Hi Dimitris, Although your points make sense, the reality is that the President is requested specifically for many things, in person, or on a Skype call, writing a support letter, shaking a hand, giving a talk, etc etc. This is why I am so busy lately, and obviously why Arnulf was as well. For a second, imagine if Arnulf was the president all those years *without* ever having a fulltime employee (which was the case for many years, as Tyler was here as a paid Executive Director); the reality is different now, where our foundation has no employees and things in fact do trickle up (this is natural).
So I am ok with more specific definitions of roles in our organization, but let us be realistic, is all that I ask. :) -jeff On 2014-07-18, 11:26 AM, Dimitris Kotzinos wrote: > Dear all, > > some thoughts on the discussion of the role of the president in OSGEO, > as the discussion is going on in the board-list. > First of all, I hope that this is a discussion of interest for all OSGEO > members and thus I cc:discuss. > Secondly I think I agree mostly with Michael Gerlek's point in his > e-mail of July 17th, so I think that there are ways to lighten the > President's burden. A small example: there are very competent board > members coming from Europe, they can easily and successfully represent > the board in European based events. The same is true for Australia and > South America. So less work for the president and fewer expenses for the > board and the budget even if these trips are covered (which could even > not be the case if the specific board member would attend anyway). > Moreover this brings back an older suggestion that we need to officially > establish regional chapters that will also be directly connected with > the regional events like FOSS4G-Europe. This would ease a lot of those > discussions. > Thirdly, reading Arnulf's account for his term, one can only say > "wowowow" and thank you to Arnulf and Jeff for the (both personal and > financial) burden they have taken so far. > Forthly, I think that the organization should cover the expenses of any > members going on an "official" business, given that the board agrees on > that. For me it goes without saying that some limits should be set (e.g. > X* hotels) and as others pointed out maybe also a yearly overall limit > not to be exceeded in any case. Of course again and as usual in OSGEO > everything funded should be public. > Lastly, I think that increasing the president's term will only > discourage people to apply for that position. Two years is enough and if > he/she wants can reapply - Eli's suggestion of putting a two terms limit > is also good. I prefer a more flexible scheme that could include a > president elect or some sharing of responsibilities with other members > of the board, e.g. establishing a vice-president's position. > > My 2cs and thanks for listening, > Dimitris _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss