Nominees for 2020 Python Software Foundation Board Election

Agata Skamruk (Bublewicz)

Nomination details

Name: Agata Skamruk (Bublewicz)
Previous Board Service: New board member
Employer: Code Squat
Other Affiliations: None

Nominee Statement:

  - President of the Polish python user group
  - Managing member of PSF
  - PyCode Conference founder and organizer
  - meetups organizer like: PyData Trójmiasto, Women in Technology, PyLadies Poland departments Trójmiasto
  - Python Group founder: PyLbn and PyKosz
  - Python Developer in Code Squat
  - Python Teacher
  - Teacher of technical IT subjects and programming

Iqbal Abdullah

Nomination details

Name: Iqbal Abdullah
Previous Board Service: New board member
Employer: Xoxzo Inc.
Other Affiliations: PyCon JP, PyCon MY, PyCon APAC
Nominee Statement:

I have been active with PyCon APAC and PyCon JP since 2010. I have helped founded PyCon JP and also PyCon MY, and these conferences have been successful to attract current and new Python users and developers. I was also the chairperson for PyCon APAC 2017.

My intention is to contribute to the PSF by giving input from the perspective of a member from the Asia Pacific reason. I also hope to evangelize for Python in general and the PSF specifically within the Asia Pacific region. Of late, there has been a lot of interest towards Python, in Asia Pacific and also in Japan. There has even been an attempt to register Python as a trademark in Japan unrelated to the PSF, which I have played a small role to try and stop. In terms of Python users, we are seeing greater participation within the Asia Pacific with the creation of new country specific PyCons, such as PyCon TH and PyCon ID, and I believe we need to put in more work by understanding and supporting these new communities coming up in this region.

I believe we need someone to act as a bridge and contribute back to the PSF and the worldwide Python community in general the values, views, concerns and support from the Asia Pacific community, and I will like to be that person.* Nomination Statements:

Nomination by: Younggun Kim

I proudly nominate Iqbal Abdullah for the 2020 Python Software Foundation Board.

Who’s Iqbal Abdullah

Iqbal has always been one of the most active community members, especially in the Asia region. He is one of the founding members of PyCon Japan, and later, he started PyCon Malaysia. He was also the chairperson for PyCon APAC 2017. In addition to his priceless effort in the areas, he is also taking a fantastic lead on PyCon APAC group.

What value Iqbal Abdullah would bring to the Board

Iqbal has experience in business and community activities in various countries within Asia. As an active APAC member, he is more than eligible for regional bridge roles in the Board.

Why former-PSF-director-from-the-region nominate Iqbal Abdullah for the Board.

I was privileged to be nominated by Carol Willing as she was able to observe growing enthusiasm in Asia when we met at PyCon Philippines. All the story I told her about the Asian Python community was written by Iqbal and the others’ years of devotion, which was recognized recently.

While I’m making my effort reaching out to underrepresented nations in Asia, I believe Iqbal is the best person who will be a voice from them in the Board. I would be supporting him not only for this election but also throughout all three years of the terms.

Closing

For this year’s election, we’re about to choose four new directors who would be serving for three years.

From my experience as a former director, I understand that it would be a lonely and tough role if there’s not enough support from the supporters.

In that respect, I have no doubt Iqbal deserves your vote.

Sincerely,

Younggun from Seoul

Shauna Gordon-McKeon

Nomination details

Name: Shauna Gordon-McKeon
Previous Board Service: New board member
Employer: Self-employed
Other Affiliations: None
Nominee Statement:

I have been a Python programmer and member of the Python community for the better part of a decade. In 2015 I designed and ran the first “Introduction to Sprinting” workshop at PyCon, which has since been developed into a conference mainstay and has increased sprint participation. In 2019, Jacqueline Kazil and I co-led the first Maintainers Summit as part of the hatchery program. I have worked with OpenHatch to get more people involved in open source through leading the Open Source Comes to Campus program, and have collaborated with many other organizations focused on openness in science, technology, education and government, including EdX, the Center for Open Science, the Sunlight Foundation, and OpenDataKit.

Over the last several years, I have focused increasingly on the community infrastructure and governance structures that communities need to flourish. In 2019 I gave a talk on Python’s new governance system which only increased my appreciation for the the PSF Board’s leadership and service. It would be an honor to join the board.

I have two primary goals if elected as a PSF Director. The first is to work with the community to develop a Sponsor Code of Conduct for PSF events like PyCon. I firmly believe that sponsors should have to meet minimum standards of behavior both at our events and outside of them, and that we should not partner with organizations who violate those standards. Given the potential impact of adopting such a policy, it is important that it be developed transparently and democratically, not by the Board itself but by the community with facilitation by the Board. I am eager to help lead this process.

My second goal is to support Python package maintainers through community-building. The 2019 PyCon Maintainers Summit showed a deep need for spaces where maintainers can support each other and share best practices. In addition to community-building, I hope to support the next generation of Python maintainers by developing training materials that help people understand and acquire the skills and knowledge involved in maintainership.

Mannie Young

Nomination details

Name: Mannie Young
Previous Board Service: New board member
Employer: 2Pi Real Intelligence
Other Affiliations: Python Ghana, PyCon Ghana, Python Africa, Pycon Africa, Django Girls

Nominee Statement:

Hello there, my name is Mannie Young. I’m a computer scientist, graphic designer and software developer. I’m also a community builder and volunteer as a mentor (when free) helping people with interest in software development. It’s with great pleasure that I submit my nomination statement for the 2020 Python Software Foundation Board of Directors elections.

Python Community Contributions

  - **[Python Ghana](&lt;https://www.pythonghana.org&gt;)**: I am a co\-founder of the Python Software Community in Ghana, where I’ve served since 2017\. I initiated and played significant roles in the creation of various projects/initiatives and Python user groups under the community where we work collectively to achieve the vision of the community.

Some of these initiatives are: - PyScholars which focuses on students in the senior high level. Here, our aim is for students to be introduced to Python programming in a relaxed and fun environment. - PyClubs on campuses where students meet to study and grow together. - PyData Ghana that aims to promote discussion of best practices, new approaches, and emerging technologies for data management, processing, analytics, and visualization. - PyLadies Ghana: With the help of Root Lynn (the global leader of PyLadies) in 2017, my team and I kickstarted the PyLadies initiative in Ghana which is now a vibrant community thanks to the fantastic all-female team currently managing it.

Other Python Community Contributions

Python Conference Organizing

  - **[PyCon Ghana 2018 Co\-organizer](&lt;https://twitter.com/pyconghana&gt;)** \- Less than a year of commencement as a community, we organized the very first PyCon held in Ghana, which was a tremendous success with representation for various parts of the world.
  - **[PyCon Africa 2019 Co\-organizer](&lt;https://africa.pycon.org/2019&gt;)** \- Together with Marlene Maghami and a wonderful multi\-national team, we organized the very first PyCon Africa that we were privileged to host in Accra, Ghana. Aside from being part of the executive team, I handled all the designs, social media activities and assisted in managing the website used during the conference.
  - **[PyCon Africa 2020 Co\-organizer](&lt;https://africa.pycon.org&gt;)** \- Building on our success in 2019, I am honoured to currently be part of the organizing team of this year’s PyCon Africa which will be held online due to the ongoing pandemic. I’m also handling the designs, social media activities and developed the website we are using for the conference.
  - **Django Girls**: I organized several Django Girls in Ghana and assisted in all 15\+ workshops held around Ghana since the very first, with an outreach of 500\+ attendees.

Others

  - Represented the PSF at their sponsorship booth during [OSCAFest](&lt;https://twitter.com/oscafrica&gt;) 2020 in Lagos, Nigeria alongside [Amanda Casari](&lt;https://twitter.com/amcasari&gt;), [Marlene Mhangami](&lt;https://twitter.com/marlene_zw&gt;) and [Chukwudi Nwachukwu](&lt;https://twitter.com/zuoike&gt;).
  - PyLadies Lautech \- I assisted to redesign their logo and have done some graphics work for them.
  - [PyCon Namibia 2020](&lt;https://twitter.com/PyConNA&gt;)\- I assisted in designing the conference logo and brand.

Awards

  - [PSF Fellow](&lt;http://pyfound.blogspot.com/2019/11/python-software-foundation-fellow.html&gt;)
  - [Q3 2019 Community Service Award](&lt;/community/awards/psf-awards/#august-2019&gt;)

Goals as a Board Member

  - To help brainstorm on effective ways to help improve the PSF's brand and funding initiatives, enabling growth and stability.
  - Contribute to the development of the Python Community in Africa, building a stronger community.
  - Focus and contribute to the growth of Python in Education.
  - Continue my contribution and support to diversity.

