The EEF Board is Having its 2025 Election

About the election

The Erlang Ecosystem Foundation is set up as a community organisation, to be run for and by the community. As such, the role of board member is assigned by a democratic process, where voting members get to run and vote for their preferred candidates.

The process to be followed is described in legalese in our bylaws, but this page will explain more clearly how we plan for this to be working forwards.

Important Dates

The following dates are important to the campaign:

• April 10th: Elections announced
• April 24th: Members can submit their candidacy
• May 8th: Last day to submit your candidacy and email acceptance ends at 23:59 UTC
• May 9th: Votes are open at 16:00 UTC
• May 16th: Votes are closed at 23:59 UTC

Election results will be announced as soon as possible after closing.

Do not forget to make sure you are a voting member to take part into the elections.

What Does a Board Member do?

Board members’ main involvement is essentially to sit in meetings (usually over video chat), and vote on the direction the foundation will take. They are responsible for things such as:

• Choosing how to allocate the budget of the Foundation (within the regulations specified by the bylaws and the IRS)
• Choosing which working groups are going to be accepted
• Choosing which working groups may be contracted if they are not meeting their objectives
• Handling administrative details (such as running these elections)
• Helping coordinate efforts across working groups
• Have the ability to change and adjust bylaws
• Bear the responsibility and be accountable for the Foundation’s ongoing success

It is ultimately a fairly political job focused on “running the foundation”, distinct from the more direct involvement people in specific working groups usually have. Board members are not precluded from being part of working groups either.

Additionally, the roles of Director and Secretary can only be assigned to people on the board; they are the people who have all the actual administrative duties related to legal paperwork (writing actual signatures!), finance, insurance, maintaining meeting minutes, and ensuring that bylaws are respected by the rest of the board.

None of these roles are compensated; this is a volunteer effort because you care to steer the foundation in a direction you believe is important. You may also put the role of board member on your LinkedIn page or resume if that suits you.

Who are the Outgoing Board Members?

While the founding members assigned themselves to be part of the board as part of the initial bootstrapping effort, the board has been randomly divided into three cohorts, A (containing 4 members), B (4 members), and C (3 members). To ensure continuity, only one cohort is re-elected each year. This means that you will be elected for 3 years at a time.

Here are the cohorts as defined until the next election with their present members:

• A, to be re-elected in 2026, 2029, and every three years after:
  • Sebastian Strollo (current Secretary)
  • Amos King
  • Alistair Woodman (current President)
  • Francesco Cesarini
• B, to be re-elected in 2027, 2030, and every three years after:
  • Miriam Pena
  • Peer Stritzinger
  • Kiko Fernandez-Reyes
  • Bryan Paxton
• C, to be re-elected in 2025, 2028, and every three years after:
  • Maxim Fedorov
  • Kenneth Lundin
  • Ben Marx

For this year’s election, the members of cohort C are to be elected, so the seats of Ben, Kenneth, and Maxim are open.

How to Run?

If you want to run, you must be a voting member. Voting members are members who have done one or more of the following:

• A paying member paying their yearly membership or having paid for a lifetime membership
• A contributing member, who has spent about 5 hours monthly working in a working group, and who has contacted us at voting@erlef.org to claim their voting rights
• A managing member, who leads a working group and who has contacted us at voting@erlef.org to claim their voting rights
• A board member, who has a de-facto membership.

If you want to run, you should contact us at voting@erlef.org with the following information:

• Your name
• A short biography describing who you are
• A short text explaining why you think people should vote for you
• A photo (optional)

If eligible, you will then be added to the list of candidates on this page and on the ballots.

Starting April 24th, you have until 23:59 UTC May 8th to submit your candidacy.