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Nominees for 2021 Python Software Foundation Board Election

Gajendra Deshpande

Nomination details

  • Name: Gajendra Deshpande

  • Previous Board Service: New board member

  • Employer: KLS Gogte Institute of Technology, India

  • Other Affiliations: BelPy, PyData Belagavi, OWASP Belagavi

  • Nominee Statement:

    Hello Everyone,

    I hope you and your loved ones are safe.

    My name is Gajendra Deshpande, working as Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, KLS Gogte Institute of Technology, Belagavi, Karnataka, India. I have a Master’s degree i.e., M.Tech. in Computer Science and Engineering from Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belagavi, India and PG Diploma in Cyber Law and Cyber Forensics from National Law School of India University, Bengaluru India.

    Conference Talks

      - Scipy India 2020, 2018, 2017
      - EuroPython 2020
      - PyData Global 2020
      - PyCon France 2019
      - BelPy 2021
      - FOSDEM 2021
      - JuliaCon 2020, 2018
      - PyCon Taiwan 2020
      - COSCUP Taiwan 2020
      - BuzzConf Argentina 2020
      - PyCon Africa 2020
      - PyCon AU 2020
      - PyCon Tanzania 2020
      - PyCon Indonesia 2020
      - PyCon ES 2020
      - PyCon Korea 2020
      - PyDay BCN 2020
      - PyConf Hyderabad 2020
      - GirlScript Summit India 2020
      - PyJamas 2020
      - PyCon Hong Kong 2020
      - HoneyCon 2020 Online, Spain
      - PiterPy Russia 2020
      - Geekle’s python Universe WEB Edition Global Summit
      - PyOhio 2020

    Workshops

      - FOSSASIA 2021
      - SciPy India 2020
      - Conducted Python workshops in few institutes (Refer website link at the end of this page )

    Posters

      - PyCon US 2021
      - SciPy US 2021, 2020, 2019
      - JuliaCon 2020
      - CMU AIDR 2020
      - SMILES 2020
      - IRISS 2019, 2016

    Upcoming Conference Talks (As of May 31, 2021)

      - EuroPython 2021
      - DjangoCon 2021
      - DjangoCongress Japan 2021
      - PyCon Namibia 2021
      - PyCon Colombia 2021
      - JuliaCon 2021
      - Geekle’s Cyber Security Global Summit

    Conference/Meetup Organization and Non-profit

      - PyCon India 2021, CFP Co\-lead
      - BelPy 2021, Organizing Chair
      - Treasurer, Gangadharrao Deshpande Memorial and Museum, Belagavi (Project by Govt. of Karnataka, India)
      - FOSSCon India 2019, Organizing Co\-Chair
      - PyData Belagavi, Lead
      - OWASP Belagavi, Lead
      - PyCon India 2020, Volunteer

    Reviewer/Program Committee Member

      - SciPy US 2021, 2020, 2019
      - SciPy Japan 2020
      - PyData Global 2020
      - JupyterCon 2020
      - BelPy 2021
      - Journal of Open Source Software
      - Journal of Open Source Education
      - Manning Publishers, USA
      - Oxford University, Press, India

    Mentorship

      - Winning teams of Smart India Hackathon 2020, 2019, 2018
      - Top 7 Teams of CERN WebFest 2020
      - First Time speakers of PyCon US 2021, EuroPython 2021, SciPy India 2018

    Projects

      - Inventing Curriculum using Pointer\-Generator Network: Received $5000 in Google Cloud Research Credits. Project is being implemented in Python
      - python\-school.org: Free Python Courses offered by Python Community members (Scheduled to be launched in September 2021\)
      - Flowgorithm Flow Chart Interpreter: Contributing as a translator for Kannada, Marathi and Hindi languages to enable non\-native English speakers to create executable flow charts in their own language.
      - Julia code generator for Flowgorithm.

    Goals (2021 - 2024)

      - Introduce atleast 25 people from diverse background to the Python community as speakers. (3/25 achieved)
      - Introduce atleast 25 people from diverse background to the Python community as contributors, i.e., Volunteers. Introduced 5 students as volunteers to the PyCon India 2021\. (5/25 achieved)
      - Work as a facilitator to start more regional Python conferences and City level chapters in the Global South.
      - Motivate students to become Core Python developers.
      - Create awareness among people regarding the activities of PSF, Python conferences, Projects and grants. Motivate and mentor people from diverse background to apply for grants and projects.
      - Study the financial models of other technical communities and non profit organizations and adopt proven and innovative ideas for sustainability.
      - Work with present PSF board members and actively contribute to the Python community.

    For more information about me kindly visit https://gcdeshpande.github.io/

    Thank you everyone for stopping by and going through my nomination. I ask for your vote and I look forward to earning your trust to serve the Python community.

    Stay Safe. Take Care.

    Best Regards

    Gajendra Deshpande

Zheao Li

Nomination details

  • Name: Zheao Li

  • Previous Board Service: New board member

  • Employer: Alibaba Cloud

  • Other Affiliations: Co-Chair of the PyChina, Co-Funder of the PythonHunter, Microsoft Python MVP

  • Nominee Statement:

    Abstract:

    Here’s my experience:

      1. Co\-Founder of the PythonHunter, the only Python\-related podcast in China, covering over 10000 listeners
      2. The organizer of the Python User Group Monthly Meetup from 2017 to now
      3. PyCon China 2018/2019/2020 co\-organizer
      4. PyCon China 2018/2019/2020 for Ladies co\-organizer
      5. Keynote Speaker at the PyCon China 2018/2019
      6. Co\-Chair of PyChina from 2020 to now
      7. Microsoft MVP (Python) from 2020 to 2022

    Detail:

    I have been a professional Python developer for more than 5 years. During these years, I have been attracted by the elegance of Python and the enthusiasm of the Python community. So I started to contribute to the Python Community.

    During these years, I have had many different roles in the Python Community. I’ve been a developer, a contributor of CPython, co-chair of the Chinese Python Community, and organizer and speaker of PyCon China.

    In 2017, I organized the first meetup for the Python Beijing User Group. The meetup had more than 100 attendees.

    And then, in 2018/2019/2020, I became a co-organizer of PyCon China. We organized PyCon China in 5 different cities and have attracted more than 2000 attendees each year. In 2018/2019/2020, I’m also a co-organizer of PyCon China for Ladies. I want to help more ladies join the developer community by inviting many female developers to share their experience and expertise

    I’m promoted as a co-chair of PyChina in 2020. During this year, besides organizing the monthly online meetup, I also helped the Chinese Python community communicate with other technology communities to share the experience of development between us.

    If I have the chance to be one of the PSF board, I want to do three things during my term.

    First, I will help get more chances to help the developers in Asia communicate with each other by organizing more conferences across countries. I think It will help people share important experiences.

    Second, I will do more things to help female developers join the developer community. I want to invite more female developers to share experiences of their own to encourage ladies, letting them know that becoming a female developer is not a hard thing. I will also help the people to do the mock interviews and the development courses, to help female developers to improve their skills.

    Last, I will cooperate with schools, including universities, middle schools, and community colleges, to make more courses, hackathons, workshops to help students learn more about Python, and use Python to do the things they want.

    Alright, that’s all I want to share about myself, You can find me on GitHub(http://github.com/Zheaoli) or Twitter(https://twitter.com/Manjusaka\_Lee)

Deep Shah

Nomination details

  • Name: Deep Shah

  • Previous Board Service: New board member

  • Employer: Not Provided

  • Other Affiliations: None

  • Nominee Statement:

    I Nominated myself

Diana Rodriguez Manrique

Nomination details

  • Name: Diana Rodriguez Manrique

  • Previous Board Service: New Board Member

  • Employer: Twitch

  • Other Affiliations: Google Developer Expert, Microsoft MVP, PyLadies RDU Director, GDG Durham Organiser, Auth0 Ambassador, Women Techmakers Ambassador

  • Nominee Statement:

    I have worked for 20 years in community affairs and in the development industry. My contributions on the Python side of things have been on IoT, Infrastructure Automation, Security and mentoring. I am passionate about fostering diversity, equity and inclusion in the ecosystem and I have engaged in numerous community affairs in many languages. I would like to represent LATAM and Spanish/Portuguese speakers as a board member. My goal is to be the person who fosters community participation.* Nomination Statements:

Nomination by: xxulverxx

Diana is a genius she has work to be the best in wherever she is performing

Nomination by: BarbiKey

Diana has a long career in development and as a speaker of various topics, she has also created and implemented in herself diabetes-related software, that she is willing to donate so others can use it as well. I think she would be a great talent to have around, or at least to consider (=

Katia Lira

Nomination details

  • Name: Katia Lira

  • Previous Board Service: New board member

  • Employer: Local Logic

  • Other Affiliations: DEFNA. PYLATAM. D&I Workgroup

  • Nominee Statement:

    Who am I?