It would be an honor to serve and continue contributing to the Python community if given this opportunity as Director.

Thank you.

Manuel Kaufmann

Nomination details

Name: Manuel Kaufmann
Previous Board Service: New board member
Employer: Read the Docs
Other Affiliations: Argentina en Python, Python Spain, Python Argentina
Nominee Statement:

Who am I?

Hi! My name is Manuel Kaufmann, but most people call me “humitos”. I’m from Argentina and I’ve been living in Spain for the last two years. I define myself just as a software engineer but passionate and with plenty of experience in the community. My biggest contribution to the CPython source code was testing a patch for configparser module that another person wrote and saying there was a missing if. At least it’s something :-)

However, I’ve been related to the global Python community in many other different ways than coding. I’m confident my experience in Latin America communities and being involved as the first PSF Latin America Python Ambassador in 2016-2017 would be useful to bring a different perspective to the Board. The role of PSF Latin America Python Ambassador was created from my own grassroot initiative, “Argentina en Python” and it’s a clear example of how we can diversify the PSF’s outreach based on the particular needs of the different communities. It’ll mention more on this point on my goals.

I enjoy helping people to create their own local community and help them thrive. I have experience doing this in several Latin American countries (Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, Perú, Ecuador, Colombia, and Chile), participating in the process in person, via video conferences and plenty of email coordination.

I’m nominating myself for a seat in the PSF Board of Directors to help the PSF and the people in the Python community in a new way. It would be an honour to represent you and your community. Thank you for considering voting for me.

Relevant Experience
```
  - Founder of "Argentina en Python" project (2014\-nowadays)
    * [Homepage](https://argentinaenpython.com/en/)
  - Organizer of \~70 different Python events \~8 different countries (talks, courses, workshops, PyDays, hackathons, sprints, etc). I lost track of the amount of people that attended all these events :) \-\-3000 attendees, as a roughly estimation (2015\-2018\)
    * [Pictures of many of these events](https://argentinaenpython.com/galeria/)
    * [Press publications about the events](https://argentinaenpython.com/historia/prensa/)
  - Organizer of \~30 Django Girls Workshop in \~6 different countries (2015\-2018\)
  - Organizer of a "Track Teen" inside SciPy Latin America 2015 (\~50 high school students)
    * [Pictures](https://argentinaenpython.com/galeria/track-teen-scipy-la-2015/)
    * [Blogpost](https://elblogdehumitos.com/posts/scipyla-2015/)
    * [Event's website](https://argentinaenpython.com/track-teen-scipy-la-2015/)
  - Mentor and/or speaker in all the events I organized
  - Co\-Organizer of PyCamp Spain (2020\)
    * [Homepage](https://pycamp.es/)
  - PSF fellow member (3 years)
    * [PSF Fellows' webpage](/psf/fellows/)
  - Former PSF Latin America Python Ambassador (2016\-2017\)
    * [PSF resolution](/psf/records/board/resolutions/)
  - Member of Python Argentina community (14 years)
  - Member of Python Argentina Association (2 years)
  - Member of Python Spain Association (1 year)
  - Co\-founder of Python Paraguay in 2015 (\~900 members currently)
    * [Homepage](https://pythonpy.org/)
  - Co\-founder of Python Ecuador in 2016 (\~400 members currently)
    * [Homepage](https://python.ec/)
  - Keynoter in PyCon Latam 2019 (\~250 attendees)
    * [PyCon Speakers' webpage](https://www.pylatam.org/ponentes-principales/#manuel)
  - Keynoter in PyCon Japan 2018 (\~900 attendees)
    * [PyCon Speakers' webpage](https://pycon.jp/2018/en/)
  - Keynoter in PyCon Brazil 2017 (\~1000 attendees)
    * [PyCon Speakers' webpage](https://2017.pythonbrasil.org.br/#speakers)
  - Keynoter in PyCon Spain 2016 (\~600 attendees)
    * [PyCon Speakers' webpage](http://2016.es.pycon.org/en/keynoters-speakers/)
  - Co\-coordinator of translation of Python's official documentation to Spanish. 2020\.
    * [GitHub repository](https://github.com/python/python-docs-es)
  - Editor and revisor of the Spanish translation of "Turtle's confusion" book by Barry Newell. 2012\.
    * [Book in PDF](https://github.com/downloads/humitos/turtle-confusion-es/la-confusion-de-la-tortuga.pdf)
  - Coordinator of the translation of Django Book 0\.96 to Spanish. 2008\.
    * [Blogpost about the translation](https://elblogdehumitos.com/posts/wordpress/django-book-en-espanol/)
```
Personal Goals as PSF Board Director

As a member of the Board of Directors I’d make the following goals my top priority. They all align with my core values as a member of the Python community and with the work I’ve been leading both for the “Argentina en Python” project and as a PSF Latin America Python Ambassador.

Diversity and inclusiveness

I’ve been working for a long time on helping under-represented communities grow but there is still a lot of path to walk.It’s of utmost importance to put our energy and ingenuity on creating more diverse communities all around the world.

I still have a lot to learn. I acknowledge my privilege. I’m a blond-white-man which shields me for how reality is for many people. However, I want to work together with other members of the board in this direction by learning from them and by sharing my experience on Django Girls and PyLadies.

There is also D&I in terms of access to opportunities and resources, which is something that sometimes can go unnoticed, especially if we have minimal representation from developing countries. I mention more about this in my “Outreach and Education Programs” goal.

Bi-directional communication: PSF-Python community

Help the PSF raise awareness of its work on community events, talking about what the PSF does and its mission, why it’s important and why you should participate. I’ve attended many PyCons around the world and it’s common to find people who do not even know that the PSF exists. I’ve delivered a talk called “What is the Python Software Foundation?” (with special guests: Lorena Mesa and Naomi Ceder) at PyCon Colombia 2018 to share with the audience the mission, vision and work the PSF does. I’d like to raise awareness of the PSF to a new unprecedented level in our communities.

Besides, I’d like to be a nexus between Python communities around the world and the PSF itself by helping them to raise their opinions and ideas back to the PSF, guiding them to request a Grant Proposal or become a member or be part of a Working Group.

Furthermore, helping communities to grow also means giving them visibility. As an example, a lot of things have been happening in Latin America in the last few years, with vibrant and active communities emerging. Nevertheless, it has proven challenging to communicate them back to the PSF or the global Python community itself. I believe this is a natural result of the lack of voices representing these communities on PSF itself and I’d like to work on shading light on their valuable and unique experiences through the PSF’s voice.

Outreach and education programs

I’ve been teaching Python at different levels since 2015, focusing mostly on introductory courses and full-day workshops. I always try to empower people to give the first step towards programming because I think it’s a powerful tool. To lower down the initial barriers, I think we need to make resources available in different languages. As Spanish is my native language, I’ve created my own materials in Spanish, coordinate or help on the translation of books, and now I’m co-coordinating the translation of the official Python documentation.

I’m familiar with the structural inequalities of opportunities and resources the emerging countries have and this needs special consideration from the PSF. I want to bring Python to places where there is no internet access and to rural areas with extremely limited access to technology. I want to help to decentralize the knowledge from big cities. Small cities should have the same quality of technology events than big cities —they should not have to travel for this.* Nomination Statements:

Nomination by: Facundo Batista

I nominate Manuel for the 2020 Python Software Foundation Board Election because I think he can add a lot of value to the PSF board.

He has a huge experience in the Argentina community and also with his Argentina en Python project organizing events and helping to build communities in more than 8 countries in Latin America. Living now in Barcelona he is part of the community there, one of the main supporters of the official Spanish translation of the Python Documentation and events like PyCamp.es. He was also the first Python Ambassador of the Python Software Foundation.

This is also a really good time to incorporate people from others regions on the PSF board improving the diversity in a organization that was ruled in general for people from Europe and the US.

Finally if you understand Spanish, please ignore my words and watch this video. I think it’s impossible to transcript here what Manuel did in our community but I’m sure that I’m not the only one who get (all) choked up when re-watch it. I think the PSF has a really good opportunity to have someone whit his enormous passion, commitment and energy to develop our community in a crucial position.

