We are happy to announce that nominations for Board of Director Officers have been finalised. The following individuals have confirmed their acceptance of nomination. Included are comments provided by the nominator(s) of each, nominees are listed in no particular order.

Note: Comments are verbatim from nominators except where editing was required to remove personal information about individuals other than the nominee.


President

Hugh Douglas-Smith

Hugh Douglas-Smith

Nomination Comments|closed

"Hugh has a career within the software industry spanning more than 30 years, starting initially as a programmer writing operating systems in machine code for industrial systems, he has progressed through sales and marketing working for a number of international software companies. For the past 20 years he has run a web development business WebAppz which now focuses exclusively on Joomla.

Hugh has managed large software development teams both locally and offshore, has a strong worth ethic and ability to motivate teams to a common goal. For the last 3 years he has contributed to the JED, now working as the JED Review Manager."

Roberto Segura

Roberto Segura

Nomination Comments|closed

"Roberto will deliver the challenging requirements and expectations for the President. Robertos ambitions, intelligence, and accomplishments complement the stellar joomla community."

"All work made with joomla"

"His knowledge and dedication to the project "

"He is Honest"

"He has a very good view about the next steps that should be taken in Joomla environment"

"Roberto is passionate member of the Joomla community. He invested enormous amount of time and code into the project. He is also excellent leader. I have experience working with him and it is easy to follow his lead. He is pleasant and social person. But, most important he is "let's do it" guy, he doesn't sit on his hands waiting something to happen from itself, but he takes charge and do things which need to be done. And btw he is avid lover of beer."

"Community contributions, Always ready to help, awesome Joomla knowledge."

"He makes Joomla great again!"

"He knows and loves Joomla!"

"your knowledge and dedication"

"He knows his stuff, he knows Joomla, he contributes solid code by the bucketload and he knows what the J! community need to succeed. Vote Roberto!!"

Jennifer Marriott

Jennifer Marriott

Nomination Comments|closed

"Jennifer is a strong woman, knows the project from longtime and she has already collaborated in different roles."

Robert Jacobi

Robert Jacobi

Nomination Comments|closed

Robert's statement can be found here: http://robertjacobi.azurewebsites.net/index.php/i-hereby-declare-my-candidacy-for-president-of-open-source-matters.html

"He is very representative and also seems to be very calm and balanced"

"Robert would make an excellent president, as CEO of a company already he has the leadership skills required."

"A leader with vision. "

"He owns one of the most successful Joomla! related business companies. Good reputation and committed to his responsibilities."

"Robert has served the Joomla project for many years and has the business experience to lead our organization into the future. Robert would be able to work across teams for the overall good of the project and not focus solely one one team or department. "

"The ability to unite people around a common goal"

"Roberts over all mature approach to community and sense of professionalism towards relations with other people and his long term contributions to Joomla sparred by his experiences and background makes him the ideal candidate as the next President of Open Source Matters."

"Robert dedication and vision for the project"

"He's smart, funny, cares and is willing (from what I hear)"

"He would do really well at bringing all the teams together and bring more collaboration team-wide."

"Enterprise experience, business focussed, gives back to community, understands grass-roots value to project."

"I've known Robert a long time. He's professional, polished and organized. He's a good fit to be a Joomla figurehead."

"I would like to nominate Robert Jacobi to the President position. Robert has excellent leadership skills and is highly professional in everything he puts his mind to. I’m positive that Robert’s leadership skills will be a great asset for Joomla! to enable and empower the board and the organization as a whole to continue the path to growing and increase the adoption of Joomla.

As the experienced leader Robert is I am certain that Robert can lead the organization to create an infused vision for years to come, set directions and goals. With that vision I’m certain that Robert as our President will lead to inspiring current team members and attract new volunteers, to work together to meet those goals. I am certain that Robert's efforts will empower and unify the new organizational structure. And that is what we need.

