has a can-do attitude and will always try to find pragmatic solutions to challenges. She is a strong believer in knowledge sharing and that learning from others is crucial to the success of any team or organization.
As an EU citizen, she brings a European perspective to the table with an interest in topics like digital autonomy, security, and privacy. With the EU increasingly regulating software, and thus, also Open Source software, Claudia can help OSI through proactive advocacy for open-source principles in the EU public and corporate sector.
Why the candidate should be elected
Claudia is a leader for OASIS Open in the Open Source community and she will bring the same commitment and dedication to the OSI board. She has been an active OSS community member since 2008 and can leverage an extensive network across the ecosystem. She has several years of experience working with a volunteer board of directors at KDE e.V. in areas ranging from finance and partner management to strategy and community management.
Having worked in software marketing for a couple of years, Claudia has strong communication skills and knows how to convey complex technical concepts to non-technical audiences. In doing so, Claudia is able to bring together partnerships from previously unknown connections to create a strong foundation for collaboration.
Claudia is passionate about Open Source and its values of open participation, transparency, diverse collaboration and open innovation. She can contribute to the OSI board by broadening its community engagement with her extensive network, fostering inclusivity, encouraging community input, and establishing partnerships with various stakeholders.
Should she be elected to the OSI board, she is interested in focusing on organizational development, supporting the Standards Committee and helping with outreach.