Nomination by: Nicolás Demarchi

I nominate Manuel for the 2019 Python Software Foundation Board Election because I think he can add a lot of value to the PSF board. He has a huge experience in the Argentina community and also with his “Argentina en Python”[0] project organizing events and helping to build communities in more than 8 countries in Latin America. Living now in Barcelona he is part of the community there, one of the main supporters of the official Spanish translation of the Python Documentation and events like PyCamp.es He was also the first Python Ambassador of the Python Software Foundation. This is also a really good time to incorporate people from others regions on the PSF board improving the diversity in a organization that was ruled in general for people from Europe and the US. Finally if you understand Spanish, please ignore my words and watch this video[1]. I think it’s impossible to transcript here what Manuel did in our community but I’m sure that I’m not the only one who get (all) choked up when re-watch it. I think the PSF has a really good opportunity to have someone whit his enormous passion, commitment and energy to develop our community in a crucial position.

[0] https://argentinaenpython.com/en/ [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v\=e0500NDu2tA

Nomination by: Juan Luis Cano Rodríguez

I nominate Manuel Kaufmann (Humitos) for the 2020 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), his stewardship for the Spanish translation of the CPython docs, and finally his enormous heart and his ability to inspire us all wherever he is.

Nomination by: Leandro Enrique Colombo Viña

He is one of the most commited guys on promoting Python, language and community values, along Latin America. He is the head of “Argentina en Python”:

a personal and communitary project that promotes the usage of Python as a programming language to solve daily issues for common users and also to develop powerful and complex softwares in an easy way, encouraging the collaborative learning and the Software Libre philosophy.

He is the one promoting spanish translation of Python Tutorial, a DjangoGirls organizer, member of Python Argentina NGO and PyCampES (Spanish version of PyCamp) organizer.

Maria Fernanda Petri Betto

Nomination details

Name: Maria Fernanda Petri Betto
Previous Board Service: New board member
Employer: Northwestern University
Other Affiliations: Kellogg School of Management
Nominee Statement:

I am a Brazilian Economics PhD candidate and member of the Python education community. I provide a quick summary of my qualifications and goals that I have if elected. You can find my personal site here.

Qualifications

Programming

I have a few years of experience using Python to conduct Economic and Financial simulations for my research. I also have experience with data science tools from working with large data sets. I currently use Python for all of my work but previously used other languages including C++ and R. I have also used Python in a few small web development projects including Econ Ipsum – a lorem ipsum generator that uses words from papers in Economics.

Financial

I conduct theoretical and empirical research on auctions and bond markets. Because of this, I have an understanding of the financial system and sophisticated financial instruments. I believe that I can use this knowledge to push forward the financial security of the PSF.

Community

In my role as a PhD candidate at Northwestern University, I help students learn Python. Because of this, I have some recent involvement with the Python education community. I am currently working with the education group to create the Python in Education landing page.

I was also slated to present a poster about my research process at the PyCon USA 2020.

Goals
```
  - **Enhance financial security** The PSF is obviously in a bad place financially due to the cancellation of PyCon. I hope to focus heavily on improving the financial maturity of the foundation and generating new sources of revenue. I believe that there are many opportunities available to strengthen both financial security and the foundation's relationship with the greater Python community.
  - **Improve educational mission** I would like to focus on making the Python education community easier for educators to find and join. I would also like to explore having the PSF approve some training programs. This could generate revenue for the PSF and build a closer relationship with these educators.
  - **Outreach** As a Brazilian, I would love to help expand the PSFs efforts to engage with the fast\-growing Python community in Latin America. Moreover, I want to foster Python's continued growth with traditionally underrepresented groups.* **Nomination Statements**:
```

Nomination by: Matthew Thomas

Maria Fernanda is a Brazilian Python educator and PhD candidate in Economics. She conducts state of the art Economic and Financial research using Python to analyze data and estimate optimal behavior. She also tutors social science and business students in Python and runs local workshops.

She is currently involved in the growing Python in education community and was slated to present at the 2020 PyCon before it was cancelled.

I believe that Maria Fernanda represents exactly what the PSF needs in a candidate. A recent article from an outgoing director, Jacqueline Kazil, outlined that the PSF needs people who have experience with: (1) communities outside the US and Europe (2) finance to push forward the fiscal maturity of the PSF. As a Brazilian Economist studying auctions and financial markets, Maria Fernanda has an inherently global perspective and a deep knowledge of financial markets and instruments.

Ajayi Stephen

Nomination details

Name: Ajayi Stephen
Previous Board Service: New Board member
Employer: Self employed
Other Affiliations: None
Nominee Statement:

Am a python lover I preach python everywhere I go. I’m in love with the programming language and I would love to be part of the python family

Asif Saif Uddin

Nomination details

Name: Asif Saif Uddin
Previous Board Service: New board member
Employer: TrendBreaker
Other Affiliations: Core team of Celery / oAuthlib. Maintainer of several django, python & PyPA packages. Former Firefox club lead at my University.

Nominee Statement:

  - Improve the participation of less represented peoples from Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.
  - Improve PSF's planning to cope with the CORONA pandemic.
  - Improve the participation of more organizations in Google summer of code, google code in and summer of docs under PSF umbrella.

Adam Hopkins

Nomination details

Name: Adam Hopkins
Previous Board Service: New board member
Employer: Etz Lime
Other Affiliations: Sanic
Nominee Statement:

I have been a long time user of Python (20+ years), and am deeply inspired and motivated to give back to the community. I work as a lead developer, and also spend whatever time I can in open source.

Off the top of my head, here are some additional qualities that I think will help my candidacy.
```
  - Core maintainer of the organization behind the Sanic framework
  - Licensed attorney in Massachusetts
  - Member of local building committee
  - 5,000\+ points on Stackoverflow (mainly from answering Python questions)
```

Serah Rono

Nomination details

Name: Serah Rono
Previous Board Service: No
Employer: The Carpentries
Other Affiliations: Open Knowledge, Code for Africa, Center for Scientific Collaboration and Community Engagement, Open Institute
Nomination Statements:

Nomination by:

It is my pleasure to nominate Serah Njambi Rono to serve on Python Software Foundation’s Board. Serah has been employed with The Carpentries for 1.5 years, and in her time she has led a task force that developed The Carpentries Core Values, developed The Carpentries Communications Strategy, and developed several resources to promote community engagement and collaboration among Carpentries community members.

Serah takes pride in honing her technical skills and interpersonal skills. She has served on the planning committee for csv,conf for several years, and successfully advocates for equity and access among conference participants. Serah was a CSCCE Community Engagement Fellow. Through this fellowship she developed skills that have helped her collaborate, specifically in scientific settings.

Serah values working with global communities and supporting diverse learners. She also mentors several of The Carpentries team members in helping them learn how to code. Serah’s personal values of advancing programming and supporting diverse communities directly aligns with PSF’s mission. Serah would bring an inclusive perspective to PSF’s board, and as the Executive Director of The Carpentries, I highly support Serah’s involvement as a board member.

My best, Dr. Kari L. Jordan Executive Director The Carpentries

Nomination by:

Serah Njambi Rono is currently the Director of Community Development and Engagement for The Carpentries where she has worked leading community efforts to bring more people to programming and creating inclusive environments for people to teach, work and learn. She has worked with Python for many years and previously was a Developer Advocate for Open Knowledge and Code for Africa. Additionally, she has worked on the Code4Kenya project and helped develop the global data literacy bootcamp, d|Bootcamp civic data workshop. She has been an organizer of csv,conf for the past two years, and helped develop the format for the CarpentryConnect regional meetings. Serah has worked on so many aspects of Python that are important to the community, including as a developer, developer advocate, conference organizer and particularly as a person actively working to make programming a space welcome to all. She would be an excellent addition to the PSF, representing the values of the PSF organization and actively working to represent the broad and diverse community of people engaging with Python.

Emmanuel Essien

Nomination details

Name: Emmanuel Essien
Previous Board Service: New board member
Employer: No
Other Affiliations: None
Nominee Statement:

I am Emmanuel Raphael Essien, i am from Nigeria and i live in Nigeria, i hereby nominate myself to be elected as the member of Python Software Foundation, I am the founder of pytonik framework. I have been working hard to support the python community in the past 10year still date, i wish to continue supporting the python developer community. I am glad to be given this opportunity to be recognized and exercise the love and passion I have toward working with PSF

Arunkumar Venkataramanan

Nomination details

Name: Arunkumar Venkataramanan
Previous Board Service: New board member
Employer: DeepBrainz Technologies Private Limited
Other Affiliations: None
Nominee Statement:

I want to submit a Nomination for myself for the 2020 Python Software Foundation Board Election! I want to serve the PSF as a Board Member!

Mohammad Razavi

Nomination details

Name: Mohammad Razavi
Previous Board Service: New board member
Employer: Deyar L.L.C
Other Affiliations: IEEE, CWNP
Nominee Statement:

I believe with my level of experience and being in the market I can attract more people into Python and bring fame and finance required to help the community.