    Hello, I’m Katia Lira, a software engineer from Mexico city. My first approach to the Python community was in 2016 when I attended PyCon US 2016. I’ve been coding for a few years before that but I wasn’t aware of meetups in my city. The groups that existed lacked consistency due to struggles to get speakers and sponsors. Since then I’ve seen amazing growth.

    During PyCon US 2016 I met a group of Mexicans and we all were interested in doing a similar event at home. None of us had previous experience organizing a conference or any idea of where to start.

    In 2017, I attended and spoke at my first DjangoCon US where I met a few board members of DEFNA. Next year I joined as a board member and after two years as Vice president I serve as President. During my time at DEFNA, I’ve helped organize DjangoCon US and rebrand the foundation image.

    After 3 years with some knowledge about organizing conferences and with a group of great people from Latin America. I was a co-organizer of the first ever PyLatam 2019. The event was a two day, two track conference with assistance from 20 different countries.

    Some things about me:

      - Helped with translating the official Python documentation.
      - I’ve volunteered at every conference I attended because IMO it’s the best way to experience the event.
      - In 2020 I received the Q2 Community Service Award and became a fellow of the PSF.
      - Gave a Keynote for the first ever PyDay Chile in 2020 and one for the first ever PyCon charlas track
      - I have a podcast based on Open Spaces in Spanish

    Objectives I would focus on as a Board member:

    Education

      - Fund and develop education programs. In Spanish at local universities.

    Conference organizing

    Organizing a conference is daunting, especially for the first time and the PSF can take a more active role with helping and guiding the new conferences.

      - Resources or “kits”. Based on the knowledge from organizing PyCon US, basic to\-do lists, how to reach out to speakers, a chronogram of tasks, etc. If such resources exist, amplify them and translate them to as many languages as possible.
      - Mentoring. When a conference is approved for a PSF grant, give them the option to ask questions by email about organizing.

    Diversity and inclusion.

      - Grow the impact of the PSF in other communities. Sharing the importance of the work done by the PSF. Translating information to as many languages as possible. Especially the PSF Membership FAQ and the election resources.
      - Have an official PSF blog in Spanish. It would be focused on increasing visibility of “local heroes”. Developers that have successful stories or achievements that could help as inspiration. And giving a platform to Python content creators in Spanish. Showcase their posts on twitter for exposure
      - Bring back the Python Ambassador role and create programs to reach out to students and get them involved.

    Thanks for reading and for considering voting for me.

Noufal Ibrahim

Nomination details

  • Name: Noufal Ibrahim

  • Previous Board Service: New board member

  • Employer: Hamon Technologies LLP/NH66 Corporation

  • Other Affiliations: PSF Fellow

  • Nominee Statement:

    Introduction

    I am Noufal Ibrahim. I’m from Kerala, India and have been involved with Python as a user since 1999 and have been involved more heavily with the community since 2006 or so.

    Contributions to the Community

    I was in Bangalore, India when I started to get heavily involved with the Python community. I was able to organise and lead the python developers in Bangalore to conduct the first PyCon in India in 2009. (for which I received a community service award in that year). Since then, PyCon India has grown to be one of the largest PyCons in the world and we’re still going strong. I keynoted the event in 2017.

    This has made me a notable figure in the Indian Python ecosystem.

    As a minor point, I created a set of slides by hand which were donated to PyLadies and auctioned off at the next edition of PyCon in the US

    On the technical side, I’ve been contributing several small patches to various projects and some large ones. I’ve also been very active on Stack Overflow and other fora where I’ve answered queries on several topics. I’ve conducted many workshops at community events, for college students at their schools and for corporate audiences at companies on various Python related topics.

    Current work

    I have a natural inclination towards teaching and I’ve been doing that in a personal and professional capacity for a long time and I’ve been increasing my outreach to young students who are looking to join the software workforce. Most of my teaching has been done using Python as the language and I’ve enjoyed good success in this regard.

    Aims as a director

    I’m primarily an educator and outreach person.

    My recent (since 2016 or so) work has been heavily oriented on mentoring students and freshers and while the PSFs and local communities initiatives have made a huge difference in outreach, they’ve still mostly reached people like me (English educated, exposed to technology at a young age etc.).

    I was doing a series of workshops at various local colleges (in Kerala, India) and found the need for reaching out to talented students who have language barriers or a general lack of confidence to get into the community.

    I’ve been making some inroads in that direction (till the covid situation derailed my plans). However, I’d like to become a director and use the PSFs name and resources to reach out to this segment of people.

    My current plans on implementing this

      1. I would like to, in association with the universities and the PSF,
       create an open syllabus for education that colleges and other
       institutions can use. This will allow educators to deliver decent
       quality classes (along with exercises) and perhaps write books and
       other content that will help students.
      2. Create something like an internship program which students can
       participate in and be awarded some kind of recognition for their
       efforts so as to increase interest in Python and the larger
       ecosystem. I have several connections with the technical
       universities in Kerala which can help in this regard.
      3. I'd like to create bridges using the PSFs name and reputation to
       reach out to students that have a less privileged background than
       my own so that they can easily become members of the larger
       community in various capacities.

Agata Skamruk (Bublewicz)

Nomination details

  • Name: Agata Skamruk (Bublewicz)

  • Previous Board Service: New board member

  • Employer: Code Squat

  • Other Affiliations: OSWorld.pl, PyData Warsaw, PyData Trójmiasto, PyCode Conference, Women in Technology

  • Nominee Statement:

    Hi i’m Agata I have been programming in Python since 2015 and organizing workshops and conferences. Here is my activity:

      - President of the Polish Python User Group
      - Managing member of PSF
      - PyCode Conference founder and organizer:

    The aim of PyCode Conference is to raise the qualifications of the participants and to draw attention to the latest trends in Python. It is also important that we spread good programming practice. The conference is open to all Python programmers. It opens up to a community at all levels of experience which means it is designed for advanced professionals as well as beginners, including students.

    We help and contribute to supporting the diversity group in IT. We build an inclusive community, free from prejudice and discrimination, in which everyone can feel safe. We strive for this, each participant felt accepted. Diversity is a highly valued value by us. We protect it as such as the Code of Conduct of the conference and we do not check behavior that is harmful to diversity. Supporting diversity enables one to integrate with a part of the underrepresented community, listening to their perspective and experience.

      - 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

Samson Goddy

Nomination details

  • Name: Samson Goddy

  • Previous Board Service: New Board Member

  • Employer: Sourcegraph

  • Other Affiliations: Open Source Community Africa, Sugar Labs, Open Source Collective

  • Nominee Statement:

    Hi, I’m Samson Goddy, a software engineer, and an open source advocate. But I am derived mainly by community relations work to give back to the ecosystem and recently hired to build communities for a great company. I am the co-founder of the largest open source group in Africa, called the Open Source Community Africa, and a long-term contributor to the Sugar Labs project. This community-driven organization maintains and distributes the Sugar Learning Desktop, a python-based GUI for Linux from the One Laptop Per Child.

    Python has always been around me, from a child developer tinkering his way with the Sugar Desktop to teaching people the programming language.

    It will be an honor to be part of the PSF board as I believe in sustainability and outreach.