Robert has as a member of the Production Leadership Team and the Financial Team good insights in the organization today. Robert is easy to work with, he is an active listener, asking great questions, and has shown that he can work with everyone.

Robert has been an active member of the Joomla! Community for years and has through his company ARC sponsored many Joomla! Events. As an owner of a web agency, he has been part of the Joomla! ecosystem for a long time and with his extensive network of other’s in the ecosystem he has a good insight on how to nurture existing members but also what needs to be done to attract new members to the ecosystem to grow the adaptation of Joomla!"


Vice President

Elisa Foltyn

Elisa Foltyn

Nomination Comments|closed

"The skills I bring to the role are:

I speak fluent German, English, Polish and a growing amount of Dutch

I speak fluent Marketing, Strategy, Design, Joomla and a bit of Development

In private and in business speaking the truth is the most important thing

I aim to value everyone’s work and to make sure they know that

I want Joomla! to be a great CMS and put my effort into optimising the communication both inside and outside the community

I like to be involved and be someone that is always available and that is a reliable advisor.

I value every department but most of all set the focus on the product and the user

I have no financial interest, I run a one (wo)man show. I like to work with small and middle sized companies and with other Joomla! fellows.

Joomla! is what I want to do - regardless of position

More about me in English, German, Polish and Dutch (Link: https://coolcat-creations.com/images/news/Elisa_Foltyn.pdf)"

- Elisa Foltyn

"Elisa is an honest person and hasn't have an OSM/PLT/CLT position in the past."

George Wilson

George Wilson

Nomination Commments|closed

George's statement can be found here : https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NaE7OhRxIiv0SZV2ei0NIGy4VH6-MX90V_TfKWWlbBg/edit?usp=sharing

"George understands our product and community inside out and would be perfect as a voice for both on the board"

"George is such a massive asset to the Joomla Project and devotes so much of his time to it. It just makes sense."

"George is highly devoted to Joomla! and he deserves a position in the leadership"

"George is hard working, honest and the face of Joomla. He is involved in everything and the perfect for being the Vice President."

"George has a very good working knowledge of Joomla, its code and its people. He has worked in many of the areas in his time so appreciates the skills and needs of the jobs involved. His dedication and the commitment to the project are unquestionable. He is at the heart of planning the 4th generation of Joomla and will be critical in seeing it through. He listens and is not afraid to seek others opinions and ideas. He will be an excellent Vice President"

"His character, skills; knowledge of the Joomla! world and personality. And he loves orange, a Joomla! color ;)"

"He's smart, has shown good leadership skills, and it's not such a huge roll that he can't still be involved in Production."

"George has Joomla in his blood and has been a critical member of the production leadership team. George would be an informed and measured voice within OSM leadership."

"George has the enthusiasm, and willingness to help, to serve and to work within a leadership team. He already volunteered in various roles, and has earned the trust and respect of the Joomla community. George also brings another developer perspective to the board, which will be important in the new structure."

Aleksander Kuczek

Aleksander Kuczek

Nomination Comments|closed

Aleksander Kuczek's Statement on why he is perfect for this position (Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-0whc_KK39gGd3tJFapkASPLJ0DJ9ZmBgF_E9oAO_tI/edit#heading=h.fpbw7l60cx0q)

"Aleksander is very involved in Joomla and WordPress open source communities and owns a agency and Joomla SAAS service. He understands the direction the project needs to go and and adds a welcome vision for the future."

"A very representative person. Very passionate about Joomla!. Has experience in business relations and Open Source communities. Very diplomatic person"

"He became very active in the Joomla! community in the last couple of years. He is a good person and leading an own company should qualify him for this position. We need some "fresh blood" in the Leadership Team!"

"Aleksander is a great community member and business man"

"Great willingness to help, solid technical knowledge of joomla, enthusiastic and sociable"

"Aleksander is committed to progress. I first met him at JAB16. We spoke of ways to improve the Joomla! eCommerce UX. Since then, I have worked with Aleksander to create the first Update Day.

