Board Elections 2021: Meet the candidates

My 33+ years of experience with a global IT company and now open source software-based venture provide an additional unique viewpoint and skill-set that would add to the reputation and efficacy of the Board of Directors. My professional history with Free and Open Source Software goes back to 1999, when I worked as manager of Linux business development. In that role, I accomplished the following;

– Provided support and encouragement to the existing Japanese Linux community, such as the Japan Linux Association,
– Started new activities such as LPI for engineer development and enterprise Linux activities with Hitachi, Fujitsu and NEC in conjunction with the Open Source Development Lab (OSDL).

Following that period, I held several positions which required me to work closely with Open Source Software and hence, become intimately familiar with its value to my company and the industry in general.

Some of the other positions I have held in which I worked closely with Open Source Software were: Chairperson, Human Resource Development of Northeast Asia OSS Promotion Forum (April 2006 – March 2009), Chairperson, Human Resource Development of Japan OSS Promotion Forum (December 2005 – March 2009) and Steering Committee member, Japan OSS Promotion Forum (January 2005 – March 2009)

I have written, jointly, the following publications: “OS/2 Warp Internet Connection”, ASCII, (1996) and “IBM Linux Strategy” IDG Japan, (2003)

I have spent almost three decades working directly with Linux and Open Source Software based systems-serving on committees and in organizations dedicated to Linux and shaping Linux education and policies in Japan, and also internationally through my work with IBM and its global partners.

Serving on the board, with fellow seasoned Linux professionals would allow me the opportunity to further expand my knowledge, and contribute a unique Asia-Japan based perspective to the enhancement of the global Linux and Open Source Software community.

Hi, I’m Duffy Fron, a global sales executive with over 20 years of experience in the high tech and telecommunications industries. My love of technology started when my neighbor gave me his TSR-80 computer and told if I could fix it I could have it. I started my career  at IBM as their first Linux Evangelist in 2000 and was fortunate enough work with Linux and the Linux Community around the world several times during my career at IBM.

I hold a Master of Business Administration from Arizona State University and a Master of International Management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management. I am a licensed Cicerone and avid craft beer fan. I live in Cary, NC with my wife and our two children.

I have been on the LPI board for 19 years and hope to continue to serve. My motivation to serve on the board has always been to increase the adoption of Linux worldwide and to lend my expertise to the business and community side of the Linux equation.

As we move into the next phase of LPI, I would like to realize a vision of greater social responsibility and community engagement.

Greetings, dear colleagues of LPI! I am Miguel Matrakas, born in Foz do Iguaçu, city of Iguassu Falls, one of the 7 wonders of nature. After completing my engineering degree, I started to work as a professor in the field of computing, this for more than 20 years. I have dedicated myself to teaching and presenting the passion that I have for computing to young people, and during all this time, one of my main interests is to study the interaction between mathematics and computing.

In my academic career I have worked with digital image processing and also with the visualization of scientific data. In the last 3 years I am also working at the Itaipu Technological Park, where I started at the Open Technology Center, responsible for studying and applying the concepts of open technologies for solving problems in various sectors, such as communication, internet of things and pattern recognition.

With my participation in the Open Technologies Center, I also started working at Latinoware, one of the largest Congresses in the World on open systems. It was in this environment that I met LPI and its members, which today I also call friends.

The more I study about the philosophy of open systems, and what it really means, and especially the benefits they provide, I understand that the biggest gains are in issues of security and responsibility, both social and technological.

These benefits must be applied in favor of society, so that people and companies can have the freedom to choose how they want to work, especially considering the issues of manipulation of their personal or private data.

In my opinion, this form of action does not exclude business models, but rather promotes more ethical behavior when developing solutions, that is, not creating solutions that create technological dependence. Therefore, when adopting open systems and standards, in reality it is an incentive to free competition between different solution providers.