    My experience:

    I was a board member for Sugar Labs; a US non-profit organization that maintains the Sugar Learning Desktop from 2017 to 2020. I joined the extraordinary mission to sustain open source with Open Source Collective as a Board Member, which I am still serving to date.

    I also built an open source community from the ground up to arguably the largest open source community in Africa, focusing on outreach, support, and mentorship. I created and chaired Open Source Festival, the flagship event from the Open Source Community Africa. We attracted top companies and individuals to the African community.

    I have had the opportunity to speak at Pycon US and Nigeria, which was a pleasant experience. While at Pycon US, I connected with the team, focusing on starting Pycon Africa on a round table discussion on supporting and growing the community.

Christopher Neugebauer

Nomination details

  • Name: Christopher Neugebauer

  • Previous Board Service: 2018-2021, Vice-Chair/Exec Committee 2019-2021

  • Employer: Toolchain Labs, Inc.

  • Other Affiliations: North Bay Python (Director; Project Leadership Committee Member at Software Freedom Conservancy)

  • Nominee Statement:

    Hi! I’m Christopher Neugebauer. I’m a first-term Director seeking re-election.

    You may know me from my work organising conferences: I was a member of the PyCon Australia core team from 2012 until 2017, and more recently, I’ve run North Bay Python in Petaluma, California.

    My goal as a Director is to ensure the Foundation is a group that can steward and grow a Diverse and International Python community. I love using Python because it’s a language that is stewarded by the community, with core infrastructure run by the community. The Foundation is key to ensuring Python remains in the hands of our community, and can grow and thrive with the support it needs.

    When I started as a Director, the Foundation was largely funded by PyCon US revenue. The language was solely led by our BDFL. Our grants program funded a vibrant range of events and workshops throughout the world. My term as PSF Director has come at a challenging time: in the wake of COVID, the Foundation has had to re-think how we can sustain the programs that we run. In that time, we’ve not only been successful, but we’ve also grown them.

    As a re-elected board member, I want to continue working to ensure that the Foundation’s revenue sources remain diverse, even as PyCon US returns to being held in-person. I want to make sure we continue to fund staff and infrastructure that are key to the sustainability — and community ownership — of our language. I want to make sure the PSF remains an example of how effective Open Source community governance can be.

    In my first term, I believe I’ve worked effectively to guide the Foundation through a position where it is doing more important work than ever, even despite the pandemic, which has reshaped how the Foundation serves our community.

    I helped to achieve alignment in the board as COVID struck, advocating for frequent communication — and high levels of transparency — in the lead-up to cancelling our in-person PyCon US 2020. This communication strategy bought Foundation staff time to negotiate a financially advantageous cancellation, which made it possible to focus on growing new programs throughout 2020 and 2021.

    As an inaugural member of our PyCon US Board committee, I advocated for locking in a hosting agreement with Pittsburgh for 2024 and 2025, as a way to achieve financial certainty, while letting our staff focus on running a fully-online PyCon US 2021.

    I helped advocate for the board to restructure our sponsorships program following the cancellation of our in-person events last year. As a result, the Foundation has gone from running three separate sponsorship programs to just one. The new sponsorship program has been incredibly successful: even though our flagship PyCon US benefits were not able to be offered this year, we have been able to attract new, and bigger sponsorships which have enabled the Foundation to fund new community assets, including the first ever community-funded Core Python developer. As a result, I believe Python’s status as a language of its community is stronger than ever.

    Finally, I helped align the board in the last stages of the adoption of our new Code of Conduct. I spent countless hours listening to the concerns of individual Directors, and people involved in the drafting process, and helped the board understand and resolve concerns, to produce a document that is both effective and applicable to the diverse and international community that the PSF serves. As a result, the Foundation has gone from having separate Codes of Conduct for the Foundation’s online infrastructure and the conferences we run, and now has an effective and independent incident review working group.

    If you have any questions about my candidacy, you can reach me at mail@chrisjrn.com or via @chrisjrn on Twitter. Thank you for your consideration!* Nomination Statements:

Nomination by: Carol Willing

I’m nominating Chris Neugebauer for reelection to the PSF Board. In 2018, I nominated Chris for his commitment and leadership in the Python community. With his high standards for governance and work ethic, Chris has helped the PSF navigate unforeseen challenges and strengthen the PSF’s health and ongoing success.

Kunal Kundra

Nomination details

  • Name: Kunal Kundra

  • Previous Board Service: New board member

  • Employer: NA

  • Other Affiliations: NA

  • Nominee Statement:

    NA

Joannah Nanjekye

Nomination details

  • Name: Joannah Nanjekye

  • Previous Board Service: New board member

  • Employer: IBM CAS-Atlantic

  • Other Affiliations: University of New Brunswick, CPython

  • Nominee Statement:

    Hi, I’m Joannah! I’m currently doing my PHD, researching garbage collection and Python. I’m also a Python core developer whose career in open source was kick started by participating in programs like outreachy and Rails Girls summer of code. Outside of contributing code, I’m an active leader and member of several Python community groups. I’ve mentored and organized events for PyLadies, in Kampala and other chapters around the world. I’ve also spoken at several PyCon’s including PyCon South Africa, PyCon Africa and PyCon Italia. I joined the Python community as a forced user when I did my first Python course at University in 2010. The professor of the course made it very hard, after failing several assignments, I decided to read my first book (How to think like a computer science, Python version) cover-to-cover. Python then became my default language , and I joined the community, which I have never regretted. As a community member, I have grown to be an organizer of events, a speaker at conferences and a mentor to Pyladies communities, and for 1.5 years now, as well as a Python core developer.

    I am running for the board this year to accelerate the progress of some initiatives I’ve been wanting to pursue within the Python community . I believe being a board member will help me champion these initiatives in a way I have not been able to outside the board. My promise is to serve for only 3 years, to achieve the following:

      - **Research:** Python has grown to be a popular programming language among scientists of all walks of life, mathematicians, physicists, biologists etc. I want to push for activities that highlight, encourage and bring together researchers in our community. With the help of the PSF, I plan to start a workshop at Pycon, for scientists in academia and students to discuss their research. The PSF and Pycon are big enough. The goal is to have the presentations published in a prestigious library for example ACM or IEEE. This could be a one\-day workshop that results in at least 8 \- 10 published works from our community every year. . We can grow later.
      - **The Ambassador Program:** I started running Pyladies events while I still lived in Uganda, Africa, and did not know about the PSF then. The first time I knew about the work of the PSF was through its ambassadors in East Africa at the time. There has been tremendous work done in the past, but I believe the program has more potential especially for places that are not as well represented in the Python community. f. I want to engage in activities that lead to better execution of the program for a better impact in those communities. I have had discussions with some board members before on this, I believe we can work together for an even better execution model, borrowing from some of my experiences as a beneficiary, on what priorities the model should look at.
      - **Education:** I am not a good teacher, but I love teaching! This was my motivation for joining a PHD program, and focusing on Python as one of the tools. As a board member, I want to collaborate with others on the board and the core developer team to see how we can build a community and language that educators can use to meet their teaching needs.

    Contributions to community

    OSS Projects (Non-trivial contributions)

      - CPython (I focus on subinterpreters and the CAPI)
      - MicroPython (Documented Internals of the interpreter for a 3 month period)
      - SymPy (Reorganizing its documentation for the next 5 months)

    Books

      - Book, [Python 2 and 3 Compatibility](https://www.apress.com/gp/book/9781484229545#:~:text=Although%20Python%203%20is%20considered,guides%20you%20through%20the%20process.), Apress

    Organizer activities

      - Pyladies Kampala (2017 \- todate)
      - Organizer, Django Girls workshop, at Pycon Kenya, 2018
      - Django Girls, Kenya, at Pycon Kenya, 2018

    Speaker

      - PyconZA, 2016, 2017, 2018
      - Pycon Africa, Keynote, 2020
      - Invited speaker, EuRuKo, 2018
      - Python Kampala
      - Thoughtworks, Kampala
      - Python Kenya
      - Google developer groups, Kampala* **Nomination Statements**:

Nomination by: Marlene Mhangami

I would like to second Joannah’s nomination for the PSF board of directors. I first met Jo at PyCon South Africa a number of years ago. We had both traveled from our respective home countries to attend the conference. I later met her again at PyCon US and PyCon Italia, where I was grateful to find a familiar face in a new country. Talking to Joannah, I was struck by how much we had in common, particularly a shared love for the Python community and a desire to see African’s succeed in the field. Joannah has been an incredible trailblazer, becoming the first African Python core developer and leading important research at IBM. Her role not only in technical leadership, but also as a leader in the PyLadies, and African Python communities serves to show how capable she is of this position.

