Nominees for 2019 Python Software Foundation Board Election

Lorena Mesa

Nomination details

Name: Lorena Mesa
Previous Board Service: 2017 Python Software Director (1 year term), 2018/2019 Python Software Director (2 year term)
Employer: GitHub
Other Affiliations: PyLadies Chicago, Chicago Tech Diversity Initiative, Latinas in Tech, Django Girls Chicago, Chicago Python User Group Member

Nominee Statement:

It’s with great pleasure that I humbly submit my name for the 2019/2020/2021 term of the Python Software Foundation Board of Directors. Below, I have provided an overview of my Python professional usage, Python Community contributions, as well as provide an overview of the goals that I have if elected to the 2019/2020/2021 term.

Professional Python Usage

A Python user of 10+ years, my Python journey began when using Python as an Obama for America staffer. This ultimately inspired my career switch from working as a policy analyst to becoming an engineer. I’ve since worked with Python as a web developer and currently use Python for data science and machine learning as a data engineer on GitHub’s Software Intelligence Systems team.

Python Community Contributions: PyLadies Chicago Founder and Lead Organizer

My career move from applied social science research into technology really opened my eyes to the challenges confronting underrepresented people in technology. Specifically this experience inspired me to start the PyLadies Chicago chapter which I’ve been organizing as lead organizer for 4+ years. As a PyLadies Chicago lead organizer:

  - Build the PyLadies Chicago community to [1,100\+ MeetUp members](https://www.meetup.com/Chicago-PyLadies/)
  - Organize with the PyLadies Chicago team 70\+ events
  - Develop strategic partnerships with other intersectional and diversity and inclusion minded groups in Chicago, such as helping found the [Chicago Tech Diversity Initiative](http://www.chitechdiversity.com/) and consulting with Chicago Python User Group in the creation of their new [Code of Conduct](https://www.chipy.org/pages/conduct/)
  - Onboard new organizers
  - Support the global PyLadies community (see goals below on work currently in flight)

Python Software Foundation Board of Director 2018/2019 Term (2 Year Term as result of 2017 bylaw changes)

  - [Attended 19 of 19 meetings](/psf/records/board/minutes/) (June 26 2017 meeting \- PyCon USA 2019 Meeting)
  - [Communications Co\-Chair](/psf/records/board/history/#id25): Oversee the development of content on the blog, email psf\-board\-public and psf\-community mailing mailing lists PSF meeting minutes. [Recruited, interviewed, and assisted in the hiring of four new PSF bloggers](http://pyfound.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-python-software-foundation-is.html).
  - PSF Board of Director Education Committee Member, Current: Inaugural committee member as of November 2018 onwards. Committee work has included the development of a new [Python in Education grant](http://pyfound.blogspot.com/2019/01/python-in-education-request-for-ideas.html).
  - With Current Directors Naomi Ceder and Marlene Mhangami created the PSF Translations Work Group Charter, recruited members, and introduced to vote (approved) in April 2019
  - With Former Directors Carol Willing and Trey Hunner and Current Directors Jackie Kazil, Jeff Triplett, and Christopher Neugebauer created the Code of Conduct Work Group Charter, recruited members, and introduced to vote (approved) to PSF in May 2018
  - Authored 6 PSF Blog posts
  - Represented the PSF in "What is the PSF" community talks at PyCaribbean 2019, PyLadies Sweden 2018, PyCon Sweden 2018, and PyCon Colombia 2018\.

