Dear community,
Dear members of TDF,
this e-mail is to inform you about the upcoming board elections, encouraging you to decide whether you want to stand, and inviting you to meet with the current board in Milan and discuss any questions you may have.
As per § 7 II of our statues, [1] the board serves a term of two years, which ends on February 16th, 2014, with the new board in charge the day after. In addition, the statutes foresee a 45 days period before the elections, when the official announcement has to be sent, including a detailed timeline. This official announcement will follow soon, but already today, we would like to illustrate the rough plan of the transition phase between the current and the new board:
- In Milan, people will have the opportunity to talk to current board members, asking about the work and their experience during the last two years. Likewise, they also have the chance to talk to the community during the conference and decide whether they want to stand.
- Very shortly after the conference, we plan to start the nomination phase of candidates, which will approximately last between one and two weeks. This (and not now) is the time to publicly propose people or nominate yourself.
- After the nomination phase has ended, with self-nomination being explictly allowed, the official election and challenging/confirmation of the election will happen, which will take another two to three weeks.
- If we are in time, we plan to have the new board elected by November or December. They will then officially be in charge beginning February 17th, 2014.
- With this timing, the new board and the current board have approximately two to three months where they can work together, so the transition is as easy as possible, with the current board introducing the new board to their duties and the way of working, and jointly defining the future strategy of TDF.
In total, 10 board members are up for election, amongst them 7 seat holders and 3 deputies. Per § 6 III every member of TDF is eligible to vote for the board, and to be elected into the board.
There are only two limitations in place: Members of the membership committee cannot be in the board at the same time, as per § 6 III, and only one third of the board may have the same affiliation/employer as per § 8 IV.
We are happy to answer any questions you may have, either via mailing list, or at the LibreOffice Conference in Milan.
Looking forward to seeing you there,
Florian (on behalf of the board)