This is will be my final year on the PSF board of directors, and as the only African currently on the board, having Joannah elected would ensure the Python community has a voice in leadership representing our continent. Joannah and I have discussed the PSF ambassador program at length and hope to see this program used to increase the already growing adoption of Python in Africa. I’m excited about the insights Jo could bring to the board as an alumnus of the Outreachy and Google Summer of Code programs. Her experience in this area would help the board better support our own interns in these programs, and hopefully, give us fresh ideas on how to grow.

I am so thankful Joannah has decided to run! I hope our community sees how much value she has already brought us, and trusts her to be part of moving the PSF forward into our shared future.

Yours faithfully,

Marlene Mhangami

PSF Vice-Chair and Board Director

Chair, PSF Diversity and Inclusion Work Group

Nomination by: Carol Willing

I’m pleased to nominate Joannah Nanjekye for the PSF Board. Joannah has worked on CPython, particularly on Garbage Collection, for several years. In Sept. 2019, Joannah was promoted to CPython Core Developer. She is a thoughtful and active developer with a good work ethic. She doesn’t hesitate to help out when asked, such as when I asked her to speak with the core developers of the R language to help build a stronger community.

As a former PSF Board member and current Steering Council member, I understand the responsibilities that come as a Board member. I enthusiastically recommend Joannah. The PSF and Python would be well represented by her.

Débora Azevedo

Nomination details

  • Name: Débora Azevedo

  • Previous Board Service: New board member

  • Employer: Rio Grande do Norte state secretary of education

  • Other Affiliations: PyLadies Brazil/Global

  • Nominee Statement:

    Who am I

    Hello!

    My name’s Débora Azevedo and I’m a member of the Python community in Brazil. I am the co-founder of Brazil’s national network of chapters, PyLadies Brazil, which is now the biggest PyLadies chapter of the world. I’m also a PSF fellow member, one of PyLadies Brazil community builders and managers, and currently contribute with the PSF’s Diversity and Inclusion workgroup. Since 2014 I’ve been an active volunteer in the Python community, working with PyLadies, teaching Python, managing the community and organizing events.

    Relevant experience with the Python community

    For the past 7 years, I’ve been serving the Python community in several ways. Among the many things I did as a contribution to the community, I’d like to highlight two special events I was part of the team - and the main responsible for.

    Chair of the first PyLadies Brazil conference

    The first one was being the chair of the first PyLadies Brazil national conference, in 2018. In 2017, during the national Python Brazil conference, we had the first PyLadies Assembly, which is our national PyLadies Brazil gathering to make a balance of the year, in terms of actions we did during the current year and what we want to do next. To celebrate the 5 year anniversary of our national network of chapters, we had this vision of an event for women, organized by women, only women as speakers and attendees. The conference took place in the city I live, which was also the same place Python Brazil 2018 was happening. 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 working in the day of the conference. It’s important to highlight that this was the first PyLadies conference to ever happen. 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 in 2019.

    Crowdfunding campaign “PyLadies at Python Brazil”

    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, in 2018 and 2019. 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 and also making a booth to deliver the rewards in the days 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, working hand in hand with PyLadies Brazil, fosters inclusion and diversity in its largest national conference.

    All of 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.

    Speaking at conferences

      - [Python Brazil 2016](https://2016.pythonbrasil.org.br/#schedule)
      - [Python Brazil 2017](http://2017.pythonbrasil.org.br/#schedule)
      - [Python Nordeste 2018](https://2018.pythonnordeste.org/#segundo-dia)
      - [Python Brazil 2018](https://2018.pythonbrasil.org.br/programacao)
      - [Python Brazil 2019](https://2019.pythonbrasil.org.br/#section-keynote) \- (keynote)
      - [Pycon Africa 2020](https://africa.pycon.org/speakers/)
      - [Python Brazil 2020](https://2020.pythonbrasil.org.br/grade/)
      - [PyCon US 2021](https://us.pycon.org/2021/events/diversity-inclusion/)
      - [PyCon Colombia 2021](https://2021.pycon.co/ponentes/)

    Organizing conferences

      - [Python Nordeste 2015](https://2015.pythonnordeste.org/)
      - [Python Brazil 2018](https://2018.pythonbrasil.org.br/)
      - Python Brazil 2021 (website’s not published yet)

    Python community work

      - PyLadies Brazil co\-founder (2014\)
      - Django Girls Natal organizer (since 2017\)
      - First PyLadies Brazil Conf chair (2018\)
      - Python Brazil conference co\-organizer (2018 and 2021\)
      - PyLadies at Python Brazil crowdfunding campaign chair (2018 and 2019\)
      - Python Brazil conference keynote (2019\)
      - PyLadies Global Interim member (2019\-2020\)
      - PSF fellow member (2020\)
      - Diversity and Inclusion workgroup (2020 on)

    Goals as a board member

    As a member of the Board of Directors there are some goals I’d like to make my priority. I wish to work on actions that are aligned with the core values that emerge from the work I’ve been doing over the past decade with PyLadies and the broader Python community in Brazil.

      - Help the PSF strengthen the ties to communities by doing outreach, together with community leaders, based on the particular needs of the different communities. Communities outside the USA/Europe are the ones which grow the most. Acknowledge how these user groups and meetup organizers understand the PSF, how they use Python in their communities and how they believe the Foundation can help them is fundamental. By speaking their language and finding locals, we can have these communities receive more recognition internationally and support from the PSF..
      - Work on PyLadies having a smooth relation with the PSF, working directly with the PyLadies global council, as a partner to bring more PyLadies from around the world to be more involved with the PSF (with PSF’s programs and workgroups) and 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. This can be done, for example, with ideias like reaching out and finding people who can translate these documents and acknowledge the barriers and how we can overcome them, by hearing the problems people who already do this work face.

    Awards

      - PSF Community Service Award winner (2019\)
      - Dorneles Treméa\-Jean Ferri award winner (2020\)

    In a nutshell..

    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. If you, like me, have felt the need for a stronger and more diverse Python community around the world, I hope you can consider me a good fit for that. To be given the opportunity to broaden my participation and involvement by holding a seat at the PSF board is a way of changing the picture we already have. It would be an honour to represent you and your community.

    Where to find me

    Twitter

    Email

    Web* Nomination Statements:

Nomination by: Marlene Mhangami

I am very happy to second the nomination of Débora Azevedo. Débora has been a long-standing, diligent member of the Python community for as long as I’ve known her. As a leader in PyLadies Brazil, the largest PyLadies group in the world, she has contributed to the growth of the Python programming language in more ways than one. I have worked directly with Débora as part of the PSF Diversity and Inclusion Work Group and can attest to her passion for the global Python community. Her clear vision for making Python more accessible to people from different parts of the world would be an incredible asset to the PSF.

As part of the PSF D&I Work Group Débora has been an advocate for the Pythonista’s in Brazil and Latin America. Representation from these regions is lacking on the current PSF board of directors and I believe having Débora elected could give the board the insight we need to increase the growth of Python in these areas. Débora is a strong communicator and her 7-year history in the community makes her a stand-out candidate. She is more than equipped for the position and I hope voting members see the incredible value she could bring to the board.

Yours faithfully,

Marlene Mhangami

Vice-Chair and Director of the PSF

Chair, PSF Diversity and Inclusion Work Group

Nomination by: Iqbal Abdullah

Débora has been an active member of the PSF D&I Working Group, which I am also part of. She has done work on promoting the ideas and goals of D&I, and as further proof, have stood up to be counted with her candidacy for a director post in the PSF. She is also a PSF Community Service Award winner in 2019.

Her experience and skill in managing PyLadies Brazil as chairperson will be invaluable, as well as her experience in raising funds for PyLadies Brazil.

We need more capable people like her to represent the larger community of Pythonistas in the LATAM region. I am happy and excited to support Débora as a director in the PSF!

Noé Domínguez Porras

Nomination details

  • Name: Noé Domínguez Porras

  • Previous Board Service: New board member

  • Employer: Adevinta

  • Other Affiliations: DevLabs México, Hackers and Founders Puebla

  • Nomination Statements:

Nomination by: CrossCompute Inc.

Noé Domínguez Porras was formerly the lead organizer of several Linux and Python user groups in México. Noé has leadership and superb communication and organizational skills. He currently lives in Barcelona.

Adam Hopkins

Nomination details

  • Name: Adam Hopkins

  • Previous Board Service: New board member

  • Employer: PacketFabric, Inc.

  • Other Affiliations: Sanic

  • Nominee Statement:

    You can learn a lot from me from this snippet:

    class Adam:
    

        def __init__(self):
            self.work = PacketFabric("Lead Sr. Software Engineer")
            self.oss = Sanic("Core Maintainer")
            self.home = Israel("Negev")
    

        async def run(self, inputs: Union[Pretzels, Coffee]) -> None:
            while True:
                await self.work.do(inputs)
                await self.oss.do(inputs)
    

        def sleep(self):
            raise NotImplementedError

    Sorry for the ", apparently the platform doesn’t like my quotes. You can see a cleaner version on my GitHub profile

    I am a very passionate supporter of Python, and have worked in the language for 20+ years and experienced its growth. I worked bring the Sanic project into a community run organization, and created the operating structure for the community. Yes, I am also a licensed attorney, so I am one of those rare breeds of people that actually likes reading documents like that.

    I would like to assist in the growth and planning of the PSF, and would work hard to participate. In addition to managing the Sanic project, I enjoy spending time mentoring young developers, and presenting talks at Python conferences. I am very dedicated, and would love to help drive the PSF forward.

Jay Miller

Nomination details

  • Name: Jay Miller

  • Previous Board Service: New Board Member

  • Employer: Elastic

  • Other Affiliations: None

  • Nominee Statement:

    My focus has always been creating more community and representation and learning. I’d like to see more opportunities for second career learners.

Arunkumar Venkataramanan

Nomination details

  • Name: Arunkumar Venkataramanan

  • Previous Board Service: Board Member Nominee of PSF (2020)

  • Employer: DeepBrainz AI (DeepBrainz Technologies Private Limited)

  • Other Affiliations: Anna University (Alma Mater)

  • Nominee Statement:

    Hello PSF Members,

    I am an AI Entrepreneur, Innovator, Founder, CEO, CTO, AI Chief of DeepBrainz AI is a DPIIT recognized Bangalore based AI startup (deep tech) company, a modern integrated human-centered autonomous enterprise AI platform for builders and business leaders, a Google Cloud Technology Partner, NVIDIA Inception member. I have been a Board Chairman and Managing Director of DeepBrainz Technologies Private Limited since Nov 18, 2019.

    I am an experienced ML Practitioner, Software Engineer, Data Scientist, AI Researcher with over eight years of experience in the AI field across industries. I am also a Kaggle Master, MIT Technology Review Global Panelist, HBR Ascend Select Member, TensorFlow Research Cloud Participant, PSF Board Member Nominee (2020), YC Startup School Certified, TiE Member, and a part of various other startups (partner) programs and developers (tech) communities.

    My mission is to build, advance, democratize responsible and human-centered AI for everyone innovating the status quo of AI/ML technology and envisioning new products that matter most in the industries and markets.

    I was also an ML Practitioner and Consultant, also known as a Machine Learning Software Engineer, Data Scientist, AI Researcher, and Founder, CEO, Managing Director, and AI Chief, with over eight years of experience in the fields of Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Data Mining, Predictive and Prescriptive Analytics & Modeling and related areas such as Computer Vision CV, Natural Language Processing NLP, Robotics, and General AI AGI Independently and at DeepBrainz AI (DeepBrainz Technologies Private Limited), A DPIIT (DIPP) Recognized AI Technology Startup Company, A Next-Gen Integrated Human-centered End-to-End Autonomous Enterprise AI Platform with AI-first SaaS and Edge IoT Services, An NVIDIA Inception Member, A Google Cloud Technology Partner, An AWS Technology Partner Member, Google Cloud for Startup Member, AWS Activate Member, with DeepBrainz AI BRAIN Team in Bengaluru, India.

    I founded DeepBrainz AI that is a DPIIT Recognised Deep Tech Startup being a Founding Member of an AI Unit and has been solving various business and real-world problems across industries vertically as well as horizontally by Cutting-edge Technologies and the State of the art AI in the fields of Computer Vision and Natural Language Processing NLP.

    I have designed, developed, tested, deployed, maintained, and improved Machine Learning ML models, algorithms, systems, and ML infrastructure and software that uses these models.

    I want to deliver state-of-the-art AI and machine learning solutions and solve complex technical challenges with novel statistical analysis and modeling as data science solutions to business problems.

    I have also got experience with Research & Development Work (R&D) on Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning and related areas such as Computer Vision, NLP, Robotics, and General AI AGI at DeepBrainz AI BRAIN, an AI R&D Team and Project of DeepBrainz, A DPIIT Recognised AI Initiative.

    My Passions range from Technology to Entrepreneurship (Leadership and Management). I’m also passionate about and Computer Science, Engineering, Technology, Innovation, Research and Development, Product and Design, Organisational Leadership (Tech), Business, Strategy, Scalability, and Technology Startup, Programming, Artificial Intelligence AI, Machine Learning ML, Deep Learning, including other emerging technologies like Quantum Computing, Blockchain, Cloud and Distributed Computing.

    I hope that I’ll further advance Tomorrow’s State-of-the-art AI with DeepBrainz AI (formerly DeepBrainz Intelligent Systems) (An AI Team Project), A Future Revolutionary Technology Startup Influencing Industries by Building Cutting-edge Technologies and Advancing State-of-the-art (Status quo of the field) for “Empowering Humanity Universally” through R&D, Innovation & Breakthroughs!

    Above all, I have got the skill called “LEARNABILITY” with Growth Mindset is helping me acquire all necessary skills of all Emerging Technologies Markets to pursue my DREAMS through Mission Vision & Core Values, Strategy, Objectives and Key Results, Execution, Technology, Business, Strategic Policies.

    One of my objectives is as follows, “To be an asset to the organization by working with core values such as passion, purpose, honesty, determination and have challenges as his duty and opportunity to achieve professional and personal growth along with the organization.”

    I’m an Objectivist, Innovator & Influencer, and also have a current journey as an Entrepreneur & an alumnus of Cambridge School & Anna University who graduated B.Tech in 2014 focussed Information Technology (Computer Science and Engineering). I was also 49th Kaggle Kernels Master stood Top 1% and Top 50 in the World’s largest Data Science and Machine Learning Community. I’ve over 13k+ followers on LinkedIn as of today.

    I have been working on DeepBrainz AGI is a futuristic long-term independent AI research project as an AI Chief Research Scientist, Machine Learning Software Engineer, Data Scientist - ML Algorithms, Hacker, Open Source Developer, Independent Software Engineer, Freelancer.

    I am also a Deep Reinforcement Learning Enthusiast. I am writing the book called Hands-on Deep Reinforcement Learning with Python and AutoML will be released by one of the top publishers shortly. I’m consistently working with the cutting-edge technologies such as Machine Learning, Deep Learning, and related areas, developing RL agents using Deep Reinforcement Learning and using Python for Scientific computing, Data Analysis, Machine Learning (Deep learning), and so on.

