Questions for candidates - board processes & significance

[Dave Neary <dneary gnome org>]

Hi all,

I was away last week travelling, so I'm coming late to the election 
campaign. I have almost decided who I would like to vote for, but there 
are still a few things which are important to me when considering a 
prospective board member.

1. If elected, will you seek a named position 
(chairman/treasurer/secretary) on the board? If so, why?

2. Board meetings are minuted, and these minutes are published 
regularly. However, the board also increasingly makes decisions on 
board-list with the Apache +1/0/-1 convention. Would you support the 
minuting of these votes, including recording any -1 votes?

3. I think financial transparency is important. If you plan on applying 
for the treasurer position, what changes (if any) would you propose for 
the budgeting process? How often would you publish financial reports for 
the foundation? Are you happy with the level of transparency in the 
board's finances now?

4. Our relationship with a number of groups has suffered this year - and 
one of the lesser known ones (but one I'm involvedd in) is the Libre 
Graphics Meeting organisers (a group of people representing a couple of 
dozen "free art" projects). Are you aware that the LGM organisers 
withdrew all the funds that the GNOME Foundation was managing for them 
this year, because they have been unhappy with the responsiveness and 
quality of communication with the foundation over the past 2 - 3 years? 
Do you have any thoughts on why this particular relationship degraded? 
And will you commit to handling or delegating answers to all 
time-critical queries which come to the board during your term?

5. In general, as a board member communication is vital to keep people 
outside the board informed whenever there is a delay or when extra input 
is needed on something they're working on. For incumbents, are you happy 
with the level of communication & reactivity in the current board? For 
new candidates, what would you like to do to ensure that the 
communication & reactivity of the board improves in the coming term?

6. Board members are ambassadors for the foundation. I think it's 
important that board members be social, and be nice. Are you nice?

Cheers,
Dave.

--
Dave Neary
GNOME Foundation member
dneary gnome org
Jabber: nearyd gmail com