Working to disseminate this concept, especially in Brazil, which depends on a lot of imported technology, is something that I consider to be of the utmost importance, and what I believe is possible to accomplish through the work of LPI, and the main motivator for me to participate in the Board of Directors.

I am passionate about open source technology and its potential to impact positively on people’s lives. I am also very committed to opening up opportunities for people through education and training.

I have worked as a manager, management consultant, project co-ordinator, lecturer and trainer as well as Director-General of a Centre of Excellence in Technology. This last responsibility gave me insights into the challenges facing those training for careers in technology, the real advantages of a background in FOSS and Linux, and the needs of those hiring in today’s work environment. Much of my career has been with the United Nations and I have also enjoyed stints within the private sector, not-for-profits as well as with Government. I have served on boards in all these contexts. This has allowed me to gain extensive managerial and board experience. My consulting work has also taught me a lot about how different types of businesses are run as well as the specific challenges of the not-for-profit sector. One of my favourite roles is working with start-ups and other technology entrepreneurs. I enjoy mentoring and I have actively engaged in supporting FOSS and Linux users/enthusiasts within West Africa including roles with FOSSFA when it existed.

I enjoy travel and getting to understand other contexts and cultures as well as working in cross-cultural teams. This is no doubt linked to my own multi-cultural background with roots in Africa and Ireland and strong ties to the UK and India. I speak often at conferences and use my platform to encourage the use of open source technologies. I apply a gender lens in my work and do my best to be sensitive to different types of diversity. I am a woman who tends to be goal driven and who enjoys challenges and change. I like to believe I have a great sense of humour.

LPI has a very clear mission “to promote open source and the people who work with it”. My motivation in running for the Board is to support the organisation to achieve that mission. I look forward to working with all stakeholders to expand the range of certifications available and the numbers and diversity among the people achieving those certifications.

I believe we can increase the diversity and numbers of people getting certified as well as make sure our certifications remain well-adapted to the realities of the job market. Although much progress has been achieved, our statistics reveal a situation that is not balanced by gender or region. I hope to work with my fellow board members to reduce those imbalances and improve the numbers particularly in Africa where things are just starting to pick up. To do this we will need to improve our track record by making certification available in some key languages. We also need to work on our understanding of specific needs and wants by region.

Our community is of immense value. Investing in it opens up more opportunities for strategic advocacy on open source technologies.

Oversight and governance issues are a key part of Board work. I hope to bring my experience from my work on a number of Boards, and as a manager to support a clean and green administration. My principle motivation in running for the Board is to make it possible for more people to get certified, find and retain jobs while continuing to grow professionally supported by the LPI network.

My name is Thiago Sobral, married, 2 kids, I love barbecues, harmonica, and my entire career is based on Free and Open Source. I work with Linux, Free, and Open Source software since 1998. I began working as a hardware intern, then I moved to be a C ANSI programmer in Linux. I switched to be a consultant sometime later and then started working as an instructor as well (I created my own material, being comprehensive between operating system and applications), at that time I realized that I was a FOSS Evangelist, understood what it was, its meaning, and power for changing the status quo aiming to spread the benefits of freedom.

I’m still a member of the Free Software Association in Brazil, I was part of the Free and Open Source movements that we had in Brazil in the early of the century, author of articles (I love writing!), I was a presenter in several events (in Brazil and abroad), since install fests until international ones in some countries between Latin America, Europe, and the US. I was part of the organization of the International Free Software Congress in Brazil and other events, I created courses for universities (being the course coordinator), all courses were based on Free and Open Source software.

My technical background goes beyond operating systems and programming, I worked with several different technologies and their integration, from infrastructure to applications, covering networking, security, and all topics that shown up in the customer environments or in the ones that I work as a SysAdmin. I worked for small companies and big ones, I’m a former Conectiva, Red Hat, and SUSE employee, where I could experience and understand the Enterprise Open Source needs, value, and how it could boost the FOSS scenario, especially in the integration with the communities.

