Candidacy: Stormy Peters

[Stormy Peters <stormy gnome org>]

Name:        Stormy Peters
Email:         stormy gnome org
Nick:           stormy
Blog:          http://stormyscorner.com
Affiliation:   Mozilla

I am running for the GNOME Board of Directors because the people of GNOME are awesome!

I believe strongly that the technology should be accessible to everyone regardless of financial status, language, physical ability, religious beliefs, politics, ... GNOME, both the desktop and the technologies that are part of GNOME, are a very important part of making technology accessible to everyone. The GNOME Foundation plays an important role in the world of free software and technology and I believe that I can make a difference and help GNOME fulfill its mission by helping the GNOME Foundation be successful.

My background:

 * I have been part of the GNOME community since 2000. (I worked with HelixCode to get GNOME on HPUX.)
 * In 2001 I joined the advisory board on behalf of HP when the GNOME Foundation was formed.

 * I recently served as Executive Director of the GNOME Foundation. During that time, we saw:
   * our income more than double
   * hackfests around GNOME technologies go from 1-2/year to more than 10 last year
   * our marketing team really come together (2 marketing hackfests!)
   * GNOME Asia become a huge success (yeah, Pockey, Fred, Emily!)
   * the travel committee formed to help sponsor GNOME folks working and advocating for GNOME technologies (yeah, Germán and Bharath!)
   * the GNOME Outreach Program for Women start up again (yeah, Marina!)

   * and many more things.
   Obviously I did not do all these things by myself - I helped support them, raise funds, encourage them and spread the word.
 * I currently work at Mozilla because I'm passionate about making sure the web is open and respects users' rights. I believe we need both a desktop and the web and they must both be free.

 * I have experience in fundraising, partnering with large and small businesses, explaining the value of free software, advocating for free software projects, leading teams, doing the day to day stuff that makes a team or organization work, ...

 * In GNOME, I am currently working on:
  * The GNOME Executive Director Hiring Committee. My number one priority when I left the ED role was to make sure we hired an awesome executive director. I put together the hiring committee. We got tons of great resumes, narrowed it down to a few good candidates and we are working closely with the board now on next steps.

  * Desktop Summit sponsorships. I'm on the Desktop Summit planning team where I'm helping to procure sponsorship funds for the conference.
  * Marketing team. I'm on the GNOME marketing team. 
  * Bringing the right people together. Making introductions and connecting the right people.

Why?

The GNOME Board of Directors makes a difference. They are the most active board I know. They don't just advise the GNOME Foundation, they run it. I would like to contribute my share. I believe my experience with the Foundation and my skills can help.

Some of the things that I think are important in this upcoming year:
* How can GNOME best work with the companies that contribute and distribute GNOME technologies? How can we help them work together? How can our free software model and experience help them be successful in bringing free software to more people?

* Is GNOME a desktop or a set of technologies? How do we partner with companies that are not traditional desktop companies?
* How can we best facilitate GNOME technical leaders? How do we help them get work done while including the broader community, getting feedback and communicating key decisions?

If elected, I promise to be accessible to GNOME Foundation members, respond to email quickly, vote in a timely fashion, communicate what the board is doing to the greater community, facilitate conversations that will help shape the future of GNOME, bring a new executive director on board and help do all the administrative tasks that keep the GNOME Foundation running.

I believe I can help GNOME fulfill its mission of creating a free desktop accessible to everyone. And I think that mission has expanded (to include "clients") and I think we need to articulate that.

GNOME rocks!