Board of Directors

OSGeo Foundation Board of Directors
The board is elected by the Charter members as outlined in the Board Election Procedure.

Period: November 2018 - October 2020


 * Victoria Rautenbach - Pretoria, South Africa, (South Africa Standard Time UTC+2)
 * Michael Smith - Hanover, New Hampshire, USA (Eastern Time UTC -5h) Treasurer
 * Angelos Tzotsos - Athens, Greece (Central European Time UTC +2h) Vice-President
 * Tom Kralidis - Toronto, Canada (Eastern Time UTC -5h)

Period: November 2017 - October 2019


 * María Arias de Reyna- Sevilla, Spain (Central European Time Zone UTC +1h) President
 * Astrid Emde - Cologne, Germany (Central European Time Zone UTC +1h) Secretary
 * Helena Mitasova - Raleigh, USA (Eastern Time UTC -5h) Vice-President
 * Jeff McKenna -Lunenburg, Canada (Atlantic Time Zone UTC -4h) Vice-President
 * Jody Garnett - Victoria, Canada (Pacific Time UTC -8h) Chair of the Board

More detailed information is available in the Board Member Profiles.

= Board Activities and Meetings =


 * Board meeting timeslot (IRC or video chat):
 * Monthly meeting, see board list for planning. Example Wednesday 16.00 UTC

Next board meeting:


 * January TBD


 * Face to Face Meeting: board will get together in person and work through discussions and tasks that are not easily handled in a 1 hour IRC meeting or via e-mail. For face to face meetings travel costs will be covered by the foundation.

Next face to face meeting:


 * none scheduled


 * Video call: board will get together for a video call and work through discussions and tasks that are not easily handled in 1 hour IRC meeting or via e-mail. May also consist of an informal "work party" of board members and officers to work on tasks and collaboration not easily handled in IRC meeting / email.

Next face to video meeting:


 * none scheduled


 * Member meeting: board meeting with OSGeo members at OSGeo events providing a chance to listen and discuss our community. May also consist of informal "party" to celebrate our community, members, and what we accomplish together

next member meeting:


 * non scheduled

Motions
The board is using Loomio to track motions and facilitate voting:


 * https://www.loomio.org/g/kdSmIwxu/osgeo-board

For motions with quorum taking in a meeting (bylaw 4.5) we make use of loomio for tracking / record:


 * Allow one week for a chance to review and respond
 * Maybe shortened if a time sensitive motion (require email to board members, example emergency event funding)
 * After one week consider motion passed based on quorum in meeting. Non responses will be considered as abstain (+0).

For motions taken purely by electronic voting (bylaw 4.6):


 * We still need 100% response rate, provide a week to respond so that board members have both a weekend and weekday to respond.

Actions
The board is an issue tracker for actions:


