Jimmy Kaplowitz appointed as new treasurer

[Wichert Akkerman]

Since Jimmy Kaplowitz is the only volunteer for the position of
treasurer he has been appointed as the new treasurer replacing Branden
Robinson. Branden will continue to serve on the board of directors. The
board thanks Branden for his hard work to get SPI's finances in proper
condition.

Jimmy's position statement can be found below.

Wichert.



I am Jimmy Kaplowitz, or Hydroxide on IRC, and I am running for the
office of SPI Treasurer and a position on SPI's board of directors.

I have been a member of SPI's biggest member project, Debian, since
May 2001. In Debian, I have participated in such usual developer
activities as bug fixing, package maintenance, new maintainer
mentoring/sponsorship, and user support via mailing list and IRC. More
recently I joined OFTC, where I am now a NetRep.

I have also been active in the governance of SPI itself, where I have
accomplished several things:

* I have been a productive member of the Bylaws Revision Committee,
  which has created a proposal that aims to rectify the problems
  with our corporate bylaws that have at times impaired the
  functioning of our organization.
* I researched and made a successful proposal to choose a provider
  for online credit card donations to SPI, which should be
  completely set up in the near future, satisfying the requests of
  many people over a period of years.
* Finally, despite not being a board member, I have attended a
  significant majority of the board meetings that have taken place
  within the past year or two, and I have generally participated
  actively when attending an SPI meeting.

Outside of SPI and Debian, my biggest contribution to the free
software/open source community is the founding and leadership of the
Linux Users' Group at my university, Brown University. We have held
two successful installfests so far, and we plan to continue holding
another one every semester.

We also are gaining recognition on campus, with students and staff
alike contacting us with unsolicited requests for advice or assistance
with getting started with Linux. Our group holds weekly meetings and
conducts ongoing discussions on our mailing lists. Talk has begun
about organizing a computer-related conference sometime within the
next year to educate people on such topics as computer privacy,
security, ethics, alternatives to Windows, things to do with
computers, etc.

Visit our website at http://blug.brown.edu/ for more information. I
also am one of the system administrators for Technology House, the
dorm where I live at university, which runs its own server to provide
email, web, mailing lists, and other services to its members. All in
all, these leadership opportunities have given me experience that
would be useful in serving as a director of SPI.

I have not been a Treasurer of a nonprofit organization before, but I
am quite able to do the tasks that I understand the position to
require. I will certainly be able to receive and acknowledge
donations, sign checks, and mail them for deposit as necessary. This
will be made easier by Ean's bookkeeping assistant, who (according to
him) can provide a more permanent storage location for our records. I
also have an ample amount of skill in dealing with governments,
bureaucracies, laws, et cetera, a necessary component of any officer
or director position.

Since the eventual Treasurer will also be on the SPI board of
directors, it is appropriate to give a statement of my beliefs about
what SPI should do. I believe that SPI can serve several useful
purposes. It is important that it continue holding in trust the money
and other legal assets belonging to its member projects such as
Debian, Fresco, and OFTC. This at the moment is the primary role it
serves, and this role shall probably always be vital to the well-being
of SPI and its member projects. SPI can also, as available effort and
funds permit, begin to fulfill some more of its stated corporate
purposes, involving education of the general public about free
software and about computers in general. I ask you to elect me to the
positions of SPI Treasurer and director so that I assist more actively
in the future of SPI.

-- 
Wichert Akkerman <wichert at wiggy.net>    It is simple to make things.
http://www.wiggy.net/                   It is hard to make things simple.