Joining the .NET Foundation Board of Directors

Yesterday the .NET Foundation announced the results from the 2021 Board of Directors Election. An election where the Foundation's members choose who they want to represent them on the board and this election set out to fill four out of seven seats.

And I'm deeply honored to announce that I have this election been elected along with

• Frank Odoom
• Javier Lozano
• Rob Prouse

The new Board of Directors

This means that as a result of the election the board will have the following members

• Bill Wagner
• Frank Odoom
• Javier Lozano
• Mattias Karlsson
• Rich Lander
• Rob Prouse
• Shawn Wildermuth

Changes to the Board of Directors

Javier Lozano was re-elected, so leaving the board are

• Beth Massi
• Jeff Strauss
• Layla Porter
• Rodney Littles II

Beth, Jeff, Layla, Rodney thanks you for your hard work! ❤️

Personal reflections

I'm truly humbled by the confidence placed in me by the Foundation members, so thank you!❤️

I just got the news at the same time as the rest of the world, so I'm far from onboarded yet, and honestly don't have a 100% clear picture of what to expect and what's expected of me.

But at the same time, I know too well how much hard and frustrating work it can be from years of experience participating in various boards, non-profits, communities, and open source projects. And I've got huge respect for the tasks and challenges at hand. The board speaks in one voice but consists of several voices, yours included. There are several challenges we face, some issues may be small, others unacceptable which clearly need to be addressed, key problem areas in my mind are:

Diversity

We need for the .NET community to be welcoming safe, inclusive, and representative for current and new participants. And it's clear there's room for improvement here. This includes the Board of Directors, which in my opinion isn't representative - so here we will need your, members, committees, and the community help to hold us accountable and provide us honest constructive feedback. We can be good allies and champions, even if we're not serving in any official capacity. And truly hope we'll have a more representative board post next election.

Sustainability

Sustainability isn't just about adding members, projects, and responsibilities, it's also what happens after you've joined or promises have been made. It's not sustainable if members, maintainers, and community leaders burn out, feel unwelcome or unheard. We can't grow if we at the same time have a churn of people and projects. Don't set things in motion you don't have a plan for how to maintain it - or clearly scope that it's time-limited.

Transparency

For me, this is hugely centered around communication, only promise what you can deliver on, clearly communicate what can be expected and when to expect it. If you're unsure, clarify. If you can't communicate yet - communicate that - silence isn't respectful and just fuels misinformation.

Conclusion

Thanks for the confidence! this will be an interesting journey, and truly hope I can represent you well. I will need some time to be the "new person" - hear people out, ask stupid questions, inventory which tools are at hand, and so on.