Dustin Ingram

Nomination details

Name: Dustin Ingram
Previous Board Service: New board member
Employer: Google
Other Affiliations: Python Packaging Authority, Python Packaging Working Group, Python Package Index, PyTexas Foundation, Philly Python Users Group, Austin Python Users Group
Nominee Statement:

Introduction

I’m Dustin, and I have been a Python community member for more than 14 years. I have experience:
```
  - advocating for the Python community
  - working with Python organizations and working groups
  - maintaining and contributing to Python projects
  - organizing and participating in Python events
  - operating non\-profits
```
As a PSF board member, my priorities would include:
```
  - diversification of funding
  - investment in staff and infrastructure
  - community advocacy
```
Together, I believe my experience and goals make me a valuable member of the PSF board.

Background & experience

For the last two years, I’ve worked at Google as a Developer Advocate, representing and supporting the Python community at Google. In that role, I do the following:
```
  - Advocate for the Python community: When we build tools that people in the Python community will use, I help make sure those tools are right for those users
  - Set general strategy for engaging with the Python community
  - Create content for Python developers
  - Serve as a general source of expertise at Google about Python and the community
  - Lead a team of people who also work on Python advocacy at Google
```
This means that part of my job is to be deeply involved in the Python community, which I have been for a number of years, and continue to be.

I’m involved with the following Python organizations:
```
  - Director of the PyTexas Foundation since 2019
  - Conference chair of [PyTexas](https://www.pytexas.org/) in 2019 and 2020
  - Member of the Python Packaging Working Group since 2016
  - Member of the Python Packaging Authority since 2016
  - Member of the Philly Python Users Group from 2014\-2018
  - Member of the the Austin Python Users Group since 2018
```
I’m involved with various Python projects, mostly related to Python Packaging:
```
  - Maintainer and administrator of the Python Package Index since 2016
  - Member of the team that relaunched the new [pypi.org](https://pypi.org) in 2018
  - Maintainer of [pypa/twine](https://github.com/pypa/twine), [pypa/packaging](https://github.com/pypa/packaging), [pypa/readme\_renderer](https://github.com/pypa/readme_renderer) (and more)
  - Maintainer of [pyvideo.org](https://pyvideo.org/), [packaging.python.org](https://packaging.python.org)
  - Contributor to [pypa/pip](https://github.com/pypa/pip), [pypa/wheel](https://github.com/pypa/wheel), [pypa/setuptools](https://github.com/pypa/setuptools) (and more)
  - Contributor to [python.org](http://python.org)
```
I’ve authored three PEPs:
```
  - [PEP 566: Metadata for Python Software Packages 2\.1](/dev/peps/pep-0566/) (2017, accepted)
  - [PEP 599: The manylinux2014 Platform Tag](/dev/peps/pep-0599/) (2019, accepted)
  - [PEP 609: PyPA Governance](/dev/peps/pep-0609/) (2019, pending)
```
I’ve spoken at a number of Python conferences:
```
  - PyCon US (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020\)
  - PyGotham (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019\)
  - FLPY (2017\)
  - PyTexas (2017\)
  - PyOhio (2018, 2019\)
  - SciPy (2018\)
  - PyCon Canada (2018\)
  - PyCarribbean (2019\)
  - PyCascades (2019\)
  - PyCon Taiwan (2019\)
  - PyCon Australia (2019\)
  - PyBay (2019\)
  - PyCon Latam (2019\)
  - PyCon Japan (2019\)
  - PyColorado (2019\)
  - PyCon UK (2019\)
  - DjangoCon US (2019\)
  - EuroPython (2019\)
  - PyCon DE (2019\)
  - PyBeach (2020\)
```
Goals

I’m excited for the opportunity to bring my experience and dedication to the Python community to the PSF board. Below are the goals that I’d focus on as a board member of the PSF.

Diversification of funding

In 2019, I wrote:

“The PSF has one massive source of revenue (@pycon). In tech we call that “a single point of failure”, and improving that would not only increase financial stability, but would also allow the PSF to direct more funding to more working groups, more events, etc.” (Jun 7, 2019)

This year, we unfortunately experienced firsthand this single point of failure when PyCon 2020 was cancelled as a result of COVID-19. While the PSF staff and board have worked hard to reduce our dependence on PyCon, it still represents more than 60% of the PSF’s yearly income.

As a board member of the PSF, I’d work with the Finance Committee and the rest of the board to explore ways that the PSF can diversify its funding sources even further, such as:
```
  - creating additional revenue\-generating activities for the PSF, including educational activities, content and certification programs
  - increasing the number of supporting (i.e. dues\-paying) PSF members by increasing recognition of PSF members and benefits for members
  - adding additional benefits to a PSF sponsorship that go beyond PyCon\-focused benefits
  - identifying how the various services that the PSF offers for free could produce revenue, within the bounds of our non\-profit status
```
I have direct experience with non-profit fundraising, financial organization and planning as a board member of the PyTexas Foundation. I have experience finding funding from diverse sources, and directing that funding towards projects that will benefit the most from it as a member of the Packaging Working Group. I also have firsthand knowledge of what attracts sponsors to the PSF as a representative of one of its largest sponsors.

Investment in staff and infrastructure

I’ve seen first-hand how targeted investments in infrastructure can go a long way. For example, a relatively small but extremely focused investment of time and funding in PyPI led to a revitalization and relaunch of this piece of critical core infrastructure. As a result, PyPI has become far more reliable and usable by the wider community, and also more available for continued investment.

I believe that hiring dedicated staff, like our new accounting team, and creating new staff roles, such as the Director of Infrastructure, have helped the PSF grow, adapt to new challenges, and become more agile and more focused.

I also believe that the PSF can continue to improve how it serves its responsibilities to the community by adding additional staff to areas currently served by volunteers, contractors, or spread among existing PSF staff. These areas of responsibility include:
```
  - Information experience, education, technical writing and documentation
  - User experience, accessibility and product design
  - Community management, marketing and communications
  - Program management and product management
```
As a board member of the PSF, I would focus on adding staff that can improve how the PSF engages, educates and communicates with its community, as well as staff which allow the PSF to increase the number of potentially revenue-generating programs and activities it can pursue, and ensure that these activities are well-managed.

Overall, I’d ensure that these investments in staff and infrastructure continue and grow (dependent on the success of goals to diversify and increase funding), in order to make Python, the ecosystem around it and the organization behind it better for all Pythonistas: from core developers all the way down to the newest developers who just installed Python for the first time.

Community advocacy

As a developer advocate, my day-to-day job is to identify and empathize with the needs of the Python community. My experience in this role has given me the ability to connect with a wide and diverse group of users, advocate on their behalf with their best interests in mind, and work with my wider team to find a way to solve their problems and bring about an improvement for those individuals. As a board member of the PSF, I’d do the same, collaborating with other board members to determine the best path forward.

As an advocate, I am tasked not just with understanding what my community needs, but also understanding what to do next with that information. As a board member of the PSF, this means that in addition to identifying a problem, I will also find solutions to that problem, and then turn those solutions into a result.

As a board member of the PSF, I’d also use this experience to increase advocacy on behalf of the Python community, ensuring that the actions of the board and the PSF as a whole are aligned with the community’s needs. I’d do this by creating additional avenues for Python community members to interact with the PSF board members and express what challenges they face as community members, as well as increasing the visibility of the work the board is doing to the wider community.

Conclusion

I believe we are currently at a critical juncture in the path towards long-term success of the PSF, and that choices we make today will have a significant and lasting effect on the PSF of the future. I look forward to the opportunity to serve the Python community as a board member of the PSF.

Thanks to Katie McLaughlin, Marlene Mhangami, Amanda Casari, and Sumana Harihareswara for reviewing drafts of this nomination statement.* Nomination Statements:

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.

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: 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: 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.

Nomination by: Timothy Allen

Dustin Ingram has served the Python community as a member 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 top notch, 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. This will be my second year nominating Dustin, and I believe he’s be a wonderful addition to the PSF board.

Nomination by: Ee Durbin

An outstanding member of, prolific contributor to, and practiced leader throughout the Python community: I am thrilled to nominate Dustin Ingram to serve on the Python Software Foundation Board of Directors.

Whether organizing community events, contributing to a codebase, or acting as leader of a team Dustin consistently shows up with dedication, empathy, and an unpretentious attitude. These qualities exemplify the best in our community and equip Dustin to be a productive and heeding member of the board.

As an established speaker at community events Dustin is prepared, thoughtful, and articulate. As a representative of the board and community these skills will improve messaging of the Python Software Foundations mission and accomplishments.