Other Python Community Contributions

PSF Work Group Membership

  - [PSF Code of Conduct Work Group Member, Current](/psf/committees/#code-of-conduct-work-group)
  - [PSF Grants Work Group Member, Current](/psf/committees/#grants-work-group)
  - PSF Translations Work Group Member, Current

Python Conference Organizing

  - PyOhio 2019 Speaker Mentor
  - PyGotham 2019 Organizer
  - [PyCon USA 2018/2019 Programs Co\-Chair](https://us.pycon.org/2019/about/staff/)
  - PyCon USA 2018/2019 Incident Response Team Member
  - PyCascades 2018/2019 Lightning Talks Organizer

Etc Python Work

  - [PuPPy 2019 Annual Charity Event Benefitting CS4All](http://bdfl-gift.pspython.com/) , Vice Chair : This was a BDFL Retirement Gift where language creators were invited to participate in a discussion on the future of computing languages.
  - [PSF Fellow](http://pyfound.blogspot.com/2017/10/python-software-foundation-fellow.html)

Python Conference Speaking

A full listing of my historical speaking can be found on my website but some examples of recent speaking in the Python community includes:

  - PyCon USA 2019: [¡Escuincla babosa!: Creating a telenovela script in three Python deep learning frameworks](https://us.pycon.org/2019/schedule/presentation/199/)
  - NorthBay Python 2018: [¡Escuincla babosa!: Creating a telenovela script with a neural network](https://2018.northbaypython.org/schedule/presentation/25/)
  - Now is better than Never: What the Zen of Python can teach us about Data Ethics: [PyCaribbean 2019 Keynote](http://pycaribbean.com/), [PyCon Sweden 2018 Keynote](https://pycon.se/), [PyCon Spain 2018 Keynote](https://2018.es.pycon.org/speakers/lorena-mesa)

2019/2020/2021 Goals as a Board Member

  - *Establish a formal relationship between PyLadies and PSF and help develop a PyLadies centralized organizing body to continue the future of diversity and inclusion building in Python*: Currently the PSF and PyLadies have an, at best, murky relationship with PyLadies. Founding members like Lynn Root and Esther Nam have been single handedly keeping PyLadies global work alive and dedicating numerous hours. This, however, leads to major burnout and doesn't scale. At PyCon USA 2019 Lynn Root and I organized a small group of global PyLadies organizers / stakeholders. We spend time discussing ideas for how to alleviate this. As a 2019/2020/2021 I want to continue on this work and promote a better defined, scalable relationship between PyLadies Global leadership and the PSF to continue to promote diversity and inclusion in our community.
  - *Grow PSF Financial Security*: I would like to join the newly minted Finance Committee for the PSF Board and participate more directly in procuring additional sponsorship streams for the Python Software Foundation. Additionally working on locating grants for specific partnerships that could help with specific issues related to the PSF mission (e.g. finding strategic partnerships for increasing Python in education grant we in the Education Committee helped start in 2019\). As a Director I believe focusing on helping grow sponsorship more directly can assist in strengthening the overall fiscal security of the PSF.
  - *Establish translation best practices for PSF assets and documentation*: As a Director in the 2018/2019 term, I helped establish the Translations Work Group, a group which I wish to help guide along in its first year. Examples of goals I would like to work includes assisting in procuring a Chair for the Work Group and helping craft best practices and develop procedures for translating PSF assets and documentation. One such example of a document that would be beneficial in translating includes the PSF membership documentation and registration forms, without this available in multiple languages the PSF is not actively promoting inclusive practices for Pythonistas that aren't English proficient and/or English native speakers. This is but one example of items that can be targeted for translation.
  - *Champion Code of Conduct Revision and Best Practices*: As an active member of the PSF Code of Conduct Work Group, there's already been great progress in revisiting the Code of Conduct and practices related to the Code of Conduct. For example, the Code of Conduct Work Group procured the services of Sage Sharp of Otter Technologies to help advise changes to be made to the Code of Conduct. As a 2019/2020/2021 Director I would continue to work on this effort as well as work with the global Python community to represent and continue to evolve our practices. Code of Conduct work is ongoing and never truly done, therefore I believe it is incumbent as a Director to actively participate in this work.
  - *Broaden the PSF's reach as an educational resource for Python in Education*: The PSF Board of Director Education Committee is a newer focus area and the first [Python in Education](http://pyfound.blogspot.com/2019/01/python-in-education-request-for-ideas.html) request for proposals closed in early May 2019\. This work is only starting. Therefore continuing to work on overseeing the grant (and supporting any grants offered as a result) as well as responding ideas the community submitted would be an immediate priority.