He invested the resources necessary to make the project a reality. In the past, my ideas to make Joomla! better has fallen on deaf ears. Aleksander was the first person to take one of my community project initiatives and make it a reality.

I respect his commitment for progress. I would love to see what he could do for the Joomla! community."

"Alek is an innovator, with an incredible energy. Since the first time I meet him, he's been helping to the project in several teams. In this context, his ideas are oriented to make Joomla project more inclusive for people who don't speak English as a first language & help Joomla in the US and Europe communicate in a more fluid way. He wants to go back to the roots of the project and restore the energy we had in the first day. Finally, he wants to put more emphasis on Joomla as not only a community but also a software that serves millions of people."

"I've known Alex for less time than some others I'm nominating, but he's made a great impression. He talks well, acts professionally and is super-smart."

"I would like to nominate Aleksander Kuczek to the Vice President position. Aleksander has a vision to focus on unity. I see this area to be crucial and a good focus for our new Vice President. Joomla! will finally start operating in the new structure with one leadership team and not three. Changing the structure is an important step forward but it will not be enough to create unity in our global community. We need leaders that lead with a united vision and work on getting rid of the disconnect within the organisation world wide. To inspire, enable and empower the volunteers, users and partners. We in the Joomla! Community have shown that we are stronger together than we are alone. And I am certain that Aleksander will provide that leadership focus to this important area to unite and truly live by the Joomla! definition “all together” and “as a whole”.

Aleksander is:

- from a minority language area which is important for a organization that provides a CMS in 68+ languages.

- a part of the Joomla! ecosystem providing the service Perfect Dashboard. So he understands that we need to actively nurture the ecosystem to keep it strong

- active in other Open Source Communities which brings a lot of good insights from outside the Joomla! sphere

- a volunteer that have helped out in the JED team for the past years."

"He shows interest in being Vice and his goal is to improve the communication inside the project. Aleksander also agreed to have the time for this position."

"Aleksander Kuczek is well qualified and ready to be Vice President. Aleks has worked with the JED and stays abreast with community needs and leadership. He has an entrepreneurial and determined focus which has helped him grow a successful business for Joomla."

"1. an effective organizer

2. leadership skills and experience

3. solve problems ability

4. term thinking

5. responsibility

6. meticulousness

7. knowledge of social processes

8. self-control and ability to cope with stressful situations

9. kindness

10. openness and honesty

11. peacefulness"

Hugh Douglas-Smith

Hugh Douglas-Smith

Nomination Comments|closed

"Hugh has a career within the software industry spanning more than 30 years, starting initially as a programmer writing operating systems in machine code for industrial systems, he has progressed through sales and marketing working for a number of international software companies. For the past 20 years he has run a web development business WebAppz which now focuses exclusively on Joomla.

Hugh has managed large software development teams both locally and offshore, has a strong worth ethic and ability to motivate teams to a common goal. For the last 3 years he has contributed to the JED, now working as the JED Review Manager."

Isidro Baquero

Isidro Baquero

Nomination Comments|closed

"He is a well known Joomla! supporter and a very passionate about this project"


Secretary

Duke Speer

Duke Speer

Nomination Comments|closed

“Thank you for the honor of being nominated to run for Corporate Secretary of Open Source Matters, Inc.

I am proud that the majority of my livelihood comes from implementing Joomla sites and of our mission to bring web publishing to the far corners of our world. My Joomla Journey has included contributing hundreds of hours to marketing Joomla, protecting our trademarks, speaking at our Joomla Days, SWOT Analysis, helping new Joomla businesses learn to do things “The Joomla Way,” JoomlaIgnite, and creating smiles with the Joomla Happy! Video.

