The Open Source Initiative is overseen and managed by an eleven-person Board of Directors. The current Board comprises the following individuals (in alphabetical order):
| Name | Role | First Elected | Current Term Start Date | Current Term End Date | Seated by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simmons, Josh | President | April 1, 2016 | April 1, 2020 | March 31, 2022 | Individuals |
| Byrd-Sanicki, Megan | Director | April 1, 2020 | April 1, 2020 | March 31, 2022 | Individuals |
| Bryant, Deb | Secretary | October 11, 2019 | October 11, 2019 | October 31, 2021 | OSI Board |
| Chestek, Pamela | Director | April 1, 2019 | April 1, 2019 | March 31, 2022 | Affiliates |
| Dang, Hong Phuc | Vice President | April 1, 2019 | April 1, 2019 | March 31, 2021 | Individuals |
| Hashman, Elana | Director | April 1, 2019 | April 1, 2019 | March 31, 2021 | Individuals |
| Hinds, Tracy | Treasurer / CFO | October 11, 2019 | October 11, 2019 | October 31, 2021 | OSI Board |
| Lamb, Chris | Asst. Secretary | April 1, 2018 | April 1, 2018 | March 31, 2021 | Affiliates |
| Liambotis, Faidon | Director | April 1, 2018 | April 1, 2018 | March 31, 2021 | Affiliates |
| Vignoli, Italo | Director | April 1, 2020 | April 1, 2020 | March 31, 2023 | Affiliates |
Responsibilities of OSI Board Directors
Preamble
OSI Directors are expected to work actively and pro-actively as a member of the Board, OSI and open source community. It is understood Directors are volunteers, and each will be engaged in professional and personal responsibilities outside OSI. For different reasons, related to work, college/university, family, etc. there will be periods of time where a Director will be busy and/or can not commit to the demands of the Board or community, either as much as one would like or as much as is needed. However, this should be the exception, not the rule.
Responsiveness / Availability expectations
- Directors should attend monthly Board meetings regularly. Meetings are conducted by web conference and phone and are held for just 2 hours each month. If a Director will not be able to attend, they are expected to let the Board know in advance and report the state of your Board/OSI-related duties and actions beforehand. The Board also meets face-to-face, usually twice a year, and it is important to attend these meetings. If one cannot attend in person, the Director should still plan to attend via conference call.
- Directors are expected to attend one open source industry-related conference or event, on behalf of the OSI and its mission, per year. All costs associated with attendance is covered by the OSI.
- Directors are expected to contribute one public communication on behalf of the OSI, and related to OSI business, per year. This may take the form of a blog post, member letter, newsletter article, interview, press release, etc.
- Do not block tasks. Projects need to move forward. If a Director has not been able to accomplish a task by the deadline, they should keep the Board informed and/or ask for help.
- Directors serving as officers on the Board (president, vice-president, secretary, or treasurer) are expected to do the duties associated with the role and be prepared to provide relevant information when needed, especially delivering a report at every meeting.
- Directors should follow the discussions started on behalf of the Board of Directors on the OSI mailing lists to guide/moderate them and to avoid flame wars.
- Directors are expected to also work with others in the community, to delegate and/or lead tasks and follow up on them.
- Directors should answer Board/OSI official emails promptly.
- Directors should voice opinion(s) in each discussion, and vote promptly when necessary.
Disclosures
- All Board Directors must agree to, sign, and comply with, the OSI Conflict of Interest Policy.
- Board Directors should understand the operational parameters of U.S.-based 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations and relevant practices (advocacy and lobbying) and regulations.
- Board members must not disclose any information discussed on a private mailing list unless there is a consensus that it will not cause problems or controversy for the OSI and that it can be disclosed.
- Private mailing lists are private in order to allow people to express freely and to receive and share information which under different circumstances would not be given. The Board members must guarantee the privacy of issues discussed there.
- The disclosure of private communications is not acceptable unless there is agreement from all people and institutions involved.
Conduct
- Any Director may endorse any public position statement or open letter that does not commit OSI to expenditure after discerning in good faith that members of the Board do not oppose such endorsement and validating that belief with two other Directors, having given all Directors equal opportunity to respond and having received no objections (see Board Meeting Minutes of May 8, 2013).