Closing

In closing, I would be honored to serve the Python community as a Python Software Foundation 2019/2020/2021 Director. In Python, as Core Developer Brett Cannon wisely observed, we come for the language but stay for the community. Let’s get to work and continue making the Python community the best it can possibly be!

Manuel Kaufmann

Nomination details

Name: Manuel Kaufmann
Previous Board Service: New board member
Employer: Read the Docs
Other Affiliations: Argentina en Python
Nomination Statements:

Nomination by: Juan Luis Cano Rodríguez

I nominate Manuel Kaufmann (Humitos) for the 2019 Python Software Foundation Board Election because of his extensive experience with the oldest and biggest Spanish speaking Python community (Python Argentina), his extraordinary contributions to the creation of Python communities all around Latin America (more than 50 events in 100 cities over 8 countries, with a reach of more than 1500 people, sometimes from rural areas with very limited access to technology), his tenacious commitment with open source (spreading the word about OpenStreetMap, more than 40 repositories on GitHub), his defense of free and accessible events everywhere (PyCon Argentina is free of charge every single year), his pioneering efforts as Python Ambassador of the Python Software Foundation, his broad experience keynoting at PyCons all around the world (Spain, Brazil, Japan, Mexico), his role in helping kickstart the first PyCon Latin America (to be celebrated in August 2019), and finally his enormous heart and his ability to inspire us all wherever he is.

Asif Saif Uddin

Nomination details

Name: Asif Saif Uddin
Previous Board Service: New board member
Employer: Running my own small agency named TreandBreaker labs. I am the only Founding member.
Other Affiliations: Core Team Member of Celery / Maintainer of 2 PyPA packages / Maintain several popular Django packages.
Nominee Statement:

I would love to help PSF to push Python ecosystem and community further with my voluntary efforts. I believe my inclusion will bring more diversity to the Board. I am from Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Kushal Das

Nomination details

Name: Kushal Das
Previous Board Service: 2014 2016-2019
Employer: Freedom of the Press Foundation
Other Affiliations: CPython core developer and fellow at PSF. Tor Project core team member.

Nominee Statement:

I am a CPython core developer, and also a fellow at PSF. I am also co-chairing the PSF grants working group, and worked as the communications officer on the board. Other than volunteering for PyCon US in various roles, I also help as the sprint coordinator in the conference.

I chaired the PyCon Pune, it is a new regional PyCon started from 2017 with goals to create more upstream contributors.

I work as a public interest technologist with a non-profit called Freedom of the Press Foundation where we protect, defend, and empower public-interest journalism in the 21st century. I help to maintain SecureDrop, which is an open source whistleblower submission system (written in Python) that media organizations and NGOs can install to securely accept documents from anonymous sources.

Goals for 2019

  - Work as a bridge with the CPython core developers, the larger workflow/infrastructure ecosystem and the PSF (along with the help of Thomas and other developers) so that we can support the sustainability of the projects as required.
  - I will continue helping out the Python community in the places outside of EU/US region, thus helping in growing the membership and reach of PSF to the larger community worldwide. Last year, I have given talk about PSF in PyCon India and also continued helping out the other regional conferences.
  - Helping out local PyLadies groups to grow effective and self\-reliant.
  - Focus more on the grants working group to make sure that we are able to provide the necessary guidance and help to the different events across the globe.
  - Helping out in the regular activities of the PSF.* **Nomination Statements**:

Nomination by: Himanshu Awasthi

I again wants to see Kushal Das as board member because He is already doing so many great things like Spreading Python Knowledge over the globe. I’m also the part of DGPLUG Group which started by him 11 year back.

Philippe Gagnon

Nomination details

Name: Philippe Gagnon
Previous Board Service: New board member
Employer: Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec
Other Affiliations: None

Nominee Statement:

My name is Philippe and I have worked with Python for the past eight years. I have always been impressed by the depth and breadth of its community; I have received so much from the Python community, yet it is only so strong because of the active involvement of its members.