    For more information on my work in AI, can be found on the official website of DeepBrainz AI and the portfolio website https://deepbrainz.com and https://arunkumarramanan.github.io (https://linkedin.com/in/arunkumarramanan) respectively.

    I thus declare with honesty also true to my above statements, be passionate and enthusiastic about serving with leadership as a Board Member of Python Software Foundation PSF. Sincerely, Thanks and Best Regards, Arunkumar Venkataramanan, Founder, CEO (MD), CTO (AI Chief), DeepBrainz AI, Bangalore, India, DeepBrainz Technologies Private Limited, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.

Cristián Maureira-Fredes

Nomination details

  • Name: Cristián Maureira-Fredes

  • Previous Board Service: New board member

  • Employer: The Qt Company

  • Other Affiliations: Python Chile https://pythonchile.cl, Python España https://es.python.org/, Python en Español https://hablemospython.dev

  • Nominee Statement:

    Introduction

    My name is Cristián, and I have been using Python for a long time, and without realizing it, I have been advocating Python in the different stages of my life:

      - While studying computer science, I was part of a student group that started pushing to adopt Python as a **first\-programming\-language** for all the students in the University, replacing the current program with C, we succeeded 🎉. In parallel, I started formally and informally teaching Python, and pushed for the adoption of the language in areas like Scientific Computing, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Astronomy.
      - During my doctoral studies, I started to help my peers with Python utilities, showing them how nice the language was. Most of them moved their usual workflow and embraced Python as the language\-to\-go in automation scripts for Astrophysical and Astronomical simulations.
      - My current job position is to be in charge, among other things, of the whole Python offering of my company, and since I joined, I have been pushing for the adoption of Python as an official language in the framework (C\+\+).

    Before COVID, I spent most of my time participating in local Python related meetups, helping PyLadies Berlin and other local Python groups, and attending (sometimes as speaker) conferences in Germany and other countries, but due to the lock-down, I quickly realized that it was a golden moment to reach out more people in the community, because most of us were participating in online events and I was one click away of most of those. This allowed me to directly participate with communities in Latin America like Python Chile and Python Argentina, and in Europe with Python España.

    Talking with people from different Spanish speaking communities, we decided to start the Python en Español initiative https://hablemospython.dev, with the main objective of connecting all the communities that speak Spanish in one place, to learn from each other, and nurture the community further on. Currently the community is being coordinated with people from Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, República Dominicana, España, México, Nicaragua.

    With more native speakers than English, Spanish is the second language globally with more native speakers, and Spanish speaking communities have been growing with time and becoming a really important part of the Python community too. This can be confirmed by the world class level PyCon events in Spanish speaking countries, the Latin American conference PyLatam, and the special track at PyCon US, “Las PyCon Charlas”, and crucial initiatives like the official translation of the Python documentation https://docs.python.org/es/3/ which I was also actively participating.

    Goals

    The goals of my candidacy focus on four main ideas:

    1. PSF International Advocacy

    Many people in the PSF have been doing their best to reach communities all over the world, but still it’s an important pending task that the PSF has. I will join current efforts and start new ones to make the PSF a globally recognized institution, prioritizing communities and countries that are not aware of all the help they can get from the PSF.

    2. Improve PSF presence in Spanish speaking countries

    What is the PSF? How can they help me? How can I help the PSF? are typical questions I heard/read when the official Chilean community was starting, and I would like to clarify those points in all the Spanish speaking countries that are still in the process of formalizing their communities, organizing their first events, etc.

    The ideas, activities, projects, etc will be properly documented so other communities that share a common language would be able to replicate them.

    3. PSF i18n

    I will push for the translation of PSF resources, like the main website, documentation related to processes, forms and even important blog posts. I’m certain we could offer the option to translate those resources into different languages, to at least break the initial barrier many people might have due to English not being their mother tongue. This has been started already, with initiatives that enable the different languages, like the official documentation.

    4. Education initiatives between communities

    I firmly believe that teaching is more than only preparing slides, exercises or videos, and it’s a more complex process that requires us to understand the context of the target audience, to help them acquire not only skills, but habits, values and a sense of belonging. I will contribute to the current initiatives, and start new discussions and projects to get Python everywhere.

    Conclusions

    I spend most of my spare time in Python related activities, and I love to help the community: answering questions on different platforms, helping teaching initiatives, organizing local and global events, and many other activities to bring more people to our beloved community.

    I firmly believe that the duties of being a PSF Director will blend perfectly with the current activities I’m involved.

    With every little action, I’m trying to show everyone how important is to be actively involved in the Python community, and the fulfillment you can get with helping and connecting people. My /evil/ plan is to motivate people to be more involved in the many initiatives we have, both locally and globally, so we can all together improve Python everyday.* Nomination Statements:

Nomination by: Pablo Lira

Cristian is a great leader in the Python community in Chile, he has contributed his time and knowledge to the Python ecosystem in the country of Chile. It would be a great contribution to the international community and an excellent link with the Spanish-speaking community.

Tania Allard

Nomination details

  • Name: Tania Allard

  • Previous Board Service: New board member

  • Employer: Quansight Labs

  • Other Affiliations: UK Python Association, Research Software Alliance, PyLadies Global Council

  • Nominee Statement:

    Hi, I am Tania, and I have been a Python community member for 10+ years. However, it is fair to say that the last 6 years have been the more active in terms of community engagement and participation for me. Like many others folks, the Python community gave me a place where I felt I belonged.

    Over these years, I have been involved in the Python community as a developer and contributor, speaker, teacher, mentor, conference organiser and volunteer. I have also been part of the PSF blogger team trying to highlight the fantastic work of Pythonistas all over the world.

    I have had many opportunities to share my love for Python and knowledge with many folks worldwide by speaking at Python conferences, delivering tutorials and co-chairing the tutorial track for PyCon US for 2020 and 2021. I truly believe in open knowledge sharing as a means of empowering others and democratising tech and data science. Most of what I know I owe to someone who put in an incredible time, patience and effort to work with me or created open content. I want to pay it forward and ensure many other folks in the community benefit from my learnings.

    I also started the Mentored Sprints project, which has the primary goal of providing folks from historically marginalised groups in open source with a safe and welcoming environment for folks to contribute to open source projects. The Mentored Sprints team has grown since we have run sprints at PyCon US (3 years in a row), PyCon Australia, PyCon UK, PyData events, and direct partnerships with groups such as WiMLDS and PyLadies. Mentored Sprints have provided mentorship to hundreds of sprinters, many of which made their first-ever open-source contributions.

    Over the last couple of years, I have also been working on better ways to support the many PyLadies chapters worldwide. This year, I joined the PyLadies Global Council. As such, I have been involved in establishing a formal relationship between PyLadies and the PSF and improving processes, establishing working groups and liaising with external partners to ensure the long-term growth and sustainability of PyLadies.

    Goals as a Board Member

    I am excited to bring my expertise and dedication to the Python community and PSF board. Below are the main goals I’d like to focus on as a board member of the PSF:

    Grow PSF financial security and diversification of funds

    I would like to work with the Finance Committee to explore diverse funding streams to ensure the long-term sustainability of the PSF and the community. Although the existing financial committee has been working on this issue, we still need to work towards a more diverse portfolio of funding to also be able to fund critical initiatives and projects for the Python ecosystem.

    Deeper integration of non-English speaking Python communities

    Though the Python community is truly global, many leadership positions are still occupied by folks from English-speaking countries or from the Global North. I plan to establish mechanisms to include the voices of communities in the Global South and work towards programmes to make Python more accessible for non-English speakers. This would mean working closely with the translation group and the Python for Education working group to create educational resources and grants to achieve this goal. These efforts will significantly contribute towards the diversity of our community, and at the same time, make it more accessible and equitable for all.

    Also, the last couple of years have been crucial for the LATAM community; the user groups, practitioners and students focused on Python have significantly increased. And more importantly, a strong and thriving community has formed; I would like to continue contributing to the growth of the LATAM Python community by creating connections with other communities and foster knowledge sharing.

