Mark Gisi, our founding chair of the OpenChain Specification Work Group (leading the creation of ISO/IEC 5230), will formally pass the leadership torch before end of year.

Because of this we are seeking two people to act as OpenChain Specification Chairs. The idea is to allow chairs to split the work and/or alternate between editing around License Compliance (ISO/IEC 5230) and Security (OpenChain Security Assurance Specification).

== How this will work ==

Being a chair around our specifications does not require specialized experience, but of course we do have some preferences:
(1) Be from a company using open source in products or services;
(2) Have domain knowledge in either license compliance or security assurance;
(3) Be detail-focused and unbiased;
(4) Have experience building consensus in community discussions.

== What the chairs do ==

(a) Participate in our monthly community calls;
(b) Help lead the segment reviewing open issues or accepting new issues around the specifications;
(c) Make judgement calls around what is included in the edit cycle and what is not (subject to Steering Committee approval for final decisions);
(d) Coordinate with the General Manager to finalize editing around the specifications;
(e) Participate in future Steering Committee meetings (4 per year from 2023) to vote on final versions of our specifications.

== How do I nominate myself? ==

Just say so in this thread.

== Is anyone else currently nominated? ==

Yes, Steve Kilbane from Analogue Devices has kindly stepped forward as a nominee for specification chair.

== What happens next ==

(1) We have two spaces in total available (co-chairs);
(2) If two or fewer people are nominated before November 15th, they will become co-chairs of the specification activity around OpenChain with a one year term;
(3) If more than two people are nominated before November 15th, an election will be triggered;
(4) The election will take place via email between 15th and 22nd November and will be “first past the post;”
(5) Current chairs may be re-elected in the next cycle in the same manner as this time.

We may, of course, adjust this process for future years depending on lessons learned from this first election cycle.

== Rationale ==

The OpenChain Project has always had a strong focus on sustainability. As the maintainer of two industry standards, and the facilitator of a large supply chain community, our strategic position has always been to look at multi-year horizons.

As part of this, we are aware of the need to ensure our project reflects how people and activities adjust their priorities over time. A key example is the question it how we will address continuity in our work groups as our initial chairpeople reach the natural end of their tenure.

The answer is straightforward (as with most things in this project). We are introducing elections to allow chairs to rotate in a manner that is predictable and accessible.

Throughout this quarter and into 2023 we will gradually introduce more elections, and by 2H 2023 all the primary OpenChain work groups should have completed the introduction of chair elections.

== End ==

Regards

Shane

Shane Coughlan
OpenChain General Manager
+818040358083
Book a meeting:
https://meetings.hubspot.com/scoughlan