[1/19 Update: I placed 9th in the results (or 6th if you go only by popular vote instead of total votes).  There are 8 seats, so I was not elected.]

The OpenStack Project needs a course correction and I’m asking for your community vote to put me back on the 2017 Board to help drive it.  As a start-up CEO, I’m neutral, yet I also have the right technical, commercial and community influence to make this a reality.

Your support is critical because OpenStack fills a very real need and should have a solid future; however, it needs to adapt to market realities to achieve that.

I want the Board to acknowledge and adapt to stumbles in ecosystem success including being dropped or re-prioritized by key sponsors.  This should include tightening the mission so the project can collaborate more freely with both open and proprietary platforms.  In 2016, I’ve been deeply involved OpenStack alternatives including Kubernetes and hybrid Cloud automation with Amazon and Google.

OpenStack must adjust to being one of several alternatives including AWS, Google and container platforms like Kubernetes.

That means focusing on our IaaS strengths and being unambiguous about core function like SDN and storage integration.   It also means ensuring that commercial members of the ecosystem can both profit and compete.  The Board has both the responsibility and authority to make these changes if the members are willing to act.

What’s my background?  I’ve been an active and vocal member of the OpenStack community since the very beginning of the project especially around Operator and Product Management issues.  I was elected to the board four times and played critical roles including launching the DefCore efforts and pushing for more definition of the Big Tent concept (which I believe has hurt the project).

In a great field of candidates!  Like other years, there are many very strong candidates whom I have worked with in a number of roles.  I always recommend distributing your eight votes to multiple people and limited “affinity voting” for your own company or geography.   While all candidates would serve the board, this year, I’d like to call attention specifically to  Shamail Tahair as a candidate who has invested significant time in helping with Product Management and Enterprise Readiness for OpenStack.