I’m part of the Digital Law Commission in Sao Paulo, instructor/educator for several years, created FOSS events, attended hundreds as well, I have a strong technical background and then I leaned more towards business, strategy, and marketing. Today I’m a Global Offering Manager for the Open Source in IBM. I’m responsible for the entire offering, since the technical commitment until all business generated using Open Source. My offering is compounded by the blend of Enterprise Open Source with community packages. I’m the global responsible for supporting community packages along with the commercial ones. That’s why I’m such involved with several communities around the world, having a holistic perspective about the needs of the communities, companies, professionals, and the ones that are starting their careers.

This is an opportunity to contribute and share my experiences for educational purposes along with professional, social, and economic views, FOSS is my passion in all aspects. Currently, I have the opportunity to work with support for community packages around the world and it can strengthen hundreds of projects/foundations, and consequently professionals, its families, and foster local economies. That’s why I’m so motivated regarding FOSS because, with just one idea, will, and energy, we can do whatever we want, but we have to have the knowledge and it is part of the mission, helping to provide it.

I’d like to learn a lot with the board, LPI members, and the whole LPI ecosystem, so I can review my career, my point of view, and grow as a professional and person, as we care about people and their careers, something which directly reflect on its lives.

For me is a chance to allow me to go deep, to the next level into the FOSS scene, and will be an honor to being part of a structured movement that has a self-feed, as I think that I’ll work for at least, 25 years more with FOSS related projects and roles.

I believe that being part of the board will be a chance to scale and replicate all best practices that we know using collected evidence as a starting point, doing our best to support all of the professionals that would like to pass the exams. The exams are the last part, everyone must study and work to accomplish the minimum score, and all efforts are compensated by better wages which consequently brings a better life quality.

The balance between companies’ interests, communities, and the professionals must be interlocked by a structure that can be the liaison for movements and steps that everyone can walkthrough jointly, having freedom as a basis, a kind of cornerstone.

I would like to share that I’m excited about the opportunity to join the board, where I’ll have the possibility to translate all of my experience (with a lot of energy), of more than 20 years with FOSS into actions that can contribute to the improvement in both, the LPI institute and its members, but I cannot forget about the professionals and who else is starting his careers. In general, I’ll work to help and promote all professionals who work with Linux and FOSS ecosystem, within a transformation having the education and knowledge as a basis. As I have data from different markets, companies, and their needs, my objective is to promote professionals to their next step in their careers with solid movements that will follow them in the years to come.

This will be done using the experience I have creating materials, exams, and community integration. My technical and business backgrounds let me understand both sides of being a professional and what companies wish from professionals.

I’m a software engineer working on Linux software development tooling for SAP in Germany. As a father of three I grow my own Linux User Group. Currently, we are tackling the PinePhone and Matrix/Element together. And, of course, I’m an active LPIC-1 and LPI member.

When I was looking for some personal confirmation of my first Linux experience, I took (and passed) the first LPI beta exams 101 and 102 in summer 2000. From 2001 to 2003 I helped with the German speaking LPI activities as a volunteer. As there was a lot of funding from governments for IT training, the area grew to the second biggest LPI market at that time. In 2003 I became a member of LPI’s board of directors and have stayed on the board until now.

Now I’d like to provide some continuity for the first Board elected by LPI’s members, before I move on to new challenges.

Klaus Knopper is an Electrical Engineer with a history of three decades of Unix (different brands) and especially Linux system administration and developer of customized Linux-based operating systems, passionate hardware+software tinkerer.

In his main job, Klaus is a regular professor for Software Engineering, IT Security, and informatics in the programs of Business Informatics / Information Management (Bachelor + Master) in the faculty of Business Economics and Vice President for Digitalization at the University of Applied Sciences Kaiserslautern / Germany. In his second job, Klaus continues to work as a software developer and consultant in the fields of Open Source systems and information security.