    Focus on accessibility

    I genuinely believe that technology should be equitable - I would like to strengthen the accessibility efforts in the Python community to better support disabled community members. There is still a significant effort needed to make critical tools, tutorials, and documentation accessible to all. I would like to help identify potential sources of funding to carry on the technical work and generate resources (tutorials, documentation, talks) aimed at Python developers and maintainers to ensure accessibility becomes a central part of our community.

    Closing

    I would be honoured to serve the Python community as a Python Software Foundation director. I believe I can bring a great wealth of enthusiasm and expertise to the board and help ensure the long-term success of the PSF and the Python community.

    Where to find me

    Twitter: https://twitter.com/ixek Website: trallard.dev

Iqbal Abdullah

Nomination details

  • Name: Iqbal Abdullah

  • Previous Board Service: New board member

  • Employer: Xoxzo Inc.

  • Other Affiliations: PyCon JP, PyCon APAC, PSF Trademarks WG, PSF Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) WG

  • Nominee Statement:

    My name is Iqbal Abdullah. I am a Malaysian, based in Japan and have been actively participating with the Python communities around the East Asia and South East Asia region.

    Other than coordinating effort and bridging knowledge between the different community leaders within the E/SE Asia region, as part of my community work I am currently part of the PSF Trademarks Working Group helping out to answer questions and solve issues concerning usage and protecting the intellectual properties of the PSF.

    In 2020, I stood up for nomination for the first time as a director of the PSF. The experience of going through the election process and the proceeding result have given me clarity in what I believe the PSF specifically and the Python community in general would need, which I have written in a blog post here.

    Directly as a result of the election in 2020, the Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Working Group was formed headed by Marlene which I am also currently a member.

    My experiences during the 2020 election and the overall theme being carried over to the D&I Working Group will be my overarching goal and Key Impact Index (KII), if elected, as a director for the next 3 years:

    My primary objective during my term as a director is to increase recognition for and participation from the many diverse regional communities, specifically in the East Asia, South East Asia and South Asia in the Python community, be it within the directorships, Fellowship Program, Working Groups, technical/non-technical contribution in python projects, local and regional PyCon or meetups, and most importantly, the PSF memberships.

    My secondary objective is to help increase financial contribution from non-US/non-Western European sources, be it from companies based in these regions or from community led sources. With increased awareness, participation and dialog between the PSF and the wider world wide community, having a financial connection to the PSF by these communities will further increase the sense of commitment and ownership to the PSF by the worldwide community of Pythonistas.

    To achieve the above objectives, there are three important steps which needs to be done:

      - We need to first know who the people we're talking to: by understanding the different regions they are in and how they perceive the PSF and how they are using Python and how they think the PSF can help them
      - Second, is to explain to them in their language as much as possible, what the PSF does, how the PSF can help them and convince them to join the PSF as a member or at least contribute their time and effort to a local community closer to home.
      - Third, is to have a way to measure our impact. This will involve collecting at least the country, regional and language data among others, of the people or groups that we interact with and have a way to consolidate and visualize them. This third step will be important so that our diversity and inclusion efforts can be reported back to the community regularly and be made an ongoing effort.

    I will also work together closely with our friends in the Diversity and Inclusion Working Group and through their connections to other communities in Latin America and the African continent, try to increase participation from these communities too.

    Finally, if you’ve read this far down, I hope you now, like me, also feel the need for a stronger acknowledgment to a stronger diversified Python community worldwide. I would like to invite you to also support the nominations and vote for other candidates that are from our Diversity & Inclusion Work Group. We all share the same aspirations and objectives, and all of us are leaders within our community.

    Thank you.

    =====================================

    日本語でお読みになる皆様へ、

    私はイクバル・アバドゥラと申します。日本を拠点とするマレーシア人であり、東アジアおよび東南アジア地域のPythonコミュニティに積極的に参加しています。現在のコミュニティ活動としては、PSF商標ワーキンググループの一員として、PSFの使用法と知的財産の保護に関して、質問に対する回答をしたり問題解決のサポートを行ったりしています。

    2020年に初めて、PSFのディレクターとしてノミネーションの候補になりました。こちらのブログに記したように、選挙プロセスを経た経験とその結果から、PSFと一般的なPythonコミュニティが、特に必要としているものが明確になりました。　2020年の選挙の結果、私も一員であるMarleneが率いるダイバーシティとインクルージョン（D＆I）ワーキンググループが結成されました。2020年の選挙経験とD＆Iワーキンググループに引き継がれる全体的なテーマが私の包括的な目標であり、理事に選出されれば、今後3年間の Key Impact Index(KII)となります。

    在任中、私の一番の目標は、ディレクターシップ、フェローシッププログラム、ワーキンググループ、Pythonプロジェクトでの技術的/非技術的な貢献、ローカルおよび地域のPyConまたはミートアップ、そして最も重要なPSFメンバーシップ内における、特に東アジア、南東アジア、南アジアの多くの多様な地域コミュニティでの、認識の向上と、参加の増進です。

    二番目の目標は、こういった地域に拠点を置く企業からであれ、コミュニティ主導の財源からであれ、米国/西ヨーロッパ以外のからの財政的支援の増加をサポートすることです。PSFと世界規模のコミュニティとの間の認識や、参加、対話が増えるにつれ、こうしたコミュニティによるPSFへの経済的なつながりや、Pythonistasの世界的なコミュニティのPSFへの結束意識がさらに高まると考えますが、これを達成するために、3つの重要なステップを実行する必要があります。

      - 第一に、対話対象について、それぞれの居住地域について、それかPSFについての認識、また、Pythonをどのように使用しているか、さらに、PSFに期待しているサポートの内容を理解することです。
      - 第二に、可能な限り相手の言語で、PSFが何をするのか、PSFがどのようにサポートを行い、メンバーとしてPSFに参加したり、少なくとも、居住地域に近いコミュニティーへ時間と労力をを傾けてもらえるようにすることです。
      - 第三に、私たちの与える影響を測定する方法を持っておくことです。 このためには、私たちが交流し統合して、視覚化する手段がある人々またはグループについて、最低限でも国、地域、および言語のデータを収集するということです。この3番目のステップは、ダイバーシティとインクルージョンの取り組みを、定期的にコミュニティに報告し、取り組みを続けるためにも重要なことであると考えています。

    また、ダイバーシティ＆インクルージョン ワーキンググループのメンバーと緊密に協力し、ラテンアメリカやアフリカ大陸の他のコミュニティとのつながりを通して、こういった地域のコミュニティの参加を増やしていけるよう努めます。世界中の、より強力で、より多様化したPythonコミュニティへの、さらに強い認容の必要性を、私と共感していただければ嬉しく思います。 また、ダイバーシティ＆インクルージョンワーキンググループからの他の候補者についても、推薦をサポートして投票していただけますようお願いいたします。私たちは皆、同様の志と目的を共有しており、コミュニティ内の全員が、全員のリーダーであると考えています。

    よろしくお願いいたします。

    =====================================

    Untuk mereka yang ingin membaca dalam Bahasa Melayu,

    Nama saya Iqbal Abdullah. Saya orang Malaysia, yang bermastautin di Jepun dan telah mengambil bahagian secara aktif bersama komuniti Python di sekitar kawasan Asia Timur dan Asia Tenggara.

    Selain daripada menyelaraskan usaha dan merapatkan pengetahuan antara pemimpin komuniti yang berlainan di rantau Asia Tenggara, sebagai sebahagian daripada kerja komuniti saya, saya kini merupakan sebahagian daripada PSF Trademarks Working Group yang membantu menjawab soalan dan membantu menyelesaikan isu mengenai penggunaan dan melindungi harta intelektual PSF.

    Pada tahun 2020, saya mencalonkan diri untuk pertama kalinya sebagai pengarah PSF. Pengalaman melalui proses pemilihan dan hasilnya memberi matalamat yang lebih jelas mengenai apa yang saya percaya PSF secara khusus dan masyarakat Python secara amnya perlukan, yang telah saya tulis dalam catatan blog di sini

    Secara langsung sebagai hasil pilihan raya pada tahun 2020, Kumpulan Kerja Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Working Group dibentuk dan diketuai oleh Marlene yang kini saya juga menjadi seorang ahli.