Two years ago, I decided to start contributing back to projects from which I derived value, and last year, I made the decision to become involved with the PSF’s initiatives more directly. I volunteered on the PyCon US 2019 program committee, will continue to do so for PyCon 2020, and I hope to be given the opportunity to further my involvement by holding a seat on the PSF board.

Background

I have been volunteering actively with communities I am involved with for almost my entire life. I served for many years as a volunteer mountain rescue worker, and as a board member for a local community organization. During my graduate studies I volunteered as social chair for my program, as student representative on university committees, and as a member of the executive committee (treasurer) of the graduate student’s association, representing 3000 individuals and overseeing the work of over 100 volunteers and dozens of initiatives.

I believe that these pieces of my background make me uniquely suited for a board director position, as they demonstrate sustained volunteer community involvement and prior experience in leadership roles in nonprofit organizations.

Goals

My goals for the PSF during the next term are as follows:

  - **Uphold the Python community’s core values of diversity and inclusiveness.** Every individual, regardless of their race, gender, nationality, ethnicity, sexual orientation or economic background should be afforded equal opportunities to participate in PSF\-sponsored events and contribute to the Python community in general. I would like to champion these values on the board and bring awareness to these issues in every matter considered.
  - **Increase transparency and controls in financial matters.** The PSF is now an organization that handles significant sums of money. To continue to retain the trust that the community has placed in it, a high degree of transparency, accountability and rigor is required. I would like to work on implementing oversight processes based on the best practices of the nonprofit sector, since the organization’s credibility depends on it.
  - **Improve the PSF’s communications.** It can be hard at times to figure out what is happening in the PSF, yet transparency is one of the foundational principles that drive community adhesion to the ideal of the PSF as a pillar of the Python community. I would like to work towards improving transparency with regards to the PSF’s activities by making information more accessible and opening as much of our data as possible.
  - **Empower the PSF staff and improve our governance practices.** As the PSF is evolving, maturing and gaining in size and scope, the roles and responsibilities of its staffers needs to be clearly defined and articulated. The PSF’s professional staff needs to be given the mandate and ability to implement our common objectives. On a related front, the board needs the experience and expertise to exercise strong oversight of the organization’s activities on behalf of the community, and I would like to bring our structure and processes inline with the nonprofit sector's best practices.

Harsh Panchal

Nomination details

Name: Harsh Panchal
Previous Board Service: New board member
Employer: Student and Researcher
Other Affiliations: None
Nominee Statement:

Myself Harsh Panchal, Machine Learning Engineer, Big data and Data science aspirant!

The process of creating something from nothing is deeply rewarding. This where data driven science comes in place. Data science and Analytics can be applied to all kinds companies and organizations, which helps them to provide quality rich services and make better decision for the present and the future.

As an avid Engineer, I know how to achieve Efficiency, Optimization and Performance according to hardware and software environment. Excellent expertise in Python and C++.

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/harshpanchal\-hp/

Tendai Handina

Nomination details

Name: Tendai Handina
Previous Board Service: tendai.handina@adonaicorporation.com
Employer: no
Other Affiliations: yes
Nominee Statement:

Microsoft Certified Professional

Jannis Leidel

Nomination details

Name: Jannis Leidel
Previous Board Service: New board member
Employer: Mozilla
Other Affiliations: Django Software Foundation, Deutscher Django-Verein e. V., OpenStreetMap Foundation, Open Source Initiative, Deutsche Umwelthilfe e.V., Changing Cities e.V., Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte e.V.

Nominee Statement:

Jannis who?

My name is Jannis Leidel, better known in the Python and Django community under my alias jezdez, and I have been a Python developer for 12 years.

For the last 6 years I’ve worked at Mozilla, first as a web developer on the Mozilla Developer Network (MDN web docs) and later as a software and data engineer working on data analysis tools for the Firefox Data Pipeline.