In combination with the President, the Secretary has to:

- ensure compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements

- administer and record elections and other votes of the membership

- serve as “custodian of records” that maintains the official records repository of the business member rosters, minutes of decisions and contracts

- file documents with the Secretary of State as well as domestic and foreign government agencies concerning our ongoing license to do business as a membership organization.

- for boards without a designated Parliamentarian, by default the Secretary fills that role.

My experience includes being a recovering attorney, a Registered Parliamentarian, years of working with Joomla’s law firm on our legal matters, having served as as Corporate Secretary for several large for-profit companies, and as the 2016 Election Administrator for the 28,000 member National Ski Patrol.

As a Board member, I plan to keep us legal, restore the Governance WG to help us fine tune our new membership and election procedures, involve more members in the process, and, with the VP, put in place a Strategic Planning process for guiding our marketing efforts.

For more detail, please see the linked PDF (CandidateStatement-Duke.pdf)

- Duke Speer

"Duke has extensive experience in corporate governance, having served as Corporate Secretary on numerous non-profit, for-profit and membership boards. He is very familiar with the corporate regulations affecting the official record-keeping that Joomla's Secretary must come into compliance with. He serves a similar role as a Registered Parliamentarian and on the national board governance committee for the National Ski Patrol, administering their membership and election process.

He recently devoted hundreds of hours to one of Joomla's trademark legal matters, creating extensive documents and solving various issues, but I don't know much about the specifics. I just know that he works in the background getting things done and has a knack for helping team members find common vision and work toward it.

Every time I hear him speak at our local open source conferences, he has experience with and compares all the CMS projects, but speaks most highly of Joomla and the great passion he has for and finds within the Joomla community. His Recovery Elevated project is a prime example of his vision of using Joomla as the preferred authoring and curation engine for app/API delivered content. He has told me about about the SWOT team's vision for how Joomla can position for growth in the next decade and it seems he just needs the opportunity to help implement Joomla's revenue strategy and governance."

"Mr. Speer has successfully led multiple non-profit organizations in executive board positions, which will give Joomla keen insights how to best navigate the current and future direction of the organization. His positive contributions and sacrifice on behalf of the Joomla movement for a decade have made him a stand-out candidate for this role."

Jason Nickerson

Jason Nickerson

Nomination Comments|closed

"Jason has been very involved in the Joomla Community with his company JoomlaXTC. He has volunteered his time and also runs JoomlaDay Florida. I think he would be a asset to the board and serve this area well."

"I know Jason through Joomla Day Tampa, which is the best organized Joomla event in the US. If he helps Joomla run 50% as well as his event, we'll be in good hands."

Sigrid Suski

Sigrid Suski

Nomination Comments|closed

"I am honoured to be nominated for the position of the Secretary.

I think I fit perfectly to this position as the duties of a Secretary suit to me best.

In the past years I already served the Joomla! community as member of the Events Team and of the Social Media Team, which I lead since 2014.

I am sure as a Secretary I can do a lot bringing Joomla! back into line. I promise not to disappoint our community."

- Sigrid

"She is very conscientious and is trying to always consider all sites of potential conflicts. She is always very neutral. As a member of the events team she is responsible for protocoling our meetings and reports. She values transparency very much."

"Sigrid is organised and has attention to detail. She is diligent and hard working."

"She's very organized, has got integrity and wants to help this project. Also, she doesn't care about badges."

"Sigrid is the perfect fit for this role. She's highly organized, very well tempered and used to work with different people from different nationalities. In her daily tasks you can find coding or designing, but also dealing with user complaints, managing bank/PayPal stuff for the company, processing dozens of emails... I worked with her for 3 years, so I know this from first hand."

"Sigrid is a well organized person that has all the traits required in that position."

"Sigrid has been devoted to Joomla! since almost the beginning of the project and since several years ago she has been an active part of our volunteers workforce. Her vast technical expertise and her kindness make her perfect for an officer position.

After one year working with Sigrid in the Events Team and checking her awesome work as de facto secretary in our meetings, make me think she will do great in this new era of Joomla! leadership."