    Pengalaman saya semasa pilihan raya 2020 dan tema keseluruhan yang dibawa ke Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Working Group akan menjadi matlamat utama saya dan Key Impact Index (KII), jika terpilih, sebagai pengarah untuk 3 tahun akan datang:

    Objektif utama saya selama saya berkhidmat sebagai pengarah adalah untuk meningkatkan pengiktirafan dan penyertaan dari pelbagai komuniti serantau, khususnya di Asia Timur, Asia Tenggara dan Asia Selatan dalam komuniti Python, baik sebagai pengarah, penyertaan dalam Fellowship Program, Working Group, sumbangan teknikal/bukan teknikal dalam projek-projek Python, PyCon atau meetups tempatan dan serantau, dan yang paling penting, keahlian PSF.

    Objektif kedua saya adalah untuk membantu meningkatkan sumbangan kewangan dari sumber bukan AS/Eropah Barat, sama ada dari syarikat yang berpusat di rantau ini atau dari sumber yang dipimpin oleh masyarakat. Dengan peningkatan kesedaran, penyertaan, dialog dan hubungan kewangan antara PSF dan komuniti seluruh dunia yang lebih luas, ia akan meningkatkan lagi rasa komitmen dan pemilikan kepada PSF oleh komuniti Pythonistas di seluruh dunia.

    Untuk mencapai objektif di atas, ada tiga langkah penting yang perlu dilakukan:

      - Kita perlu terlebih dahulu mengenali siapa kita: Kita perlu memahami komuniti\-komuniti Python yang berbeza dan bagaimana mereka menggunakan Python, memandang PSF dan juga bagaimana PSF dapat memainkan peranan membantu mereka.
      - Kedua, menjelaskan kepada komuniti\-komuniti ini dalam bahasa mereka sebanyak mungkin, peranan PSF, bagaimana PSF dapat membantu mereka dan meyakinkan mereka untuk menyertai PSF sebagai ahli atau sekurang\-kurangnya menyumbang masa dan usaha mereka untuk komuniti setempat.
      - Ketiga, mempunyai cara untuk mengukur keberkesanan langkah\-langkah yang telah kita ambil. Ini akan melibatkan pengumpulan sekurang\-kurangnya data negara, wilayah dan bahasa individu dan kumpulan\-kumpulan yang kita berinteraksi dan cara untuk menggabungkan dan menggambarkan data tersebut. Langkah ketiga ini penting agar usaha kita dapat dilaporkan kembali kepada komuniti dan membolehkan usaha ini dapat dibuat secara berterusan.

    Saya juga akan bekerjasama rapat dengan rakan-rakan kita yang lain dalam Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Working Group dan melalui hubungan mereka dengan komuniti lain di Amerika Latin dan benua Afrika, kami akan bersama mencuba meningkatkan penyertaan dari komuniti disana.

    Saya juga ingin menjemput anda untuk turut menyokong pencalonan dan memilih calon lain dari Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Working Group kami. Kami mempunyai aspirasi dan objektif yang sama, dan setiap seorang daripada mereka adalah juga pemimpin dalam komuniti mereka tersendiri.

    Terima kasih.* Nomination Statements:

Nomination by: David Mertz

David Mertz (nominator):

I wish enthusiastically to nominate Iqbal as a Director of the Python Software Foundation. In the main, I will copy below a statement he sent to me, but I also wish to add a few words in support of my own.

I served on the PSF Board, for 6 years a while back. I’ve also co-chaired numerous PSF Working Groups, continuously for 15 years now. In particular, I’ve co-chaired the Trademarks Committee (technically WG) for most of that time. We have had numerous members come and go, and many members—on all WGs—tend to have difficulty finding time and attention for the committee work. Iqbal joined that group, and has been diligent, careful and conscientious. He’s been an important resource on a complex ongoing trademark concern in Japan.

Moreover, he also serves on the Diversity Committee, and has been active in organizing a variety of conferences and user groups in the Asia Pacific region, with many connections to those communities. Although I have not yet had the pleasure of meeting him in person, between oceans and pandemic, I have been extremely impressed for many years about the enthusiasm and attention with which he has reached out and maintains contacts with many developers throughout Asia (and indeed the world).

My name is Iqbal Abdullah. I am a Malaysian, based in Japan and have been actively participating with the Python communities around the East Asia and South East Asia region.

Other than coordinating effort and bridging knowledge between the different community leaders within the E/SE Asia region, as part of my community work I am currently part of the PSF Trademarks Working Group helping out to answer questions and solve issues concerning usage and protecting the intellectual properties of the PSF.

In 2020, I stood up for nomination for the first time as a director of the PSF. The experience of going through the election process and the proceeding result have given me clarity in what I believe the PSF specifically and the Python community in general would need, which I have written in a blog post [here].(https://thefortunate.blog/diversification\-is\-the\-future\-for\-the\-psf.html)

Directly as a result of the election in 2020, the Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Working Group was formed headed by Marlene which I am also currently a member.

My experiences during the 2020 election and the overall theme being carried over to the D&I Working Group will be my overarching goal and Key Impact Index (KII), if elected, as a director for the next 3 years:

My primary objective during my term as a director is to increase recognition for and participation from the many diverse regional communities, specifically in the East Asia, South East Asia and South Asia in the Python community, be it within the directorships, Fellowship Program, Working Groups, technical/non-technical contribution in python projects, local and regional PyCon or meetups, and most importantly, the PSF memberships.

My secondary objective is to help increase financial contribution from non-US/non-Western European sources, be it from companies based in these regions or from community led sources. With increased awareness, participation and dialog between the PSF and the wider world wide community, having a financial connection to the PSF by these communities will further increase the sense of commitment and ownership to the PSF by the worldwide community of Pythonistas.

To achieve the above objectives, there are three important steps which needs to be done:

+ We need to first know who the people we're talking to: by
understanding the different regions they are in and how they perceive
the PSF and how they are using Python and how they think the PSF can
help them
+ Second, is to explain to them in their language as much as possible,
what the PSF does, how the PSF can help them and convince them to join
the PSF as a member or at least contribute their time and effort to a
local community closer to home.
+ Third, is to have a way to measure our impact. This will involve
collecting at least the country, regional and language data among
others, of the people or groups that we interact with and have a way
to consolidate and visualize them. This third step will be important
so that our diversity and inclusion efforts can be reported back to
the community regularly and be made an ongoing effort.

I will also work together closely with our friends in the Diversity and Inclusion Working Group and through their connections to other communities in Latin America and the African continent, try to increase participation from these communities too.

Finally, if you’ve read this far down, I hope you now, like me, also feel the need for a stronger acknowledgment to a stronger diversified Python community worldwide. I would like to invite you to also support the nominations and vote for other candidates that are from our Diversity & Inclusion Work Group. We all share the same aspirations and objectives, and all of us are leaders within our community.

Thank you.

Nomination by: Marlene Mhangami

I am very happy to second the nomination of Iqbal Abdullah. Iqbal is an incredibly active member of the global Python community. Over the past year, I have personally worked with Iqbal as we prepared for and ultimately launched the PSF Diversity and Inclusion Work Group. In our Work Group Iqbal has represented the voice of the Python community from East and South East Asia. He has worked regionally with communities in these areas as part of PyCon APAC and has participated at a global level, as part of the PSF Trademarks and D&I Work Groups. Iqbal is an excellent communicator and brings with him so much insight from his experience as a community organizer.

The PSF board of directors currently has no representation from Asia. Iqbal’s election would be a substantial move in the right direction as Python grows its presence internationally. Our users in Asia do not currently have a voice on the board directly advocating for their interests and I would love to see that change. Iqbal has worked diligently in the groups he is currently in and has shown that he would be a capable and strong representative. I ask that this year voters consider the implications of the lack of representation of such a large part of our community, including future members, contributors, and users.

Yours faithfully,

Marlene Mhangami

PSF Vice Chair and Director

Chair PSF Diversity and Inclusion Work Group.