Experience

I have experience in writing, maintaining and managing Open Source projects, e.g.

  - Google Summer of Code student for Django, to integrate it with Python packaging tools, 2007
  - Django Core Team member 2009\-2018
    * translation coordinator
    * Technical Board member
    * founder and member of Django Ops team
    * maintainer of the Django website
    * co\-lead of first Django fundraising campaign and platform
  - Founder and member of the German Django non\-profit, since 2009
  - pip and virtualenv core developer and release manager, 2009\-2013
  - Chairman of DjangoCon Europe, 2010, Berlin, Germany
  - Founder of the [Python Packaging Authority](https://www.pypa.io/) (PyPA), 2011, to take ownership for pip and virtualenv from Ian Bicking
  - Developer and admin for the Python Package Index (aka Cheeseshop), 2012\-2013
  - Django Software Foundation board member, 2014\-2015
  - Mentor at first Django Girls tutorial, 2014, Berlin, Germany
  - Google Summer of Code mentor and admin for Django and Mozilla for multiple years
  - [Caniusepython3\.com](https://caniusepython3.com) — Developer of the web version of Brett Cannon’s caniusepython3 CLI tool
  - [Jazzband](https://jazzband.co) — Creator and “roadie” of a collaborative community on GitHub to share the responsibility of maintaining Python projects
  - Mozilla\-internal champion for the successful [MOSS](https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/moss/) (Mozilla Open Source Software program) grant for the PSF to improve sustainability of the Python Package Index (PyPI)
  - Co\-maintainer of [Redash](https://redash.io) — A Open Source software for teams to query, visualize and collaborate with data, since 2018
  - Developer or maintainer of many other Python packages: [PyPI](https://pypi.org/user/jezdez/), [GitHub](https://github.com/jezdez/)

Nothing of this would have been possible without the support and encouragement from strangers that I met on the internet.

Personal board goals

The reasons why I’d like to run for the PSF board are two-fold at the moment.

I look forward to refining them based on my guiding principles together with my fellow board members and community colleagues.

Guiding principles

  - Community building means clear values, an ethical mission, diverse backgrounds and respectful collaboration.
  - Trust those with domain knowledge and support everyone to attain it.
  - Build partnerships, not silos.

1. Support and extend the use of Python for a community of people by lowering the barrier for educational, scientific and commercial use

  - Increase spending on opportunity and project grants as a key part of the PSF’s mission.
  - Introduce paid Python internships in PSF member organizations to create the next generation of Python community members.
  - More closely associate the PSF with other organizations that overlap in their missions, e.g. pool funds or collaborate on common goals like grant\-giving.

2. Build and strengthen the PSF’s role in the research and development of the Python language and ecosystem

  - Create an R\&D arm in the PSF that allows the community of organizations (e.g. PSF member organizations) to easier reinvest in Python as a foundational technology for their success.
  - Enable the Scientific Python community to more closely engage the Python language community in working with emerging technologies such as WebAssembly.
  - Engage with documentation, design, security and project management experts to strengthen Python’s ongoing work in those fields.

Dustin Ingram

Nomination details

Name: Dustin Ingram
Previous Board Service: New board member
Employer: Google
Other Affiliations: PyPA, PyTexas, Philly Python Users Group
Nomination Statements:

Nomination by: Kevin Horn

I hereby nominate Dustin Ingram (di@python.org) as a candidate for the Board of Directors of the Python Software Foundation.

Over the past several years, Dustin has demonstrated a strong commitment to the health and well-being of the Python community, participating in the development and maintenance of the new PyPI codebase (Warehouse), participating heavily in producing PyTexas 2017, serving as the Conference Chair of PyTexas 2019, and serving as a board member of the PyTexas Foundation.

I believe he would make an excellent addition to the Board.