Working as a developer advocate for a long-term sponsor of the foundation, Dustin has a unique and direct perspective on what members need and what compels corporate sponsorship of the foundation.

The goals that Dustin has for the community are clear, attainable, and demonstrate his long term commitment to the Python community. The current circumstances and uncertain road ahead require the Python Software Foundation to set a course that will ensure it can continue to serve the community no matter what comes ahead and Dustin is demonstrably suited to this task.

Nomination by: Paul Ganssle

I also nominated Dustin for PSF board in 2019, before I started working with him at Google, and I still strongly stand by my original statement, and so I include it here in my 2020 nomination:

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 administrator 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.

As an addendum, Dustin and I have been co-workers at Google for the past year and my interactions with him at work have only re-enforced my positive impressions of him. I have found him to be kind, empathetic, helpful and approachable. He’s very easy to work with, and I believe that he would contribute to a harmonious working environment on the board.

Nomination by: Thea Flowers

Dustin has been a steadfast member of the Python community for a long time.

He has, among other things:

+ Served as the organizer for PyTexas/
+ Been one of the most active members of the PyPA and Python WG, contributing significant advances in Python packaging.
+ Worked as a Python Developer Advocate for Google, helping Google understand how to have a positive impact in the Python community.
+ Spoken at so many Python conferences I've lost track.

Dustin’s dedicate and leadership would serve the PSF board well. He will seek ways to diversify the PSF’s funding, invest in staff and infrastructure, and steer the PSF to support the needs of the broader Python community.

He’s also just so very tall. Not the tallest person to ever run, but certainly a friend among giants.

Jason R. Coombs

Nomination details

Name: Jason R. Coombs
Previous Board Service: New board member
Employer: Google
Other Affiliations: PyPA key contributor
Nominee Statement:

Jason has been actively contributing to the Python community since 2003. While maintaining 140+ projects on PyPI, Jason has focused on keeping essential systems like Setuptools healthy. Jason strives to avoid divergence and to converge on solutions that provide broad utility for the community. Having been a heavy user/contributor of Python on Windows, Jason respects the challenges that sometimes marginalized community can face and is a champion of broad support. Jason has been a core contributor since the early 2010’s and continues to work with stakeholders to find elegant solutions to some of the biggest technical challenges facing Python users (packaging, multi-core support, …).

Nina Zakharenko

Nomination details

Name: Nina Zakharenko
Previous Board Service: New board member
Employer: Microsoft
Other Affiliations: PyCascades Organizer (2020), PyCascades Co-Chair (2021)
Nominee Statement:

I became involved with the Python community 7 years ago while attending PyCon US Santa Clara in 2013. I’d worked as a professional developer for years before that, but started falling out of love with tech. When I joined the Python community I couldn’t believe how welcoming and friendly everyone was. My experience helped me stay in tech and since then my goal has been to welcome others into the community in the same way.

In the years since I’ve been involved in the Python community as a developer, speaker, teacher, mentor, and conference and event organizer and have spent a significant amount of time volunteering. I helped organize PyCascades 2020 as communications chair, and will be conference co-chair for PyCascades Remote in 2021.

At PyCon 2019 I organized Mentored Sprints for Diverse Beginners with a small team. The event provided hands-on direct mentorship for a group of 100 diverse sprinters, enabling first-time open source contributions for many of the participants. This year, I joined the core organizing team that brought the event online for dozens of remote participants across eight open source projects and three time zones.

I’ve had the opportunity to teach others by speaking at Python conferences around the world, including delivering the closing keynote at PyCon US last year. My goal with talks has always been to take topics that may seem complex or unapproachable to beginners and break them down in a way that makes the concepts clear for Python developers at any level.

As a member of the PSF board, I’d like to focus on the following areas:

First, as a creator of streamed and recorded video content I’d like to build a strategy to guide a transition to digital events that keeps our community strong and connected in a post-Covid world. We need to build remote communities, create engaging events and have opportunities to collaborate on open source projects via sprints in a way that spans across borders and timezones. I’d also like to help the PSF navigate this issue from a financial aspect given a decrease in funding from cancelled in-person events worldwide. My experience with streaming, recording, speaking at online conferences, organizing remote events like Mentored Sprints, and organizing PyCascades Remote 2021 as co-chair will help me achieve these goals.

Second, as a long-time conference speaker and mentor I’d like to bring my experience to the table to help the PSF continue to support new and diverse perspectives in our ecosystem. We need to ensure we are able to provide adequate support and online mentorship opportunities remotely, be able to welcome a new set of open source contributors, support those who speak other languages with translations, and ensure that remote events are accessible by exploring opportunities and funding to provide captions and follow other accessibility-friendly best practices. We need representation in order to ensure the Python community remains welcoming to everyone even as we move online. I’d like to form or strengthen working groups to achieve these goals.

Organizer
```
  - Co\-Chair PyCascades 2021 Remote
  - Communications Chair PyCascades 2020
  - Mentored Sprints for Diverse Beginners for PyCon US Remote 2020
  - Mentored Sprints for Diverse Beginners at PyCon US 2019
```
Speaker
```
  - PyCon US 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019 (keynote), 2020 (recorded)
  - DjangoCon US 2014, 2018, 2019
  - PyCon Australia 2019
  - North Bay Python 2018
  - PyParis 2018
  - PyCascades 2019
  - PyCon Russia 2017
  - EuroPython 2019
  - PyCon Canada 2017
```
Playlist of featured talks including Goodbye Print, Hello Debugger (PyCon 2020), PyCon 2019 Closing Keynote, Elegant Solutions for Everyday Python Problems (PyCon 2018), Memory Management in Python — The Basics (PyCon 2016)

Creator/Author
```
  - [LearnPython.dev](https://www.learnpython.dev/) \- A free intensive guide for learning Python for beginners
  - [Ultimate Guide to Crafting Memorable Tech Talks](http://nina.to/talks) \- a 7\-part written guide that’s helped new speakers in the community deliver technical talks for the first time. It’s used as a suggested resource for speakers at conferences worldwide.* **Nomination Statements**:
```

Nomination by: Trey Hunner

I know Nina as:

+ An engaging presenter at PyCon US
+ An organizer of events both big and small
+ A connector of people, especially Python community members who should know each other
+ A concerned community member who dives into big ideas for bettering the Python community

I know that Nina cares about the Python community and will commit time and energy into pushing the community forward.

Philip James

Nomination details

Name: Philip James
Previous Board Service: New Board Member
Employer: Ask Trim
Other Affiliations: BeeWare Project, PSF Conduct WG, PSF Sponsorship WG,
Nominee Statement:

My name is Philip James, perhaps known better as Phildini. I believe in the power of the Python Community and the thousands of Pythonistas who are part of it. This community has in the past set the standard for welcoming and community-driven events, outreach to often-overlooked groups, and making the field of programming accessible to the widest audience possible.

At the same time, the Python ecosystem is driving technological advances across the spectrum, from the Fortune 500 to the newest startups to the cutting edge of academic resource. The Python language has been in the Top 5 most-wanted languages in Stack Overflow’s survey for the past 5 years, and has held the number one spot for the past four years.

For Python’s growth and survival, we need to continue being a world-class technology community while supporting a language and ecosystem that can serve the widest base of people and organizations.

We must do this in the face of a rapidly changing world. The way we interact with technology has changed immensely in the past decade, and will change even more in the coming decade. The very nature of the Python community must adapt to a world that is not only increasingly powered by personal devices, but which is driven more than ever by distributed connections. We cannot rely on our old in-person methods of growing the community in the same way we cannot rely on everyone having a laptop or desktop.

Thankfully, we have the tools to evolve and grow inside this community. As a frequent speaker at PyCon, I have seen this community change and adapt not just in how we handle and improve in-person events, but in how we make those events ever-more distributed and welcoming. As the Chair of the PSF Conduct Working Group, I have seen the community dedicate time and attention to growing in new spaces while making sure we are taking care of the whole community. As a Core Contributor to the BeeWare project, I have seen a new area of development for the Python ecosystem, and a bright potential future where programming in Python is accessible to everyone on any device.

As a member of the Board of Directors for the Python Software Foundation, I will work with the Board and all Pythonistas to make sure there continues to be a bright future ahead of us. My goal will be to push all of us to grow and adapt and earn two unique distinctions in the universe of technology: That we are an ecosystem to be proud of, and a community that we are happy to call home.

Thank you for your attention, and I hope to receive your vote.

