Re: Board of Directors Elections 2014 - Candidacy - Karen Sandler

[Ekaterina Gerasimova <kittykat3756 gmail com>]

On 20 May 2014 19:35, Sriram Ramkrishna <sri ramkrishna me> wrote:
> On Tue, May 20, 2014 at 6:51 AM, Marina Zhurakhinskaya
> <marinaz redhat com> wrote:
> > It's not just the time commitment we are looking for in the board members, but also experience. Karen has 
> > a tremendous amount of experience in free software non-profit space. In the last two months, she has been 
> > very generous with her time as a volunteer for GNOME.
>
> Time commitment is an elusive beast.  I put about 5 hours as director,
> but put a lot more for engagement and QA.  Other times I might spend
> more.  It depends.  Having Karen on the board will create a sense of
> continuity.  Karen's experience in both being in ED and continuing to
> be an ED for another foundation will be benificial, on the ground
> experience.  Sometimes you don't actually know WHEN to ask for an
> opinion.. I know that we've been bitten by our own experience from
> time to time.
>
> I don't think we should be putting too much stock on the question "how
> much time do you have as a director?"  II expect somone who is a
> professional will be able to gauge how much time they have and are
> willing to do it.  If you are going to apply for a position on the
> board, I expect that you've done the research and is able to commit to
> the time to be a director.
>
> Let's not ponder on whether someone has the time, let's focus on
> whether they are an asset on the board.

As a current board member, I think that being able to put in the time
goes a long way towards making one an asset to the board. There have
been too many silences at meetings when action items came up for the
taking. I find the lack of response from some board members when
contracts need reviewing also rather disappointing. The Foundation
board is unusual in that the board members do take an active role in
the running of the Foundation, and I do not see this as changing in
the near future, unless the Foundation takes on multiple new
employees.

If I am voted onto the board for the next year, I do not want to be
volunteering other board members to take on action items, as I have
had to do on occasion this year. Therefore, this is a very relevant
question for me, and one that I expect every candidate who would take
their duty seriously to answer.

I am glad that so many of the candidates did take the time to respond
to this question. Going by the current responses, I honestly think
that some of the candidates are underestimating the time that board
duties take and that they may not be flexible enough to put in the
hours in times of need (such as the current financial situation).

> sri
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