Nomination by: Chris Wilcox

Dustin Ingram is an active member of the Python community and has played a critical part in the Python Packaging Authority, helping with both governance as well as maintaining PyPI. He has also an organizer for PyTexas, a regional Python conference. In addition to this, Dustin is an exceptionally empathetic developer. As a developer advocate he spends his days better understanding the concerns of other developers and working to make products better for them.

I think his variety of experiences would make him a valuable board member.

Nomination by: Sarah Gray

I had the pleasure of working with Dustin in his prior role as a senior developer and consultant at PromptWorks in Philadelphia. In our time working together, Dustin helped me level-up individually as a Python developer while making substantial contributions to both our local python user group as a regular speaker and the larger Python community as a recurring speaker at PyCon. He’s also a PyPI maintainer and played a big role in the migration to the rewritten version of PyPI— woo hoo! In every circumstance, Dustin exemplified the best of the Python community — a deep understanding of the language, humility, generosity, curiosity, and desire to help others. Dustin would be a great addition to the PSF board for his both his knowledge and his gracious approach to problem solving.

Nomination by: Paul Ganssle

Dustin is well-known to those of us in the packaging world for his talent, his equable demeanor and his community-minded spirit. He played an important role in the Python Packaging Authority at a critical time in our history by serving as a maintainer and adminstrator for the warehouse project during the famously smooth transition to pypi.org. As part of this effort, he got direct first-hand experience working with the PSF and Mozilla to administer the MOSS grant used to fund the PyPI migration. As we in the PyPA started to think about adding a governance model, Dustin was the unanimous choice among PyPA committers for “Benevolent Dictator for Right Now”, and he continues to push forward a formalization of our governance structure.

Dustin is also well-known for his communication skills; he is a frequent speaker at Python conferences around the world, and is a fantastic writer and popularizer. During the PyPI migration, he and others involved appeared on several podcasts (FLOSS Weekly, Talk Python to Me), promoting the project and getting the word out about how it would affect the community. His much-lauded and widely-discussed article PyPI As a Service exploring the challenges we would face if we were to turn PyPI into a for-profit service, shows that he is a pragmatic thinker with the far-too-rare skill of being able to clearly articulate his thoughts.

Many of Dustin’s activities - as an organizer of PyTexas, as a speaker at conferences, as an open source contributor and participant in sprints - clearly show his dedication to the Python community. For this reason and many more, I think that Dustin Ingram would make an excellent addition to the Python Software Foundation board.

Nomination by: Timothy Allen

Dustin Ingram has served the Python community with distinction for several years. I first met Dustin through the Philadelphia Python community, as we are both members of the Philadelphia Python Users Group. Dustin was always enthusiastic, whether giving a presentation or helping a newcomer stuck on a problem. Since then, he has taken that enthusiasm to Texas and a new job with Google as a Developer Advocate.

His service to the community has been amazing, as one of the driving forces behind the Warehouse Project, which gave a much-needed makeover to the Python Package Index. He is a member of the Python Packaging Authority, helping maintain pip, and is an organizer of the PyTexas conference. He continues to present at user groups and conferences throughout the Python ecosystem. Dustin will make a great addition to the PSF board.

Nomination by: Thea Flowers

Dustin has already served the Python community in various ways:

+ He works on PSF infra/tooling including PyPI.
+ Organized PyTexas.
+ Has given talks at *numerous* Python conferences.
+ Advocates for the needs of Python users within Google.

Finally, Dustin is just exceedingly tall. He’s possibly the tallest candidate, maybe to date.

Nomination by: Jon Banafato

I nominate Dustin Ingram for the PSF Board of Directors. Dustin is a positive force in the Python community through his work on packaging infrastructure and as a PyTexas conference organizer, as well as his frequent speaking and attendance at conferences and user groups. He cares for this community and is quick to support others and to step up when a task needs action. I have no doubt that he would continue to act in the community’s best interest as a member of the board.