Sayantika Banik

Nomination details

Name: Sayantika Banik
Previous Board Service: New board member
Employer: Continual Engine
Other Affiliations: Pyladies Blr (co-organiser), Django Software Foundation Board member, Elastic Community Bangalore (organiser), Former - Google Developer Groups (co-organiser) , Former - Women Techmakers Organiser Bangalore (organiser)
Nominee Statement:

Hi Team, I hope you are going well in this tough time.

I have been part of the community ecosystem for the past few years. Before that, to be frank, I didn’t even know why communities are important, what value to adds and how can I give back. Fortunately today I know a community is a safe place where everyone irrespective of their backgrounds is welcomed and given an opportunity to unleash their talent. I was always an underconfident brat with no social interaction. The power of community bonding helped me to open up and stand for myself and others. My aim is to eradicate various myths that evolve around gender, ethnicity, etc. We still have a very long journey ahead and I want to contribute to the Python Software Foundation with the same passion.

“Lift as you climb and spread knowledge as you grow.”

Nathan Epstein

Nomination details

Name: Nathan Epstein
Previous Board Service: New board member
Employer: Holocene Advisors
Other Affiliations: Supporting member of NumFOCUS, the R Foundation, and Code Nation
Nominee Statement:

I am self-nominating for a position on the Python Software Foundation board out of a strongly held desire to help advance the Python programming language and the essential role that it plays within the ecosystem of scientific computing.

In addition to the PSF, I am also a supporting member of NumFOCUS, the R Foundation, and Code Nation (where I have served as a volunteer teacher for students in under-resourced high schools).

I am a regular presenter at PyData and other conferences pertaining to topics in Python programming and data analytics around the world. I’ve developed several open source packages (within the PyPI repository and otherwise) which have meaningful user engagement. I am the author of numerous publications in academic journals and other online outlets related to software development, machine learning, and mathematics education.

Primary Objectives:
```
  - Expand the community of Python developers through outreach programs with a specific interest in students from under\-represented demographics. I'm particularly interested in initiatives which leverage Python's ease of use to facilitate adoption among first\-time programmers.
  - Promote the essential role of Python within scientific computing by supporting strategically significant projects. This includes both foundational numerical frameworks (i.e. pandas, NumPy, etc.) as well as libraries in more nascent domains (i.e. deep learning, natural language processing, quantum computing, etc.).
```
I’m sincerely grateful for your consideration and your shared commitment to the advancement of a strong and inclusive Python community.* Nomination Statements:

Nomination by:

I’m nominating Nathan Epstein for a position on the Python Software Foundation board.

I’ve known Nathan for over 10 years and I think he’d be a terrific asset to the Python Software Foundation board. I met Nathan in graduate school at Columbia and over the past decade have been a friend, collaborator and colleague.

Nathan is always interested in solving new problems, but the thing that sets him apart is his ability to communicate his solution or framework. Nathan shares his perspective with humility and humor and there are no hard feelings in a disagreement with Nathan, just a new perspective and thought provoking questions. Moreover, Nathan isn’t dogmatic; if he sees a better path forward he’s not afraid to admit a mistake and forward in a new direction.

Over the years, I’ve grown to admire Nathan’s passion for open-source software and his appreciation for the power that open source software can have to affect positive change. This isn’t just talk. I’ve used several of his open source python packages in my own work and learned from his PyData presentations.

Nathan would be a tremendous addition to the python board and I’m confident that he’ll find novel ways to contribute to the python community.

Valeria Calderon

Nomination details

Name: Valeria Calderon
Previous Board Service: New board member
Employer: Credijusto
Other Affiliations: Pyladies Mexico City Co-organizer, Python Guatemala Community Co-Founder
Nominee Statement:

Python Community Contributions:

Python Guatemala Community Founder and Lead Organizer.

In 2016 I found out that there were no Python Community in Guatemala, so I started looking for advice on getting started the community and how to run it so finally in april 2017 After finding some support with friends who also used python as a hobby or at work we launched the first meetup in Quetzaltenango City. It was a success I didn’t even imagine that so many people was interested in the Python language. Quetzaltenango is the place I lived in at the time so i started there but I knew there is always people that needs just a little push to get started everywhere, I also knew the potential of Python and how much it helps to the people to learn more from a inclusive community so I started organizing meetups in many different places like Guatemala City and Huehuetenango and also giving talks at local events both from other communities or University events, I am happy to have inspired some students to start using Python and also to be more open to join the local communities, since Guatemala didn’t have that community culture and sometimes is scary to get into a world that might be unknown or the misconceptions in which we might believe that only “experts” are welcome.

PyLadies Mexico City Co-Organizer.

In June 2018 I moved to Mexico City for a job opportunity and a few months later I got in touch with the Pyladies México City which accepted me as a Co-Organizer, from that time to now we have Organized 2 Women in Data Science (Standford) at UNAM with around 400 assistants and with a proudly 75% of women. Our objective has always been to create a secure and inclusive space for people who identifies as ladies and in which no matter the level of experience we are glad to have them as speakers or assistants. We also organize Workshops and monthly meetups changing the location of the activities to be more accessible to the people since Mexico City is seriously big!.

Python Conference Organizing
```
* PyCon USA 2020 Speaker Mentor
* PyCon Latam 2020/2021 Organizer
* PyCon USA 2018 Volunteer
* PyCon Canada 2019 Volunteer
* PyCon Latam 2019 Volunteer
* Django Girls 2019 Mexico City Mentor
```
Other Python Community Contributions
```
  - Jupyter Notebooks Documentation translation to Spanish
```
Python Conference Speaking
```
  - PyCon Canada 2019: Datetimes in Python without loosing your head
  - PyCon Latam 2019: Sopita de datos con espinacas (Web Scraping)
  - PyCon USA 2018: Reactive Programming with RxPy
  - PyCon Spain 2017: Breakout Detection en Twitter para analisis en series de datos
```
Goals as a Board Member

My main Goal in the PSF is to create a better way to communicate to the communities in Latin America. Currently the Latam Communities have a small or null communication trough one country to another and even though we are very close to each other in distance we might not even be aware of which communities are there, I think that it is very important to have a good way to communicate to other organizer to support to each other and to build a solid organization.

Another very important Goal is to understand how to get to more people in Latin America, even though we already use Social Networks and other spaces to share events or communities that the PSF supports a lot of people doesn’t even know about the existence of the PSF, I think that first we need to understand which are the chanels to reach that people and then implement a strategy to be more present in the Latin America Developers Community.* Nomination Statements:

Nomination by: Seb Vetter

Valery is an enthusiastic member of the Python community and has actively contributed to the community as an organizer and founder of Python meetups in North and Central America. She’s a dedicated mentor to others in the community and shares her knowledge and experience broadly. She’s also a frequent speaker at various conferences and meetups. I’m nominating her because she’s dedicated to building and contributing to a strong community and her contributions as a PSF board member will help shape a well-rounded global community.

Thomas Wouters

Nomination details

Name: Thomas Wouters
Previous Board Service: 2001-2004, 2017-2019
Employer: Google
Other Affiliations: Python Steering Council member (2019-now)
Nominee Statement:

I’m a long-time Python core developer, founding PSF member and PSF Board member (2001-2004 and 2017-2019). In the years I was not a Board member I was still very involved in the PSF and the Python community. In my previous two years as Board member, I served as Vice-Chair and a member of the Financial Committee. I’m currently on the Python Steering Council (see PEP 13), which oversees the development of Python as a language and CPython the implementation. Apart from my technical contributions to CPython, I’m active on the #python IRC channel on Freenode, where I am, along with Ned Batchelder, the official point of contact for Freenode for official Python channels (#python and #python-*).

During the daytime I’m a Software Engineer at Google, where I’m part of the team that maintains CPython and the internal Python infrastructure. Part of that work includes open-source contributions, and I have support from Google for both my Python Steering Council work and previous (and if elected, next) Board of Directors service.

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. I have kept up to date with the current goings-on in the PSF and PyCon, and the financial burden the current world state has placed on the PSF, so this all has to be done with care. It is very important to keep the PSF in a state, financially and organisationally, where it can continue to support the critical technical infrastructure and social scaffolding — including PyCon and the many sponsorships of all kinds the PSF hands out — that the Python community relies on.

As part of PyCon US 2020 Online, the Steering Council held a little Q&A session, available at us.pycon.org/2020/online or directly on YouTube. Each of the Steering Council members answered the question they felt themselves most equipped to handle, and as it happens my answer relates directly to the PSF. I am Dutch and based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and can be found on IRC and Twitter as Yhg1s.

