On Thu, Oct 31, 2013 at 12:43 PM, Robert Schweikert wrote:
Hi,
On November 1st, 2013 Richard Brown will start to work for SUSE. This will create an imbalance of SUSE employed elected board members over non SUSE employed elected board members. With Will's resignation we currently have 3 elected board members as opposed to the expected 5 board members. Two of the 3 will be employed by SUSE, thus constituting a 66% position on the elected board in favor of one company. This does not meet the guidelines for board composition.
In order to meet the guidelines two additional SUSE employed elected board members (Richard and Robert) would have to step down leaving the board with 1 elected member, Andrew. But hen 1 company would hold 100% of elected positions on the board, also violating the guidelines. Thus, we do not consider this to be a workable solution. Another option is to appoint two new members that do not work for SUSE in short order. This has it's own complication with the ongoing election process.
As we write this, we also realize that we have been violating the 40% rule for some time. Ever since Raymond decided to step down and his seat was not filled. The seat was not filled due to concerns regarding favoritism with respect to closeness to the election. Both concerns are valid now as well, of course. The past violation of this rule was an honest mistake and we apologize for the oversight.
With the election pending we propose to continue as a 3 elected member board, with 2 seats held by SUSE employees (Richard and Robert) and one seat held by a member not employed by SUSE (Andrew), until the end of the year. The new board will take the reigns in January and the percentage rule will once again be upheld.
Collectively we can jump through a number of hoops to move all the puzzle pieces in the proper location, the "what-if" scenarios could probably fill multiple pages. However, with the election period upon us, it is the board's opinion that this is not necessary. The decision ultimately rests with the community and we will follow the guidance provided in the discussion of this topic.
As just one of the many voices here, I think this is a very reasonable solution without putting undue stress on the process of organizing the upcoming elections. As long as we as a community are aware and actions are planned... in both cases, this has happened, then my lone voice says... no worries! Thanks (to everyone) for all the effort it takes to be on the Board, and the upcoming elections should be interesting. :-) C. -- openSUSE 12.3 x86_64, KDE 4.11 -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, email: opensuse-project+owner@opensuse.org