Klaus is located in Europe and in the German-speaking corner thereof, was a co-founder of the former LinuxTag expo and conference started in 1996, and speaker at various Linux-related events (Germany, USA, the UK, India).

In 2000, he presented the Live GNU/Linux system Knoppix at the Atlanta Linux Showcase. While Knoppix was rather targeted at developers and for software evaluation and hardware compatibility tests at that time, than at beginners, it helped many to gain experience with a Linux-based Desktop, or rescue data from defective other operating systems without modifying disks.

The ADRIANE accessibility extension of Knoppix allows blind computer users to get an easy start with Linux on a talking text console, with no or few sighted help needed.

Having been on the LPI board team during the past years, I would like to continue supporting the LPI governance andexchange thoughts and ideas on future development in our regular meetings.

Hello, my name is Lior Kaplan. I’ve been using Linux and other Open Source projects for 21 years. Over the years I became part and contributed to Debian GNU/Linux, LibreOffice and PHP. I started as a Linux sysadmin and today my day job is consulting to companies about Open Source and enjoying helping others into this magnificent ecosystem.

I took part in a few technical NGO as a board member:

• Hamakor, which aims to promote the usage of Free Software in Israel
• The Public knowledge workshop which aims to make governmental data available and accessible.
• The Israeli internet association (ISOC-IL) which aims to manage the Israeli internet infrastructure and to help increasing its use.

One of my personal interests is promoting usage of Open Source within Governments and governmental organizations. At the moment I’m focused on GIS software.

As a sysadmin (now called DevOps), I appreciate people with vast technical background / experience in Linux and other related Open Source software. Along the years, I’ve seen that knowledge around Linux is becoming more popular and a pre-request for other technical professions. LPI is one of the enabler for many people to join this movement, gain knowledge and prove they’ve done so successfully.

My goals within the board is to expand the variety of certifications to other areas of Open Source based fields/industries and making that knowledge common as the Linux certifications. I also aspire to co-operate with other Open Source entities who foster many projects (e.g. Apache foundation).

With LPI, I want to achieve making it the professional home for everyone that works with Open Source for work purposes or personal growth.

I first deployed and contributed to open source software in the 1990s as an engineer, supporting CAM, EDA and HPC on Linux. I then transitioned into IT consulting and training with the new millennia, working at leading embedded and enterprise Linux vendors.

My enterprise experience has focused on open source-based infrastructure in large scale (10K+ instance) data centers; primarily financial services and public sector. Some of my work in the Americas, both as a post-sales implementation lead as well as a core SME as part of a larger team, include some of the first and largest OSS storage, VDI and related IaaS, PaaS and DevOps solutions on behalf of several industry leaders.

I am a graduate of UCF’s College of Engineering and Computer Science, hold four dozen (48) IT certifications from a dozen (12) different programs (although over half are expired, inactive or retired now), and have been involved with the development of several, including LPI, for over a decade.

To be honest, I am only running to be a resource for the incoming Corporate Secretary of the LPI Board of Directors, as the outgoing Corporate Secretary. As others, I think it’s time for new blood in the Board, with a more diverse, more global composition. As part of the current board, I believe we’ve achieved most of our goals of transition from the prior administration, updating the bylaws and other, corporate governance, establishing the new, required offices and services to re-solidify LPI’s global leadership and, most of all, the bright future of individual-centric membership.

Regardless of whether or not I am elected, I will continue to support various LPI efforts, as I have in various capacities since 2004.

Jon “maddog” Hall is the Board Chair of the Linux Professional Institute, Co-founder of Caninos Loucos, the President of Project Cauã and the President of Linux International.

Since 1969 Mr. Hall has been a programmer, systems designer, systems administrator, product manager, technical marketing manager, educator, author, CEO and consultant.

Mr. Hall has worked for companies like Western Electric Corporation, Aetna Life and Casualty, Bell Laboratories, Digital Equipment Corporation, VA Linux Systems, IBM, SGI and Futura Networks (Campus Party) as well as being a private consultant.