Sushen Biswas

Nomination details

Name: Sushen Biswas
Previous Board Service: I dont have previous board.
Employer: Meshstocks
Other Affiliations: None
Nominee Statement:

Dear, I like to make my self nominee. I am new to the game with winning spreit. With thanks, Sushen Biswas

Maricela Miranda

Nomination details

Name: Maricela Miranda
Previous Board Service: New board member
Employer: Nearsoft
Other Affiliations: PyCon Charlas, PythonDay México, PyMX, Django Girls Puebla, Women Who Code Python

Nominee Statement:

My community work is about trying to bring opportunities to everyone who wants to get involved in programming or Python community.

  - Co\-chair and co\-organizer of the PyCon Charlas track during PyCon North America.
  - Founder and organizer of PythonDay México, the first conference about Python in Mexico
  - Participation in several local meetups and conferences, giving talks and workshops
  - Organizer of a monthly meetup about Python in Mexico City
  - Organizer of Women Who Code Python webinars in Spanish and Portuguese

I like to bring opportunities to as many people as possible because someone once gave me those opportunities. I think this is the essence of a community… Giving back!

I want to be part of the PSF board because I want to give back more to this amazing community, the work of everyone in it it’s so meaningful to each and every person who uses Python so I want to contribute in a more supportive way.

I’m very committed to achieving the goals that I set to myself.

Goals as a board member:

  - Understand what is needed in the community.
  - Identify places where local communities can be created.
  - Support the creation of new communities, local meetups and conferences in Latin America.
  - Continue encouraging the creation of non\-English content.

Where to find me

  - [Twitter](https://twitter.com/mayela0x14/)

Thomas Wouters

Nomination details

Name: Thomas Wouters
Previous Board Service: 2001-2004, 2017-now
Employer: Google
Other Affiliations: None
Nominee Statement:

Having served on the Board for the last two years, and seeing the improvements we’ve made in that time towards professionalising the Board and the interactions with the (growing) PSF staff, and with expanding the PSFs activities, I’m nominating myself for another three years on the Board of Directors.

I’m a Software Engineer at Google, where I’m part of the team that maintains CPython and the internal Python infrastructure. I’m also a long-time CPython core developer, founding PSF member and PSF Board member (2001-2004 and 2017-now). Apart from my technical contributions to CPython, I’m very active on the #python IRC channel on Freenode, where I am (along with Ned Batchelder) the PSF Group Contact, the official point of contact for Freenode, for “official” Python channels (#python and #python-*). This forum isn’t always without controversies, but we try to be “fair but firm” in handling any issues.

I continue to be incredibly proud of the growth the Python community has seen, in no small part thanks to the efforts of the PSF staff and the PyCon chairs and organisation. I want to foster this growth, expand the PSF in new areas for fundraising and funding of events and activities. I believe the PSF should offer technical and legal support for Python itself, as well as the community. This includes supporting development (through direct project funding as well as sponsoring sprints), infrastructure, and efforts like translating documentation in more languages. I strongly believe in diversity, inclusivity, transparency, and fostering growth as well as technical excellence, and I would be happy if the PSF spent more of its money on any or all of those. For the past two years I’ve been one of the Board’s Vice-Chairs (part of the Executive Committee), a member of the Financial Committee that we are in the process of setting up, a member of the PSF Fellows WG (which votes in new PSF Fellows) and a non-voting member of the Code of Conduct WG.

I am Dutch and based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and can be found on IRC and Twitter as Yhg1s.

Taiwo Adedayo , Salawu

Nomination details

Name: Taiwo Adedayo , Salawu
Previous Board Service: New board member
Employer: University of ibadan, stake-hub
Other Affiliations: Ibadan apex club
Nominee Statement:

The python team works side-by-side with the PSF body and the administration to ensure students and python programmers events throughout the year are successful. As a PSF director , I will ensure that you have a memorable year in python programming and assist the community who does not have the advantage of means of coding Please Vote for Me

Adam Hopkins

Nomination details

Name: Adam Hopkins
Previous Board Service: New board member
Employer: Etz Lime - Independent contractor; Matrix Retail
Other Affiliations: Core dev and project maintainer of Sanic
Nominee Statement:

Do good. Build something good.

