9 Mar 2021

Minutes of a Regular Meeting of the Board of Directors of NumFOCUS. All votes are reported in the form “(Y/N/A)” (in favor-Y‚ opposed-N‚ abstentions-A; e.g. “4-1-2” means “4 in favor, 1 opposed, and 2 abstentions”).

March 9, 2021

Participating:

Board Members: Jane Herriman (run agenda), Katrina Riehl, Andy Terrel, James Powell (listen-only), Sylvain Corlay, Stefan van der Walt

Executive Director: Leah Silen

Not attending:

Email/Github Voting:

Jan 26 – Approved 4-0-0.

Votes needed on Nov. 3 and Jan 12 minutes.

Executive Director’s Report:

Update on dashboard that will easily allow projects to access/view their data such as financial data and open requests.

Arliss held kick off meeting for Contributor Diversification and Retention Program. At least 21 projects are participating.

Comcast will be sponsoring NumFOCUS. (Thanks to Terry.)

Discussion:

a. NumFOCUS Europe Update and Global Board Discussion -

i.  Nothing immediately needed from the Global Board.

b. Elections -

i.  From the Bylaws: The Board of Directors shall elect directors.
    > Nominations for individual members of the Board of Directors
    > shall be taken from current board members and the public.
    > Positions will be filled by the affirmative vote of a strict
    > majority. All Board of Directors elections are carried out by
    > the current Board of Directors in office prior to the
    > election.

Each director shall hold office for a two year term with an option to renew for an additional two year term, for which he or she is elected and until his or her successor shall have been elected and qualified or until his or her earlier resignation, removal or death.

i. How many board members do we want?

1.  Most recently have had 7, but don’t necessarily have to stay at
    > that number.

2.  Andy will send out emails to board members to see who wants to
    > continue.

ii. The Board, not members, chooses the next board.

1.  In the last cycle this was poorly communicated.

2.  We ask for community recommendations not votes.

iii. Discussed possible ways of soliciting community feedback

1.  We don’t want to make this overly complicated, especially to
    > fill only one seat.

2.  How we proceed will depend in part on how many seats are open
    > after Andy sends out messages to the current board.

iv. For review

 1. Last year’s nomination form

2.  Information on the last election process