"Since I've started to contribute and work with Joomla!, Sigrid's always been around, guiding with a steady hand and without being in the frontpage of the news. At this time, we need more talent like hers. She has consciously studied the bylaws and the duties of a secretary. She would fit perfectly to this role. Her goal is to establish an honest and transparent leadership to serve the whole community. In my opinion, that's the value that we're looking for in this elections."

"I'm sure she could be a good Secretary, thanks, for example, to her organizational skills"

"She’s knows very well all the aspects of the community and she has done some awesome jobs in the JAB event, by myself I think she will do a great job as secretary."

"She is willing to take this position and will do the best to fulfill it."

"Sigrid has exhibited a strong sense of duty and responsibility to Joomla for many years. Her attention to detail and professional attitude would be an asset for Joomla as Secretary."

"Years of dedication to Joomla; will continue to demonstrate the role of women in the project; likely to help reduce misuse of "perfect" in places like this."

Luca Marzo

Luca Marzo

Nomination Comments|closed

"Because"

"He has obviously all the skills required for this role."


Treasurer

Mike Demopoulos

Mike Demopoulos

Nomination Comments|closed

"Mike currently holds the role of interim Treasurer for OSM and has executed his duties professionally and responsibly. The requirements for Treasurer are complex and detailed and having someone who already knows the process is critical."

"Mike's passion and hard work for the project"

"He does reimbursement quickly and is reliable. He's trustworthy and an all around great person. Most importantly he loves the Green Bay Packers."

"He knows the job and he's quick and committed."

"Past experience and great commitment"

"He is already experienced as Joomla Treasurer"

"He's already rocking it!"

"Mike has been there and done that in Joomla. No-one running knows as much about the Joomla organization as he does. Mike has proven himself to be competent and trustworthy."

"I would like to nominate Mike Demopoulos to the Treasurer position. Mike has during the time as Interim Treasurer for the organisation the past 8 months proven his leadership skills in this area.

In electing Mike as the Treasurer I am convinced that he would continue to develop the financial area together with the Finance Team:

- with clear and communicated financial policies and routines

- in regards to transparency & reporting

- improving the processes like reimbursements flows for faster processing

- etc

Being the Treasurer of Joomla! has never been an easy position. Mike stepped up and took on the role as Interim Treasurer in a very difficult time. Mike is a person that is compassionate and dedicated to do what is right. He has proven himself to be trustworthy and loyal to the role and to Joomla. With Mike as the Treasurer we will have a continuity we need in the financial area and a person that will make sure the organisation is financially sound.

Mike has volunteered to Joomla in other positions for years as Team Member of the Finance Team (working on financial policies and workflow), Team Leader for the Capital Team (responsible for most of the Income side of the budget) and Responsible for Sponsorship & Partnership for the Joomla! World Conference (responsible for bringing in the income side of the event budget). And also successfully represented Joomla! at non-Joomla events, in media interviews etc.

Mike is also active in other Open Source Communities which brings great insights and experience to the board."


Next Steps:

  • Voting Ballots will be going out to those who vote for Officer roles within the next day. An outline of who will vote and how votes are tallied can be found in the Bylaws and in the Call for Nominees article (https://community.joomla.org/blogs/leadership/3098-call-for-joomla-officer-nominees.html).
  • Voting parties will have 7 days to cast their votes.
  • Votes will be tallied and announcement of newly elected officers will be posted approximately 48 hours after voting closes.

According to the Bylaws (link below), existing Officers also vote for new officers. At this time, we only have two officers that will be voting: Sarah Watz (current President) and Joe Sonne (current Secretary). Expired and Interim Officer positions do not have voting rights.

OSM Bylaws: http://opensourcematters.org/images/documents/20-10-2016-OSM-ByLaws.pdf

Thank you.

Ken Crowder & TJ Baker
Joomla! Transition Team