I am a self-taught programmer over the last 20+ years. I have been working professionally as a programmer for the last 4 years. Previous to that, I practiced law. Lawyer jokes welcome.

For a long time I deeply appreciated the work of others in open source. About a year and a half ago I started seeing a trend in an open source project that I enjoyed using. It look like it was going to fail from lack of updates and developer burnout. I helped pull together a community of developers and together we took the project to the community to run and build. I am actively involved in helping not only its technical development , but the development of the community behind the project to support it and keep it growing. It has given me great organizational insight in working with others in open source.

As someone that has watched the community for a long time, and as someone that has legal experience, I feel that my background is well suited to helping the Python community. I have other past experience in community involvement serving on committees and oversight.

I have a passion to do good and to help.

Marlene Mhangami

Nomination details

Name: Marlene Mhangami
Previous Board Service: Board Member 2017 and 2018
Employer: Zimbopy and Umba Hub
Other Affiliations: Pycon Africa Chair
Nominee Statement:

Hi, my name is Marlene and I’m a member of the Python community in Zimbabwe. I’m the co-founder of Zimbopy, an organization that teaches Zimbabwean girls how to code in Python. I’m also the current chair of Pycon Africa, the first pan-African gathering of the Python community. Serving on the board has been such an honour for me! This year I served as the board’s communications co-chair, along with Lorena Mesa. We worked with the PSF blogging team to highlight the amazing work Pythonista’s are doing all over the world. Lorena and I also teamed up with Naomi Cedar, to kick off the translation working group to help with efforts to make Python accessible to people of various languages. I also joined the PSF’s fundraising committee and attended a number Pycons around the world, including Pycon India, Namibia, Ghana and of course Pycon USA. I have really enjoyed my time on the board and would love to continue on in service of the community. Below is an outline of how I would like to contribute going forward as a PSF Director if re-elected.

2018/2019 Goals as a Board Member Encourage and Support Diversity by continuing to support the growing the number of PyCons in Africa: the global Python community is growing rapidly and I have been excited to see groups that are underrepresented playing an active role in making this happen. We now have six African countries, that have successfully held PyCons, up from only four last year, and with the addition of our regional Pycon Africa conference, I’d say we are making great progress! I would like to continue to work to increase this number by connecting with communities that are still growing and providing them with access to relevant resources and support.

The PSF Blog: One of my goals is to diversify the stories we tell through the PSF blog. I would like to spotlight members from our many communities around the world, particularly those from underrepresented groups, and help tell their stories. Not only do I think this will be a great way to recognize these members for their work, but I also believe it will make them feel more connected to the international community. I would also like to publish more articles in languages other than English, to make the blog more accessible to none English speakers.

Outreach and education programs: I would like to help support programs that make learning programming accessible particularly outside of the USA. Resources like tutorials and easy to follow summaries for teachers should be accessible and have an option for use in spaces that do not have stable internet connections. Keeping our members from diverse backgrounds in mind should be a priority when making educational documentation. Some of these issues were discussed with the Pyladies leadership group, and I am hopeful that we will come up with solutions that are able to be implemented in the coming years.

Harry Percival

Nomination details

Name: Harry Percival
Previous Board Service: New board member
Employer: MADE.com
Other Affiliations: obeythetestinggoat.com
Nominee Statement:

I’ve been lucky enough to be writing Python for pretty much the entirety of my programming career (we’ll gloss over my time as a Lotus Notes developer) and I feel quite committed to the language and its community, now.

I’m really curious to see how we take on the new challenges of the coming year, particularly as regards financing. I hope I can help find ways to increase our fundraising, and eventually be able to sponsor more activities, including core development, as well as continuing our commitment to diversity, inclusion and community.

I hope everyone appreciates that I used the word community twice, and as a British person that’s very hard for me to do with a straight face, as is expressing any kind of emotion. But I do love this language and the people involved in it, so I hope I can help.