Re: Minor change to Board practice
Jeff Waugh wrote: 3. Recommend that future Boards appoint the President and Vice-President from elected directors annually (instead of Chairman and Vice-Chairman) As a slightly confusing nit, are we now saying there will only be President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer? or are we saying there will be a Chairman, Vice-Chairman, President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer? Glynn ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: Minor change to Board practice
quote who=The Face of Sun Microsystems Jeff Waugh wrote: 3. Recommend that future Boards appoint the President and Vice-President from elected directors annually (instead of Chairman and Vice-Chairman) As a slightly confusing nit, are we now saying there will only be President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer? or are we saying there will be a Chairman, Vice-Chairman, President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer? The former. The bylaws provide the option to have a Chairman, but I don't really think we need one if the President is an active Director. - Jeff -- Open Source in Mobile 2007: Madrid, Spain http://www.osimconference.com/ The worst vice is ad-vice. - Al Pacino, The Devil's Advocate ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Minor change to Board practice
Hi all, Another administrative issue the Board needs to deal with, but vastly less interesting or controversial than the one raised in my last email. :-) The Board is planning to fix a minor but institutionalised problem with the practice of selecting and current state of Foundation Board officers. It is not a major issue, because we're operating in accordance with the bylaws and functioning properly and efficiently as an organisation, but we want to fix the problem regardless. This does not require a vote or confirmation from the membership, but we wanted to announce our plans and deal with concerns should there be any. For quite some time we have chosen a Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer from the elected directors. The Chairman and Vice-Chairman have in every practical sense functioned as the President and Vice-President, though for touchy-feely reasons we've never used those titles. The actual President has served for many years, very rarely in a practical sense; but I'd like to stress again that this has been in accordance with the bylaws. The President for all these years has been... Miguel de Icaza. :-) We'd like the officers of the GNOME Foundation to reflect the current state and practice of the Board, and recommend this as best practice for future Boards, so here is what we're going to do: 1. Request a letter of resignation from Miguel (as that is the only way for the office of President to become vacant) 2. Appoint the Chairman (Quim) and Vice-Chairman (Anne) as President and Vice-President 3. Recommend that future Boards appoint the President and Vice-President from elected directors annually (instead of Chairman and Vice-Chairman) Please reply if you have questions or concerns. Thanks, - Jeff -- linux.conf.au 2008: Melbourne, Australiahttp://lca2008.linux.org.au/ It will test your head. And your mind. And your brain, too. - Jack Black, School of Rock ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: Minor change to Board practice
On Tue, 2007-08-07 at 22:46 +1000, Jeff Waugh wrote: [...] Cutting out the context to change the implied meaning. 1. Request a letter of resignation from Miguel (as that is the only way for the office of President to become vacant) Still president after all these years? Well done Miguel! I've seen a few Presidents fall from power in my life time. I advise you to avoid the Ceausescu's approach (but driving around in a tank making demands sounds fun). I think at a minimum, you should demand a briefcase full of monopoly money. and a helicopter to take you to the country of your choosing. You should send your resignation /after/ you have safely absconded. 2. Appoint the Chairman (Quim) and Vice-Chairman (Anne) as President and Vice-President 3. Recommend that future Boards appoint the President and Vice-President from elected directors annually (instead of Chairman and Vice-Chairman) -- __C U R T I S C. H O V E Y___ Guilty of stealing everything I am. signature.asc Description: This is a digitally signed message part ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: Minor change to Board practice
Hi, Jeff Waugh wrote: We'd like the officers of the GNOME Foundation to reflect the current state and practice of the Board, and recommend this as best practice for future Boards, so here is what we're going to do: 1. Request a letter of resignation from Miguel (as that is the only way for the office of President to become vacant) 2. Appoint the Chairman (Quim) and Vice-Chairman (Anne) as President and Vice-President 3. Recommend that future Boards appoint the President and Vice-President from elected directors annually (instead of Chairman and Vice-Chairman) I think there's value in having a figurehead president divorced from the day-to-day running of things - a symbolic figure who is a patron of the foundation (like, say, the Irish president who doesn't run the country, or the Queen in Australia). There is an advantage too - you get to choose your president from outside of the community, and have it be someone with major weight in higher orbits - a Jonathan Schwarz or Michael Tiemann (or, indeed, Miguel de Icaza, in spite of him still being firmly in the community). If you're doing away with the symbolic president, then it probably makes sense to throw in a second procedural change, and have that person elected to the position, rather than nominated from within the board. Cheers, Dave. -- Dave Neary GNOME Foundation member [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: Minor change to Board practice
quote who=Dave Neary I think there's value in having a figurehead president divorced from the day-to-day running of things Unfortunately, that is not how the position is defined in the bylaws. Over the past few years, what we have called the Chairman (for touchy-feely reaosns) has for all intents and purposes served as the President, just not in name. a symbolic figure who is a patron of the foundation (like, say, the Irish president who doesn't run the country, or the Queen in Australia). Well, despite her most excellent maintainership of GDM, we'd love to get rid of her. :-) There is an advantage too - you get to choose your president from outside of the community, and have it be someone with major weight in higher orbits - a Jonathan Schwarz or Michael Tiemann (or, indeed, Miguel de Icaza, in spite of him still being firmly in the community). We could do this by having honorary members of the Advisory Board or something. Miguel *hasn't* been firmly in the community or participating as that symbolic figure -- no slight on him, this expectation was never set. If you're doing away with the symbolic president, then it probably makes sense to throw in a second procedural change, and have that person elected to the position, rather than nominated from within the board. I didn't want to cloud the issue by introducing that (which is something I have raised numerous times in the past, but not formally proposed). What we are doing here is fixing the inadequate semantics and practice surrounding the positions of President and Chairman. - Jeff -- linux.conf.au 2008: Melbourne, Australiahttp://lca2008.linux.org.au/ Again you are making up inventing as you go. Be specific aba gaba datata. - Oscar Plameras ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