Mr Hall worked on Unix systems since 1980 and Linux systems since 1994, when he first met Linus Torvalds and recognized the commercial importance of FOSS.

Mr. Hall has taught at Hartford State Technical College, Merrimack College and Daniel Webster College.

Mr. Hall is the author of many magazine and newspaper articles, many presentations and one book, “Linux for Dummies”. He writes a monthly article for Linux Pro Magazine.

Mr. Hall has consulted with the governments of China, Malaysia, Canada and Brazil as well as the UN and many local and state governments.

Mr. Hall is on the advisory board of the University of Sao Paulo’s Centro Interdisciplinar Em Tecnologias Interativas (CITI).

Mr. Hall traveled to over 100 countries speaking on the benefits of FOSS.

Mr. Hall received his BS in Commerce and Engineering from Drexel University (1973), and his MSCS from RPI in Troy, New York (1977).

In 1999 I joined a group of people who recognized the need for trained professionals to create and maintain solutions of Free and Open Source Software for commercial and governmental entities.

We formed a non-profit organization, the Linux Professional Institute (LPI), to analyze the needs and create certifications for these potential professionals, separating the process of training from the process of certification.

Even at that time we wanted LPI to be a member-driven organization, however as a fledgling organization with no tests and no certified people that was difficult to do.

Due to other interests I left the board of LPI, but was brought back to the board in July of 2015 and was elected to be Chair, a volunteer position.

Over the past six years the Board and Staff have worked hard to re-write and expand the Bylaws of LPI to create a member driven organization dedicated to the promotion of Open Source Software, Hardware and Culture.

LPI has updated and reorganized many of its certifications, and expanded to new fields such as DevOPs, and BSD, with more emphasis on entry-level training in our Essentials series.

My goals, if elected, would be continuing to expand the board to give greater scope of LPI’s certifications, reaching out to new areas and to bring programs that are even more representative of the membership we serve. I would also work to build a body of members who would run for and assume active board membership in the future.

Uirá Ribeiro is an esteemed figure within the IT and Linux communities, renowned for his extensive expertise andcontributions spanning over two decades. As a distinguished professor, author, and advocate, he has played a pivotal role inshaping the landscape of Linux professionalism in Brazil and beyond.

With a robust academic background in Computer Science, specializing in areas such as distributed systems, parallelcomputing, and cloud computing, Uira brings a deep understanding of the technical intricacies of Linux and Free and OpenSource Software (FOSS). His commitment to education is evidenced by his role as a professor, where he has dedicatedhimself to teaching and mentoring IT professionals to achieve LPI certification through his books and courses.

Uirá’s influence extends beyond the classroom, as he is widely recognized as a pioneer and reference in the field of Linuxcertification in Brazil. His groundbreaking work includes the publication of the book “Linux Certification” in 2005, which markedthe beginning of discussions on Linux certifications in the country. Since then, he has remained at the forefront of promotingLinux professionalism, advocating for the importance of certifications, and championing the principles of openness andcollaboration.

In addition to his academic and authorial endeavors, Uira is actively involved in the free software community, participating inconferences, workshops, and organizations like the Free Software Foundation and Linux Foundation. His comprehensiveknowledge and dedication to the cause are further underscored by his attainment of all available Linux certifications, including“AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner”, “AWS Certified Architect”, “AWS Certified SysOps”, “CompTIA Linux+ce”, “ScrumFoundation Professional Certificate”, “Linux Foundation Certified System Administrator”, “CompTIA Project+”, “CompTIALinux+”, “LPIC-3”, “CompTIA Security+ce”, “RHCSA”, “RHCE” , “Red Hat Specialist in Containers and Kubernetes” and “Certified Kubernetes Administrator – CKA”.

He is the author of 11 books, recognized in the world IT market, published in English, Portuguese, Spanish and Italian, as LPIPublishing Partner.

CEO and founder of Linux Certification Edutech, for 20 years he has taught Linux online classes.

