Re: Candidacy for GNOME Foundation board of directors

[Felipe Borges <felipeborges gnome org>]

I second Robert's candidacy.

Rob has been a great leader in our project and I'm glad to see his
interest in continuing working with our project and community.

Cheers,
Felipe.

On Mon, Jun 6, 2022 at 11:00 AM <thibaultamartin gnome org> wrote:
> Hello members,
>
> It’s been a pleasure to work with Rob for the past year, I’m happy to second his candidacy.
>
> Regards,
> Thib
>
> > On 4 Jun 2022, at 00:55, Robert McQueen <ramcq gnome org> wrote:
> >
> > Dear members,
> >
> > I am announcing my intention to stand for re-election to the GNOME
> > Foundation board of directors in the upcoming 2022-24 election. My
> > employer affiliation is Endless OS Foundation.
> >
> > In brief, I would like to make sure the GNOME Foundation is well set-up
> > with a new Executive Director; continue supporting efforts to bring
> > diverse contributors and make the Linux desktop attractive to users;
> > and use my and others experience on the board to make sure the
> > Foundation is governed and run effectively.
> >
> > As I am already serving on the board as President, on the Executive and
> > Finance Committees and managing the Executive Director, some members
> > may already be aware with what I've been working on and why. Should I
> > be re-elected, my top priorities would be as follows:
> >
> > 1. Ensure a smooth transition to the new Executive Director
> >
> > In February I announced together with Neil McGovern that he would be
> > moving on from his role of Executive Director of the GNOME Foundation
> > this year. For the board this is a key time in terms of ensuring the
> > Foundation is set up for success with another strong leader who can
> > carry our vision and strategy forward, support the team, guide the
> > community and represent the Foundation externally to build up new
> > partnership and funding opportunities.
> >
> > As President I am working with Neil and Thibault as the Chair to launch
> > the search process - we have been working on better articulation of our
> > strategy so that it's clear to candidates what the board is hoping for
> > them to achieve, consulting with recruitment agencies who will help the
> > Foundation cast the net a little wider for potential applicants, and
> > we've prepared a draft job description ready to launch the search in
> > the next couple of weeks.
> >
> > It's my hope that if re-elected and I have the ongoing support of the
> > board, I can continue my part in this process and help maintain
> > consistency for the board and get the Foundation well set up with a new
> > Executive Director in place for the coming years.
> >
> > 2. Complete the next phase of setup for Flathub
> >
> > The Linux desktop has had commercial investment coming and going in
> > waves over the past 20 years, depending on what’s been happening in the
> > tech sector. Throughout that time, one thing that has not been possible
> > – and is possible on every other successful device platform – is for
> > developers to build apps which add value to the to the platform, and
> > get paid for their work. The consequence of this is a barrier that
> > prevents individuals from diverse backgrounds from engaging in and
> > remaining in our community, if they are not lucky enough to have a
> > salaried role to work on the desktop, or not otherwise supported with
> > time/money to spare to contribute more altruistically.
> >
> > Thanks to support from Endless Philanthropy, the GNOME Foundation has
> > been sponsoring work to add transactions and donations to Flathub to
> > bring direct financial incentives to participants in our community,
> > work which I have been closely involved in specifying and managing as
> > one of the individuals that helped to set Flathub up 5 years ago. We
> > hope to reduce friction for retaining contributors from different
> > backgrounds, as well as boosting the availability of apps to attract
> > and retain users on the Linux desktop more broadly.
> >
> > In parallel with the development, I have been working with Neil and a
> > nascent Flathub governance team including representatives from KDE and
> > the Flathub community to work out the accounting, legal and governance
> > questions which arise when Flathub starts handling funds on behalf of
> > application developers. I'd like to see this through, and make sure
> > that Flathub is set up in a way that allows it to handle payments
> > safely from a legal/liability/financial perpective, has clear and
> > transparent governance that reassures participants and sponsors, and
> > ideally raises funds so that we can invest in improving the security,
> > end-user story and developer experience.
> >
> > 3. Promote good governance of the Foundation
> >
> > As a former company founder and current nonprofit CEO with several
> > years of experience sitting on nonprofit boards, I'm comfortable and
> > familiar with the legal and financial aspects of 501(c)(3) compliance,
> > overseeing the Foundation's finances and inputting into the budget as
> > part of the Finance Committee, helping to guide the board and
> > highlighting when we need to seek professional advice. I've also helped
> > to establish the Executive Committee to help move some of the week to
> > week issues out of the regular board meetings, freeing time for more
> > in-depth conversations and reducing the time commitment for other
> > directors.
> >
> > I'm comfortable in saying I am not able to do this alone; the whole
> > point of having multiple directors on the board is that mine should
> > just be one voice in a far more detailed conversation, but I believe I
> > have useful perspectives and experience to share with the board, and as
> > you've seen I've been working to try and bring new perspectives into
> > our discussions as well. I'd like to continue supporting and improving
> > governance of the Foundation through the board and committees, work
> > with Neil and the subsequent Executive Director to set up our new
> > initiatives, increase partnerships and fundraising for the Foundation,
> > and ensure that the Foundation uses our funds effectively to advocate
> > for and contribute to the GNOME project.
> >
> > Many thanks for your consideration.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Rob
> >
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>
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