Board Election 2007 Voting

Charter Members may choose from this list for casting their votes. The voting process will follow the Proposed Board Election Procedure#Voting. Each Charter Member will have 5 votes to cast, for filling the 5 vacant seats on the Board.
= Nominees =
Names in bold represent nominees. Comments sent during the nomination period are shown in italics following the nominators name.
* Venkatesh Raghavan
:*Tyler Mitchell: Venka has served as a major international influence over OSGeo in its first year of formation. He has helped start several local chapters, has helped bring ideas for involving the larger community and is a committed supporter of OSS.
* Jo Walsh
:*Tyler Mitchell: Jo has brought an unending flow of fresh ideas to the OSGeo Board while serving over the past year. She is 200% devoted to improve public access to information, data, tools, communities and more. Her knowledge of the higher level processes is deep, but so is her knowledge on technical matters. She is also well aware of the European issues around these ideas and helps to build bridges between people and communities.
:*Jeroen Ticheler: Jo has an impressive track record when it comes to promoting access to public geodata, raising public awareness around policy development like the European INSPIRE and promoting the use of FOSS as a valid alternative to proprietary software. She's an amazing communicator & blogger with a broad vision that is an inspiration to many in the community. It would be great to see her on the board for another term.
:*Lorenzo Becchi: I would like to underline her work over Public Geospatial Data, Metadata and the INSPIRE directive. These all are complex threads but her effort to make them "human readable" is really useful to our community.
* Markus Neteler
**Lorenzo Becchi: Markus is a very present person over many FOSS4G communities from OSGeo to Germany passing through Italy. He's one of the faces that OSGeo can proudly show everywhere. More from here: Markus is the leader of the GRASS GIS project, and has played a pivotal role in the revitalization of the project and it's community. Markus is also a founding member of OSGeo and has been active in building the broader FOSS4G community for many years. At the FOSS4G 2006 conference, Markus Neteler was honored with the Sol Katz GFOSS Award for 2006.
**Tyler Mitchell: Markus has a deep commitment to the FOSS model and has been a leading advocate in the international communities. His work, education and programming contributions give him a unique perspective on how FOSS can be applied and how OSGeo can help. I support his re-election to the board to continue contributing in these many ways.
**Aaron Racicot: I am excited that Markus has agreed to accept a nomination to the board of OSGeo. He is one of the most active and outspoken advocates for the ideals that OSGeo represents and is a clear choice for a position on the board. His ability to represent a large international community, bring together people from many disciplines, and be a forward thinker for the betterment of the OSGeo community is exceptional. Markus is a clear choice and I recommend him as a nominee to the OSGeo board.
* Robert (Bob) Bray
:*Frank W: Bob brings a voice for two OSGeo projects, MapGuide OS and FDO, for which he leads the project steering committees. He also represents the the support of Autodesk, our earliest and most substantial corporate sponsor. But more importantly he is a voice for the *joy* of open source, and the transformative power it can have in a corporate, and previously proprietary environment. I would love to have his energy and intellect with us on the board.
* Michael Gerlek
**Frank W: Michael has shown passion for the OSGeo cause since our inception and has worked very hard in the past on VisCom activities - addressing issues from the esoteric (membership rules) to the concrete (OSGeo shirt guy). Based on his background, I think he can help us promote and position FOSS4G software for use in the pre-packaged commercial software world. But most importantly I think he has passion, and is prepared to commit the time to fulfill a role on the OSGeo board.
**Aaron Racicot: Michael has shown great commitment to OSGeo from its very first moments of inception. His countless hours of involvement with the VisCom committee and insightful perspective on issues of standards, licensing, and how OSGeo interfaces with the "real world" are great assets he brings to the board. Michael is active in the community at all levels, from local (co-founder of Cascadia Users of Geospatial Open Source) to international (active in the OGC and other international organizations). Michael is a great choice and I highly recommend him as a nominee to the OSGeo board.
** More info here
* Jeroen Ticheler
:*Lorenzo Becchi: Jeroen is the leader of GeoNetwork project, a catalogue application that's member of OSGeo. Since long, Jeroen has been active in FOSS4G and he's a key person to support OSGeo projects inside United Nations (he's working at FAO) and other institutions such as OGC.
:*Frank W: Jeroen Ticheler is leader of the UN FAO GeoNetwork project and has demonstrated great community leadership capabilities in building the GeoNetwork community. He also brings great contacts, and understanding of organizations at various government levels around the world building SDIs of various degrees of formality. This includes efforts in the developed and developing world. I think his perspective and energy would be a great addition to the board.
* V. Ravi Kumar
**Venkatesh Raghavan: Ravi is presently the Director for Centre for Geoinformation and Management Training Institute, Geological Survey of India, Hyderabad. Ravi is very strongly commited to Free and Open Source Geospatial technology and has been responsible inpromoting OSGeo through workshops, seminars, training program and curricula. He is a very active member of OSGeo India and chairs the OSGeo-India Events Committee.
**More info here
* Paul Ramsey
**Tyler Mitchell: Paul has been an avid supporter and contributor to open source for many years. His company, Refractions Research, has played a critical role in developing several FOSS technologies used worldwide, not the least of which is the PostGIS project. He regularly presents overviews of FOSS solutions at major conferences, helped started OSGeo as an initial Charter Member and he is sought after for his down-to-earth advice. He is an encouraging leader in the current FOSS4G planning team and brings real-world business experience, plus developer familiarity that is often hard to find in one person.
**Landon Blake: Paul Ramsey is an important member of the open source Java GIS Community, of which his company Refractions Research is a key member. I have had the pleasure to interact with him on occasion as part of my work on OpenJUMP, and would fully support his nomination to the OSGeo Board of Directors.
* Gary Sherman
**Tyler Mitchell: Gary has been active in open source software projects for many years and in various positions. As the father of Quantum GIS (QGIS) he watched a spare-time personal project move into the spotlight attracting more than a dozen committers. It is now being used as an increasingly important part of end-user toolsets. He has experience in many roles: programmer, web administration, project manager, community developer, financial manager, and more. He is chair of the QGIS Project Steering Committe and active in helping the community. I believe that his experience and his trusthworthy reputation would make him a good board member.
**Aaron Racicot: Gary has a long standing commitment to the Open Source GIS community. His voice represents a great cross section of projects, geographies, and disciplines. Through personal experience and interaction with Gary I have grown to respect his ability to provide wise insight, clear vision, and a great voice for the Open Source geospatial community. He is a great choice and I highly recommend Gary as a nominee to the board for OSGeo.
Category:Election 2007