Board of Directors

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

Period: September 2014 - August 2016
 * Michael Smith - Hanover, New Hampshire, USA (Eastern Time UTC -4h) Treasurer
 * Vasile Craciunescu - Bucharest, Romania (Central European Time UTC +3h)
 * Massimiliano Cannata - Milan, Italy (Central European Time UTC +2h)
 * Dirk Frigne - Gent, Belgium (Central European Time UTC +2h) Vice-President

Period: October 2015 - September 2017
 * Anita Graser - Vienna, Austria (Central European Time UTC +2h)
 * Helena Mitasova - Raleigh, USA (Eastern Time UTC -4h) Vice-President
 * Jody Garnett - Victoria, British Columbia, Canada (Pacific Time -7h)
 * Sanghee Shin - Seoul, South Korea (Korea Standard Time UTC +9h)
 * Venkatesh Raghavan - Osaka, Japan (Japan Standard Time UTC +9h) President

More detailed information is available in the Board Member Profiles.

= Board Activities and Meetings =


 * IRC Meeting timeslot:
 * 14.00 UTC


 * Next IRC meeting:
 * Board Meeting 2016-3-10 14.00 UTC


 * 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 fact to face meetings travel costs will be covered by the foundation.


 * Next fact to face meeting:
 * not scheduled


 * Hangout: informal "work party" of board members (and officers?) to work on tasks not easily handled in IRC meeting / email.


 * Next hangout:
 * not scheduled

Previous meetings

 * Previous meetings:
 * Board Meeting 2016-2-11 14.00 UTC
 * Board Meeting 2016-01-30 - Board Face to Face Meeting 2016
 * Board Meeting 2015-12-10 14.00 UTC
 * Board Meeting 2015-11-12 14.00 UTC
 * Board Meeting 2015-10-15 14.00 UTC
 * Board Meeting 2015-09-19 14.00 UTC
 * Board Meeting 2015-08-13 14.00 UTC
 * Board Meeting 2015-07-17 16.00 UTC
 * Board Meeting 2015-06-18 14.00 UTC
 * Board Meeting 2015-05-21 14.00 UTC
 * Board Meeting 2015-04-09 15.00 UTC
 * Board Meeting 2015-03-05 15.00 UTC
 * Board Meeting 2015-02-05 15.00 UTC
 * Board Meeting 2015-01-15 15.00 UTC
 * Board Face to Face Meeting 2015

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.


 * 2015 Sponsorship Drive Working Group - contact prior sponsors, blog post inviting new sponsors

This is in contrast to long term activities handled by committees.

Previous Working Groups

 * 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 =

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.

Strategic Plan 2016
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 are being boiled down to concrete / measurable actions we wish to address as a community. It is our hope that the resulting organization will carry itself a little bit different then perhaps you are used to!

Operational Budget for 2016
Thanks to our sponsors, and a series of successful events, OSGeo does have an operational budget for 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 represent a commitment to spend money on the actives listed - to do that we need your help as a volunteer!

Notes and clarifications:


 * This is the 2016 operating budget for OSGeo, prior to this baseline being set the board established a $150k floor (allowing for a year of minimal operating expenses ($50k) and two failed foss4g conferences ($50k x 2).
 * This is the 2016 operating budget for OSGeo, it does not cover:
 * Multi-year costs associated with our annual FOSS4G conference.
 * Budgets associated with individual projects (OpenLayers, MapServer, ...) are under their direction of their associated PSC.
 * OSGeo stepped down from playing an active role during our application for US 501(c)(4) status - we are now ready to take on this responsibility for committees and projects.
 * If your project or committee is interested in fundraising for an activity please ask the nearest board member for details on how we can help.

2016 Strategic Plan Member Participation
The strategic plan is a tool to gather ideas, excitement and participation from our community.

Keep in mind that OSGeo is a volunteer lead organization - so even if your idea is *amazing* it will need to attract volunteers to be successful.

Operational Budget Example

The board has identified communication as a key activity, helping our strategic goals. Updating the website (while a classic bikes shed problem) can have a positive impact on our effectiveness.


