Open Stack

The OpenStack Foundation Board of Directors had a telephone meeting yesterday. The agenda was posted on the wiki: https://wiki.openstack.org/wiki/Governance/Foundation/3Oct2013BoardMeeting

The Board started out by approving the minutes from the August 6th Board meeting: https://wiki.openstack.org/wiki/Governance/Foundation/6Aug2013BoardMinutes

Following that, I updated the Board briefly on several topics including the recently launched Training Marketplace (http://www.openstack.org/training) and the upcoming Summit in Hong Kong. One important reminder for everyone--this summit we are limiting the number of full access passes to help with the crowding problems we had in breakout sessions in Portland. Those full access tickets are on track to sell out in the next few days. If you received a code as an ATC or a speaker, you still need to register if you haven't already to reserve your space, so please do so soon if you haven't already.

We also discussed a draft budget for 2014 and some high level goals for activities of the Foundation, with a focus on connecting different audiences who participate in OpenStack, creating a clear path to the right options for training, software, and services for those who are getting started with OpenStack and improving the infrastructure of the Foundation to provide data and information services (including APIs and data feeds) for the community. We will present additional details for Board approval at the next meeting in Hong Kong in November.

Next, Todd Moore gave an update on the election committee. The election process for the 2014 Individual Directors will be kicking off with nominations starting in November. The committee was formed at the first board meeting this year to review the election process and recommend any changes. In the meeting, the committee discussed whether or not a change to the voting method (from cumulative to something like STV) would provide balance for the large contingents of affiliated Individual Members. A change to the voting method would require an update to the Bylaws that would need to be approved by a majority vote of at least 25% of the Individual Membership of the Foundation. That is a high bar to reach prior to the upcoming election, but may be a change that makes sense to add to the 2014 ballot when the membership is most likely to turnout the vote. Second, Todd clarified a point of confusion that had come up around the 2013 Gold Member election. Finally the Board discussed several questions around the staff of the Foundation being eligible for election by the community and the role of the Executive Director on the Board.

On the first and third issues, there was a lot of spirited discussion from members of the Board. Ultimately, it was clear that there was not a broad enough consensus at the time to move forward on any specific path. The election committee will gather more information and continue to work on these issues, seeking community input.

The agenda called for a number of other reports from different working groups and committees. However, the election committee update consumed the remaining time and the Board had to push off the other items to the next meeting.

Jonathan