 * https://git.osgeo.org/gitea/osgeo/todo/issues

Previous meetings

 * Board_Meeting_2018-12-20 20.00 - 22:00 UTC Draft Budget
 * Board_Meeting_2018-12-17 19.00 - 21:00 UTC initial board monthly meting, focus on "on boarding"
 * Board_Meeting_2018-11-07 16.00 UTC
 * Board_Meeting_2018-10-13 16.00 UTC
 * Board_Meeting_2018-09-08 15.00 UTC
 * Face to Face Meeting Dar es Salaam 2018 31. August 2018 Dar 19:00-21:00 (would mean 16 UTC as Dar is UTC+3)
 * Member Meeting FOSS4G 2018 2018 August 28th evening (Dar Es Salaam, Tansania)
 * Board_Meeting_2018-08-01 15.00 UTC
 * Member Meeting FOSS4G-Europe 2018 2018 July 19th at 18:00 in FOSS4G-Europe Hostel (Pousada da Juventude de Guimarães)
 * Board_Meeting_2018-07-05 16.00 UTC
 * Board_Meeting_2018-06-06 16.00 UTC
 * Member Meeting FOSS4GNA 2018 May 14th in St. Louis, Missouri during FOSS4G North America 2018
 * Board_Meeting_2018-05-01 16.00 UTC
 * Board Meeting 2018-04-11 16.00 UTC
 * Board Meeting 2018-04-05 15.00 UTC - canceled lack of attendance
 * Member Meeting Bonn 2018 2018 March 19th at 18:00 in Bonn BaseCamp during OSGeo Code Sprint 2018
 * Face to Face Meeting Bonn 2018 17.-18. March 2018
 * Board Meeting 2018-03-01 15.00 UTC
 * Board Meeting 2018-02-01 14.00 UTC
 * Board Meeting 2018-01-17 15.00 UTC Video Call Executive Positions
 * Board Meeting 2017-12-23 14.00 UTC Video Call Budget Meeting
 * Board Meeting 2017-12-07 14.00 UTC
 * Board Meeting 2017-11-21 14.00 UTC
 * Board Meeting 2017-11-02 14.00 UTC
 * Board Meeting 2017-10-05 14.00 UTC
 * Board Meeting 2017-09-07 14.00 UTC
 * Face_to_Face_Meeting_Boston_2017
 * Face_to_Face_Meeting_Paris_2017
 * Board Meeting 2017-05-11 14.00 UTC
 * Board Meeting 2017-04-12 14.00 UTC
 * Board Meeting 2017-03-02 14.00 UTC
 * Board Meeting 2017-02-02 14.00 UTC
 * Board Meeting 2017-01-05 14.00 UTC

2016 - 2015 - 2014 - 2013 - 2012 - 2011 - 2010 - 2009 - 2008 - 2007 - 2006 - Earlier.

= Working Groups =

While the board is focused on decision making occasionally there is a call for action. The following working groups are focused on accomplishing a specific 2-3 week objective and will report back to the board list when completed. This is in contrast to long term activities handled by committees.

2018 Working Groups

 * none at present

2015 Working Groups

 * 2015 Sponsorship Drive Working Group - contact prior sponsors, blog post inviting new sponsors
 * GeoForAll OSGeo Relationship: Revised Education Committee mandate pending clarification of relationship with Geo4All advisory board (our GeoForAll representatives are Venkatesh Raghavan and Jeff McKenna)

= Planning =

Operational Budget for 2018
The board is dividing this years budget up by committee, initiative and project!


 * OSGeo Budget 2018

Sponsorship Opportunities for 2018
OSGeo maintains a sponsorship program recognizing financial contributions to our projects, initiatives and events.


 * OSGeo Sponsorship Opportunities 2018

Operational Budget for 2017
The board is dividing this years budget up by committee:


 * OSGeo Budget 2017

Sponsorship Opportunities for 2017
The foundation recognizes sponsors who financially support our events, initiatives and open source projects.


 * Sponsorship Opportunities for 2017

The following has been published as the following blog post and how to sponsor page.

Operational Budget for 2016
Thanks to our sponsors, and a series of successful events, OSGeo does has an operational budget for 2016.


 * OSGeo Budget 2016

The Board has divided the above budget up according to our priority as an organization. Please keep in mind that prior boards have taken this approach - and spent nothing due to lack of volunteers willing to lead the charge. The following is budget and does not provide a commitment to spend money on the actives listed - to do that we need your commitment as a volunteer!

Strategic Plan 2016
From Anne: See the parallel Skate-Boarding of Fedora at http://fedoramagazine.org/lets-talk-about-fedora-project-objectives/ - I really like the idea of having 18 months goals, that are measurable, backed up by community agreement. Let's discuss this at the first Sprint. There are also some thoughts on Ubuntu governance that can inspire us, but I haven't gone through the whole discussion yet, and there are many differences between OSGeo and Ubuntu; so I'm not sure on how much we can learn from it.

This section outlines OSGeo strategic plan for 2016 - this is a result of the vision, mission and goals established at the 2016 face to face meeting.

Strategic objectives for 2016:


 * S01: showcasing excellence in our communities
 * S02: proactively engage with external partners
 * S03: Fostering our mission, vision and goals
 * S04: Empowering our communities and extending our reach

These objectives were taken to the community for concrete / measurable actions volunteers were interested in tackling over the course of 2016.