 * S01: showcasing excellence in our communities
 * Our website represents our active projects (on the right hand side) but does not attach the same importance to our committees and local chapters. Instead we rely on local chapters listing their activities in news items and events.
 * Clean up the intro and the "community" section to better highlight these key ways of being involved with the foundation.
 * S02: proactively engage with external partners.
 * It is not clear to our membership what organizations (ICA, ISPRS, LocationTech) we have a formal relationship with. Listing these organizations, or rotating their logos, would recognize our engagement with external partners.
 * Many organizations sponsors OSGeo and our events. Recent policy changes allow us to recognize event sponsors for their contributions to OSGeo increasing the number of sponsors we can highlight. Rotating sponsor logos on the main page helps acknowledge their participation and branding.
 * The bulk of sponsorship comes not in the form of money, but in the form of in-kind participation in our OSGeo projects. Many of these organizations and companies are listed as service providers, but their contributions are not recognized. The QGIS association and GeoServer projects provide a sensible breakdown we can adopt for our service providers page.
 * S03: Fostering our mission, vision and goals
 * Our mission, vision and goals are highlighted on the website about page - we should at least highlight the vision on the home page
 * The website looks dated at the present time - we could do a better job on the branding/appearance
 * S04: Empowering our communities and extending our reach
 * The website committee has asked for money or time to update the version of Drupal used to host our website.

Out of the above "communication" ideas only the website committee update of drupal is clearly something we can help with (where the website committee has asked for resources). Updating the sponsors page (while a good idea) would require a volunteer to organize, even if the work was going to be outsourced.

Planning Archive

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

= Reference =

Suggested involvement from board members (DRAFT)
What is expected from OSGeo's Board of Directors? Legal details are listed in section 3 of our bylaws. This section provides addition practical guidelines to help set expectations between the community and the board about the level of effort involved in the volunteer director role. It aims to advise on likely time commitments, as well as clarify the limits of what should be expected. Note that these are suggestions rather than rules:


 * Focus: The board's primary responsibility is to efficiently and effectively make strategic decisions related to the running of OSGeo. In many (most?) cases, this will involve validating decisions already made by OSGeo's subcommittees. (bylaws section 3.1).


 * Payment (lack of): Directors are not paid for their service (bylaws section 3.4), but director should not be out of pocket when working for the board. For instance, a board member should be refunded travel expenses, and possibly lost wages, if requested to travel on behalf of the board. [TBD: "compensation for lost wages" is yet to be agreed upon by the board.]


 * Time Commitment: Directors should expect to spend 4 to 12 hours per month of their spare time on board activities. Directors will need to fit board responsibilities around external commitments, such as a full time job and family. Directors should sometimes contribute a little more, maybe negotiating with the community or external organisation, collating or developing ideas and writing them up, doing some extra research to back a decision, or helping with administrative work like taking minutes.


 * Monthly meetings: Directors should attempt to attend all board meetings, which happen once per month, for ~ 1 to 1.5 hours. Selection of meeting timeslots are to be negotiated to try and suit all members. Directors should read and contribute to the agenda beforehand. If unable to attend, the board member should attempt to provide opinions on issues before hand, and vote on motions afterwards.


 * Face to face meetings: OSGeo Directors often attend conferences such as FOSS4G as part of their professional or personal interest, and these offer an opportunity for board members to meet face-to-face.  Attendance at one or two of these events per year is encouraged, but not required. (Directors who cannot travel to events can still make very valuable contributions to the board.)


 * Email list: Directors should monitor and contribute toward discussions on the board email list, and aim to vote on motions within 2 working days. There are typically a dozen email topics, absorbing ~ 2 hours reading/writing per month.


 * Advocacy: Directors should be prepared to represent OSGeo locally, possibly internationally, typically by presenting or working an OSGeo booth at conferences, in line with our OSGeo Advocate program. Note the Advocate policy on Expenses.


 * See Also:
 * Arnulf Christl's OSGeo Director Retrospective. Arnulf was an OSGeo Board member and President of OSGeo.
 * Prior, draft OSGeo Director Responsibilities

Documents

 * Executive Positions and Director Responsibilities
 * Board Election Procedure
 * Election 2015: 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.

Previous OSGeo Foundation Boards of Directors

 * 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:

Potential 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).