Rahul Chaudhary

Nomination details

Name: Rahul Chaudhary
Previous Board Service: New board member
Employer: CWT
Other Affiliations: PythonWeekly.com
Nominee Statement:

I am a geek turned entrepreneur. I run, Python Weekly, one of the most popular newsletters for Python. I have been using Python for number of years now and I am well connected in the Python community. Python is already a popular language and my goal is to help continue the spread of Python usage across various industries. I am intrigued by the possibilities with Python for the latest and greatest products and technologies that are being developed across the world in number of different domains.

Ngazetungue Muheue

Nomination details

Name: Ngazetungue Muheue
Previous Board Service: New board member
Employer: Python Namibia Society(Volunteer).
Other Affiliations: PyCon Namibia organizer, PyCon Africa organizer - 2020, Django Namibia Chair, Pytho Namibia Society executive member.

Nominee Statement:

Hi, I’m Ngazetungue Muheue, a Python Software Foundation Fellow and one of Namibia’s International Pythonistas. I’m a co-founder and executive Board member of the Python Software community in Namibia (PyNam Society), a group that organizes all Python activities of the community in Namibia and I work close to the community to bring opportunities to everyone who wants to get involved in python programming e.g high school learners and entire tech community.

It’s with great pleasure that I humbly submit my name for the 2020/21 term of the Python Software Foundation Board member.

Python Usage .

I’m a Python user of 5+ years. I’ve worked with Python as a Web developer and use it for data analysis, education purposes and e.t.c. I play a major role in advocating for usage of Python in Namibia, especially at the university and high school level where I tutor university students, high school learners as well as community members. I’ve found tutoring Python especially rewarding.

How do I contribute to the Python Community:

Community.

I have been an active volunteer in the Python community for several years, advocating for usage of Python in Namibia and around the globe. I work closely with high school learners and the entire community in Namibia. For the past seven years, I have been spearheading the transition to Python from Java and other heavy weight technologies in our community.

Most of the developing countries around the world, depends on open and user-friendly technology and by increasing community engagement and teaching Python we will have transformative power for both our countries and citizens. With this, i try all my level best to bridge the tech gap among high-school learners to allow them to participate in the global tech community in Namibia by placing them in python user groups leadership role: to organizer event, and sharing their skills with other learners in the community through tutorials and python projects. This opens my eyes to fight for underprivileged or underrepresented groups of people in the tech space. With all this experience I gained after working with group of people, I was motivated to start the Django Community in Namibia under Python Namibia Society which I have been organizing as lead organizer or a Chair. My unique experience of working with people of all backgrounds motivates me to share my knowledge with others and help to grow Python in Namibia and around the globe. By joining the PSF board member, I will have a strong support to inspire, encourage and motivate other nation to engage young and underprivileged people in the tech related activity , so we can protect the interest/mission of our community and the PSF together.

  - With Current PSF Director Marlene Mhangami and other we had a successful meeting in Namibia 2018 that led to the birth of PyCon Africa and our dream comes true and we’re organizing second edition after a successful first Pan Africa Conference last year (2019\).
  - We established different Python user group or initiatives in Namibia and I'm full organizer of all these initiatives e.g PyData Namibia, PyNam AI, PyLadies Namibia, PyNam Scholars and etc to name few.
  - PyNam Scholars is one of our strongest group of high school learners around the country, and they focus more on coding . With our support, the PyNam Scholars have won the national programming competition twice, and this had motivated the community members and other school to take part in Python journey.

Python Namibia and PyCon Namibia executive role:

I started using Python in 2014, over that time I’ve held many roles in Python Namibia Community.

  - Responsible for Web and Graphic design, social media activities for the events.
  - PyCon Namibia \- 2019 \- 2020 System (Chair) and Communication (Co\-chair)
  - CFP system planning and implementation.
  - Badge System planning and implementation.
  - Chair of Django community in Namibia
  - Event Organiser e.g Django Meetup, PyData Namibia, PyLadies, Python Week of Code.
  - Django and Python tutor and Instructor in the Python Namibia society

Python Conference Organizing.

  - PyCon Africa 2020: Organizer
  - PyCon Namibia Organizer since: 2016\- 2020

Python Conference Speaking.

I am one of the Namibia international Pythonista, having spoken at some international event in Wales and Ghana. Most of my talks is about the community building and some are technical.

  - PyCon UK 2018 \- Cardiff, Wales.
  - PyCon Namibia 2018\-2020 \- Windhoek, Namibia.
  - PyCon Africa 2019 \- Accra, Ghana

Goals as a Board Member.

  - **Translation of Python documentation:** I will engage with documentation, Code of Conduct, registration form translation and other articles to strengthen Python’s ongoing work around our community to fit the local community context, and make it accessible to Python user who are non \- English speakers e.g in Africa. Language barrier is a main problem in most part of our community.
  - **Increase project grant and Implement internship program:** Help to increase project grants as a key part of the PSF’s mission and this will motivate Python community members to contribute to open source project. I believe we can have or create a next generation of Python community by supporting them through the university level by offering paid internship opportunity. This is one of my goal if I become a board member.
  - **Increase Python global community:** I would engage and support the creation of new communities, local meetups and conferences in Africa and as well as other continent as we did with PyCon Zimbabwe, PyCon Nigeria and the Pan Africa Conference. The number of Python community around world is growing fast and its need our support to keep the community together through the continental conference and local meetup. Community need to be provided with relevant information/resources of the PSF at the right time.
  - **Reduce the tech gap among young girls:** I would like to bring young girls in high school (developing country) to join the movement so that we can create the next generation of Python community members around women and also engage them in leadership role of our user groups and this will strengthen PyLadies in some of our local community.
  - **Python in inclusive education:** I would like to help the PSF to reach out or expand it’s wings/branch to underprivileged communities and help the PSF to make its resource available to all special school in our communities through Python in Education program. The foundation resources should be made available to people living with disability through University or Disability resources center by printing braille that will help them keep up with the fast growing technology or community.

Finally.

In closing, I would be honored to serve the Python community as a Python Software Foundation board member. The foundation resources should be made available to all people even in rural area where there is no internet connection or electricity. Thank you.

Jeff Triplett

Nomination details

Name: Jeff Triplett
Previous Board Service: 2018-2020
Employer: REVSYS (a small, seven-person company)
Other Affiliations: PSF Fellow, DSF Member, and Django Events Foundation North America (DEFNA) Co-founder/President
Nominee Statement:

I am Jeff, a Python/Django developer, and father living in Lawrence, KS. Before I became a consultant 10 years ago, I worked at the newspaper startup that created Django. I first attended PyCon US and DjangoCon US back in 2008, and I have been in love with this community ever since.

I am a firm believer in the Campsite Rule: “Always leave the campground cleaner than you found it.” After serving one term as a PSF Director, I feel good about the progress that we have made over the last two years. I joined the board to help people and to help you be heard.

I organized my first two conferences in 2015 and it opened my eyes to how much work was still needed to make our community more inclusive, diverse, and accessible; achieving those goals has been part of my core values ever since. Since then, I have helped organize and manage seven community conferences over the past six years and I have advised and assisted dozens of others.

Everything I have learned I owe to someone who took the time and had the patience to work with me and I strive to pay that forward. Being an active and vocal board member is the least that I can do to represent the community.

I take my role as a Director with the gravity you deserve. In two years, I have never missed a Board of Directors, working group, or committee meeting. A few times this has meant calling in at 3 am or attending a meeting while dropping my two-year-old son off at daycare. I juggle having a family, a full-time job, helping in two other non-profits, and various hobbies and side projects. Finally, I have over 10 years of non-profit, board, and management experience.

I’m proof that you don’t need to work for a huge tech company nor live in a tech hub to effectively contribute to the community.

The last two years and going forward

Here are my 2018 goals along with a status update on each.

Transparency

While subjective to measure, I believe in sharing where we are financially and making sure our messaging clearly reflects our financial status to the community. When asked to give feedback on a PyCon announcement, attendee email, sponsorship email, or a blog post, I look for and stress the need for transparency.

I frequently answer questions and explain decisions via Twitter when community members ask or when I think more insight is needed. Sometimes these are not comfortable conversations, but they are worth having.

While I believe we made strides, I think our default is to err on the side of the foundation at times when it’s unnecessarily at odds with our community values.

Code of Conduct

Much of my time as a director was spent working with the Conduct WG and Board on the new Python Code of Conduct which we passed in the fall of 2019. I am happy that we now have an actionable, comprehensive CoC along with reporting guidelines that other projects in the Python community have started adopting.

