Election 2016 Candidate Manifestos
A space for the candidates for election to the Board to share some information about themselves, their aspirations for OSGeo, what they would like to change, improve or introduce and what role they would like to play on the board.
Candidate
Please don't remove this template
About me
My vision
What you have done within the community in the past
What your interests are in terms of the board
Any things that you would like to change or introduce
What role you would wish to fulfil on the board (if any)
Michael Smith
For those os you that don't know me, I'm Michael Smith, a physical scientist at the US Army Corps of Engineers. I've been involved with the MapServer community since 2001 and OSGeo since its inception. For the last 2 years, I've been honored to be a OSGeo Board member and OSGeo treasurer. Its been quite a learning experience and I greatly thank Daniel Morissette, the previous OSGeo treasurer for so much support in handling the transition.
In my time on the board and as treasurer, my focus has been on encouraging governments (in general) and the US in particular, especially the Department of Defense which, personally I know makes extensive use of OSGeo projects, to more actively participate is OSGeo and the projects beyond just use and occasional commits.
I've also been honored to be appointed the LocationTech representative from OSGeo and I've been working to make the relationship between OSGeo and LocationTech a real partnership with respect and appreciation for all the work that both organizations do. And that is my view of the relationship, these are two important organizations that work to achieve similar but compatible goals but with different focuses and with different strengths. As OSGeo is a welcoming, inclusive community, I feel strongly that we should work openly and honestly with all our partner organizations, with LocationTech being one of the most important.
If reelected, I plan to continue as OSGeo Treasurer and as the LocationTech representative.
I must say I am very humbled to see the strong list of candidates to the board. If I'm nor elected, I can see that OSGeo will be in very good hands. This is a particularly great group of candidates and it shows off the strength and diversity of the OSGeo community.
Thank you for the nomination, OSGeo community.