Update: We did not receive enough feedback to form a strategic plan.

2013 Planning

 * OSGeo Board : Board Priorities 2013 - establish OSGeo as a low capital, volunteer focused organization focused supporting communities and initiatives which support themselves

= Reference =


 * Please see foundation bylaws for official responsibilities
 * Arnulf Christl's OSGeo Director Retrospective. Arnulf was an OSGeo Board member and President of OSGeo.
 * Draft OSGeo Director Responsibilities offering guidence on understanding bylaws

Documents

 * Executive Positions and Director Responsibilities
 * Board Election Procedure
 * Election 2017: Board_Election_2017_Results Election 2017 Candidate Manifestos
 * Election 2016: Board_Election_2016_Results Election 2016 Candidate Manifestos
 * Election 2015: Board_Election_2015_Results Election 2015 Candidate Manifestos
 * Election 2014: Board Election 2014 Results
 * Election 2013: Board Election 2013 Results
 * Election 2012: Board Election 2012 Results
 * Election 2011: Board Election 2011 Results
 * Election 2010: Board Election 2010 Results
 * Election 2009: Board Election 2009, see 2009 section of Proposed Board Election Procedure
 * Election 2008: Board Election 2008, see 2008 section of Proposed Board Election Procedure
 * Executive Director (rough ideas), Executive Director Job Description (no such position at time)
 * Election 2007: Board Election 2007, see 2007 section of Proposed Board Election Procedure
 * Foundation Sponsorship (adopted), Project Sponsorship (adopted), Local Chapter Sponsorship (idea)
 * Conflict Of Interest Policy

Mailing list
The http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/board mailing list is used for most public board discussions. There is also a private board mailing list used only for matters that are considered needful to be kept private.

History of OSGeo Foundation Boards of Directors

 * Board of Directors 2018 (Nov. 2018 - Oct. 2019)
 * Board of Directors 2017 (Nov. 2017 - Oct. 2018)
 * Board of Directors 2016 (Aug. 2016 - Aug. 2017)
 * Board of Directors 2015 (Aug. 2015 - Aug. 2016)
 * Board of Directors 2014 (Aug. 2014 - Aug. 2015)
 * Board of Directors 2013 (Aug. 2013 - Aug. 2014)
 * Board of Directors 2012 (Aug. 2012 - Aug. 2013)
 * Board of Directors 2011 (Aug. 2011 - Aug. 2012)
 * Board of Directors 2010 (Aug. 2010 - Aug. 2011)
 * Board of Directors 2009 (Sept. 2009 - Aug. 2010)
 * Board of Directors 2008 (July 2008 - Sept. 2009)
 * Board of Directors 2007 (Aug. 2007 - July 2008)
 * Interim Board of Directors 2006 (Feb. 2006 - July 2007)

An interim Board of Directors with 5 members was elected on February 4th, 2006, by the initial members of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation. On March 18th, 2006, the board has been completed to now total nine members:

= FAQ =

Q: What do board members do? A: http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Director_Responsibilities

Q: That doc doesn't say anything about meetings. How often to board members meet? A: The foundation bylaws say the board meets after the after the annual members meeting and then at regular meetings on a schedule fixed by directors. In practice, the board schedules monthly meetings in addition to the annual face-to-face meeting after the AGM at the FOSS4G conference.

Q: How are board decisions made? A: The bylaws (section 4.5) describe that a majority of members must be present for an event to be considered a meeting. At a meeting, each member present is given one vote. Strictly speaking (according to the bylaws) an affirmative vote by the majority of members present at a meeting constitutes a decision by the board. In practice, we don't consider a motion passed if there are any negative votes (see the page Board Voting Procedure that explains voting notations +1, +0, -0, -1).

Q: Is an IRC gathering a meeting? A: The bylaws (section 4.4) say that an electronic medium may be used and an event will constitute a meeting if members can hear one another at the same time. In practice, we often have IRC meetings and then have a vote by voice if there are items that need voting on (TODO: document the convention on email voting if this is an alternative to voice voting).