Sustainability

Two years ago I wrote, “The PSF needs financial sustainability independent of PyCon US to prevent bad years from having a significant negative impact. We also should focus on sustaining the Python infrastructure and the Packaging Workgroup, which is critical to the Python ecosystem.”

While we have a bunch of small wins (forming a Finance Committee and better investing in our funding to get reasonable interest rates), we still have a long way to go. I see a lot of potential in the work that the Packaging Workgroup has done for creating a sponsorship and fundraising program.

I believe it’s important for the PSF to grow beyond events or an event fundraising mindset and establish programs to help out our core services like the PyPA.

I hope to see the PSF establish a Django-Fellows-like program for some of our Python properties and projects to help take the burden off of all-volunteer led projects. This model has worked well for Django and I’d like to explore it for the Python community too.

Regional Conference Support

I joined the PyCon WG to help us with our communication with attendees and sponsors. I personally have advised dozens of conferences over the last few years and I co-host a monthly call to answer questions about conference organizing.

As a six-year conference organizer, I don’t know what the future of events looks like anymore, but [finish thought] I am committed to helping our community strategize and discover what could come next.

A few things that weren’t on the list

I made the recommendation, which was adopted, that the PSF’s Executive Committee Directors be limited to hold only one executive role. For 2019-2020, this added two seats to the executive committee which may have otherwise not existed.

I want to see the PSF embrace more programs like GitHub Sponsors to help make contributions to the PSF easier by accepting money in places where companies already have the approval to spend money.

Contributions to communities
```
  - PSF Finance WG member since 2019
  - PSF Conduct WG member since 2018
  - PSF PyCon Committee member since 2019
  - 2019 Malcolm Tredinnick Memorial Prize winner for contributions to the Django and Python communities
  - Django News newsletter co\-founder since 2019
  - DjangoCon US volunteer 2014: principal organizer since 2015, Chair in 2015, Co\-Chair in 2016, and Vice\-Chair in 2017
  - Django Software Foundation Code of Conduct Committee member since 2016; 2017\-18 chair
  - Django Software Foundation MOSS Grants Committee (Channels, 2016\-2019\)
  - One of the principal architects/developers of the redesigned python.org in 2013
  - PyCon US Program Committee Member, 2012\-2016
```
More Affiliations
```
  - Revolution Systems (REVSYS) (Employer, 2011\-present; Partner) \- We are a small, seven\-person company that makes a pretty big impact
  - Django Software Foundation (Member, 2015\-present)
  - Python Software Foundation (Member, 2015\-present)
  - Django Events Foundation North America (DEFNA) (Co\-founder, 2015\-present)
  - Contributions to communities:
    * Python Software Foundation Finance Committee, PyCon WG, and Conduct WG member since their founding in 2018/2019
    * DjangoCon US volunteer since 2014: I have chaired, co\-chaired, vice\-chaired, and been a principal organizer since 2015
    * Django Software Foundation Code of Conduct Committee member since \- 2016; chair 2017\-2018
    * Django Software Foundation MOSS Grants Committee (Channels, \- 2016\-present)
    * One of the principal architects/developers of the redesigned \- python.org in 2013
    * PyCon US Program Committee Member, 2012\-2016
```
Where to find me
```
  - Twitter: https://twitter.com/webology
  - Email: jeff.triplett@gmail.com
  - Web: https://jefftriplett.com/
```

Amadikwa Joy N

Nomination details

Name: Amadikwa Joy N
Previous Board Service: New board member
Employer: Oluaka Institute of Technology
Other Affiliations: CodedLadies Innovate Tech
Nomination Statements:

Nomination by: Chioma Jonathan

Amadikwa Joy N is a community builder and Python programming advocate. She is community Lead for pyladiesimo. She have been ensuring that people from her community and beyond advance their skills in Python. During this pandemic, she have organised two events that fully centers on Python programming language. One was the one she called ‘30days of building bot using Python’ and currently, she is organizing 100 days of coding in python which is task oriented, and believe me, good number of people all over the world are participating in it.

She really have the passion and motivation of growing with Python, I think a chance to participate will be better.

Débora Azevedo

Nomination details

Name: Débora Azevedo
Previous Board Service: New board member
Employer: Rio Grande do Norte state secretary of education
Other Affiliations: None
Nominee Statement:

Hello!

My name’s Débora and I’m a member of the Python community in Brazil. I am the co-founder of Brazil’s national chapter, PyLadies Brazil, which is now the biggest chapter in Latin America. I’m a PSF contributing member, one of PyLadies Brazil managers, and currently helping with the global PyLadies interim leadership. I’m also in the PSF translation working group, working on the internationalization of the Python documentation for Portuguese speakers. Since 2014 I’ve been working with PyLadies, teaching Python, managing the community and organizing events.

For the past years, I’d like to highlight two special events I was part of the team responsible for. The first one, which is listed below, is the first PyLadies Brazil national conference, in 2018. To celebrate the 5 year anniversary of our national chapter, we had this vision of an event for people who identify themselves as women, organized by women, with women speaking and attendance of 100% women. I was the chair of this conference, working from the call for papers, finding a venue, securing sponsorship, estimating budgets for meals and swag, and finally supporting and managing the small staff team we had. Back then, this conference gathered about 150 women, free of charge, with amazing technical and community management related content. All this volunteer-based work was inspiring to other women to continue with the conference that had its second edition last year.

The second milestone in my involvement and work within PyLadies Brazil was the management of our crowdfunding campaign “PyLadies at Python Brazil”, our national Python conference, for the past two years. In this campaign, PyLadies members from all Brazilian chapters can answer a form about their involvement in the community, if they are first time goers to the conference, if they are going to present a talk or tutorial, among other information, and a committee decides how to prioritize the financial aid amongst applicants. Considering that Brazil is a continental country, it is complicated for most of our PyLadies members that are scattered all over the country to participate in this conference, due to all the costs that come with it. Since 2016, we’ve held crowdfunding campaigns and for the past two years, I’ve been working on management of the campaign, opening the application submission forms, estimating budgets for the rewards, helping the people who were contemplated with the financial aid to find the best means for transportation and lodging to participate of the conference. The campaign is an important achievement for the community because it shows how all the community works together, both organizing everything and helping financially. The Brazilian Python community fosters the inclusion and diversity in its largest national conference.

In a nutshell, this work takes a lot of free time, which makes me believe how precious it is to do something like this, we’re investing our time, our most treasured resource, to teach, advise and do outreach.

Python community work 1. PyLadies Brazil co-founder (2014) 2. Django Girls Natal organizer (since 2017) 3. First PyLadies Brazil Conf chair (2018) 4. Python Brazil conference co-organizer (2018) 5. PyLadies at Python Brazil crowdfunding campaign manager (2018 and 2019) 6. Python Brazil conference keynote (2019) 7. PSF Community Service Award winner (2019)

Being part of the Python community - which is only so strong because of the active involvement of its members - has brought a lot of personal growth, and it is a different way of giving back from so much I have received. I hope to be given the opportunity to broaden my participation and involvement by holding a seat at the PSF board.

Goals as a board member Work on PyLadies having a smooth relation with the PSF, as a partner to work on how to bring more diversity and inclusion for the Python ecosystem in general Support the work that has been done in order to have more official PSF and Python content translated into other languages, also encouraging the creation of non-English content. * Bring more outreach for Python in Education programs, especially in Latin America

Nominees for 2020 Python Software Foundation Board Election

Who’s Iqbal Abdullah

What value Iqbal Abdullah would bring to the Board

Why former-PSF-director-from-the-region nominate Iqbal Abdullah for the Board.

Closing

Python Community Contributions

Other Python Community Contributions

Python Conference Organizing

Others

Awards

Goals as a Board Member

Who am I?

Relevant Experience

Personal Goals as PSF Board Director

Diversity and inclusiveness

Bi-directional communication: PSF-Python community

Outreach and education programs

Qualifications

Programming

Financial

Community

Goals

Introduction

Background & experience

Goals

Diversification of funding

Investment in staff and infrastructure

Community advocacy

Conclusion

Primary Objectives:

Python Community Contributions:

Python Guatemala Community Founder and Lead Organizer.

PyLadies Mexico City Co-Organizer.

Python Conference Organizing

Other Python Community Contributions

Python Conference Speaking

Goals as a Board Member

Python Usage .

How do I contribute to the Python Community:

Community.

Python Namibia and PyCon Namibia executive role:

Python Conference Organizing.

Python Conference Speaking.

Goals as a Board Member.

Finally.

The last two years and going forward

Transparency

Code of Conduct

Sustainability

Regional Conference Support

A few things that weren’t on the list

Contributions to communities

More Affiliations

Where to find me