It’s been nearly three years since our first board election, and that means it’s time for us to start planning the next one!
Foundation structure
For those who are not aware, AlmaLinux OS is a community-owned operating system. All assets related to the project are owned by The AlmaLinux OS Foundation, a 501(c)(6) nonprofit organization, that is governed by a set of Bylaws, and guided by a volunteer board of directors.
Today, the foundation has 8 board members:
- benny Vasquez - me, the current Chair of the board of AlmaLinux OS Foundation
- Jack Aboutboul - Jack is a current Director at AlmaLinux, and Program Manager, Microsoft Azure AOSI
- Simon Phipps - Simon is a current Director at AlmaLinux and former president of the Open Source Initiative
- Jesse Asklund - Jesse is a current Director at AlmaLinux and the CXO at WebPros
- Daniel Pearson - Daniel is a current Director at AlmaLinux and is the CEO of KnownHost, LLC
- Moshe Bar - Moshe is a current Director at AlmaLinux and is the CEO of CodeNotary, Inc., an AlmaLinux Gold Sponsor
- Alex Iribarren - Alex is a current Director at AlmaLinux, and a penguin herder at CERN
- Jun Yoshida - Jun is a current Director at AlmaLinux, and is the driving force behind MIRACLE LINUX
Later this year, 6 of these seats will be open as part of our 2025 election (Alex and Jun just joined us in 2023, so their seats will not come up for re-election until next year). Let’s talk about what that will look like!
Election Timeline
The specific dates for the election timeline will be established at the next board meeting, but we’re currently hoping to hold the election in August, and that means this will be true:
- To run for election - apply to join by the end of May, 2025
- To vote in the election, you must apply to join by the end of July, 2025
- Election will run in August, 2025
- Results will be announced no later than September, 2025
The opening of the election will be announced on the blog, and all members will get an email asking them to cast their ballot.
While corporations have to join the foundation as a Sponsor member, individual membership of the foundation is free, and the barrier to entry intentionally does not require code contributions. We want the people who care about the future of AlmaLinux to be able to have a voice in the future of AlmaLinux, whether or not they are developers.
Take a look at the membership tiers, and then chose your level: https://almalinux.org/members/
(in case video is more your style, I also recorded a quick Q&A video)
Being a Board Member
Here are the basics on what being a board member entails!
Board member terms are 3 years long, so board members who are elected in 2025 will be board members until 2028.
Responsibilities of board members include preparing for and attending the monthly board meetings. This involves reading any docs or looking into any processes that we’re working on, researching anything that needs a vote, and engaging/asking questions as we go along.
Board members are also expected to stay up to date on the general workings of the project and abide by our board of operations and ethics.
There are many reasons that people want to join the AlmaLinux board, but the most common is that people see it as an opportunity to give back to open source. It gives a direct look at how the project runs. Too, it allows you to help lead the project in the way that you see fit. Maybe you have ideas for how to make it better! We welcome all the expertise and help we can get from the community so that we can continue to improve the project.
Expectations for Next Term
There are a couple of things we anticipate will be at play during the upcoming board member term. Our goals include further future-proofing the structure of the organization, expanding sponsor members to ensure long-term neutrality, and increasing the reach of AlmaLinux by improving our marketing.
More information about our board, the previous elections, and our monthly meeting minutes is available here on our Wiki.
Not sure if it’s for you? Come find out!
If you’re not sure if being on the board makes sense for you and would like to ask questions, join me for the Election Q&A meetup on May 15th at 11am eastern US time. Register for the event on our events site to get the meeting link and reminders.
Other Ways to Get Involved
If you want to get involved at AlmaLinux, but don’t think being a board member is a good fit for you, that’s okay! There are plenty of other ways you can get involved with the AlmaLinux community. This blog post does a great job of outlining those opportunities!