As a prominent figure within the Linux community, Uirá is committed to advancing the mission of the Linux ProfessionalInstitute (LPI) and promoting the adoption of Linux and FOSS worldwide.

I’m running for the board because I am deeply passionate about the mission and vision of the Linux Professional Institute(LPI). With over two decades of experience teaching IT professionals to become certified by LPI through my books andcourses, I have seen firsthand the transformative power of Linux certification in advancing careers and driving innovation. As apioneer and reference in Brazil, recognized for my expertise in Linux, I believe I can bring valuable insights and perspectivesto the board.

My commitment to the Linux community is unwavering. I was the first to discuss Linux certifications in Brazil when I publishedthe book “Linux Certification” in 2005. Since then, I have remained dedicated to promoting Linux professionalism andexpertise through various channels, including conferences, workshops, and publications. Holding all available Linuxcertifications, including LPIC-3, Linux Foundation, CompTIA Linux+, Red Hat RHCSA, and Red Hat RHCE, furtherdemonstrates my dedication to continuous learning and mastery of the field.

If re-elected to the board, I will leverage my extensive experience and connections within the Linux community to advocate forinitiatives that promote inclusivity, accessibility, and excellence in Linux professionalism. I am committed to advancing LPI’smission of providing globally recognized certifications that empower individuals and organizations to thrive in the digital age. Ifirmly believe that I can further contribute to LPI in shaping the future of Linux education and certification, ensuring it remainsrelevant, accessible, and impactful for years to come.

VM (aka Vicky) is a corporate strategist specialising in free and open source software in the business. She has spent most of her decades in the tech industry leading software development departments and teams, providing technical management and leadership consulting for small and medium businesses, and helping companies understand, use, release, and contribute to free and open source software in a way that’s good for both their bottom line and for the community.

She is the author of _Forge Your Future with Open Source_, the first and only book to detail how individuals can contribute to free and open source software projects. The book is published by The Pragmatic Programmers and is available at https://fossforge.com. She is also in the process of writing a second book for Pragmatic covering how to use, contribute to, and release open source projects effectively and strategically for your business.

Vicky has been a moderator and author for opensource.com, an author for Linux Journal and FOSSlife, the Vice President of the Open Source Initiative, and is a frequent and popular speaker at free/open source conferences and events. She’s the proud winner of the Perl White Camel Award (2014), the O’Reilly Open Source Award (2016), and two Opensource.com Moderator’s Choice Awards (2018, 2019). She blogs about free/open source, business, and technical management at anonymoushash.vmbrasseur.com.

FOSS exists in fascinating space right now. It’s seeing ever-increasing adoption and awareness in corporate and government contexts, all accelerated by the current trend of digital transformation. This adoption and awareness is evident in the studies that show that 90% or more of a typical piece of new software is open source components. These components and the resulting software overwhelmingly runs on Linux, often in a cloud environment. Despite—or perhaps because of—this popularity, employers consistently bemoan the difficulty of hiring people with sufficient FOSS skills and expertise.

While there are other organisations working to capitalise on this situation, with its long history of training and certification and its resultingly strong brand, LPI is uniquely positioned to make a demonstrable difference in the greater FOSS ecosystem.

Which is why I see it’s important to participate in this, the first ever member-elected Board of Directors (BoD) for LPI. This evolution of the LPI governance model comes at the perfect time to catch the FOSS wave that’s sweeping the world. An injection of new ideas and perspectives can help LPI realise its potential to lead the industry in Linux, BSD, and FOSS-related training and certifications at the time when it’s finally figuring out that it needs them.

However, as the first ever member-elected BoD, this group will also perform a critical role in laying the foundation of LPI governance for years to come. This is part of what interests me in joining the LPI board now so I can work with the BoD to:

• Establish policies, procedures, and best practices to ensure the ease of onboarding and therefore the increased success of subsequent member-elected Boards at LPI.
• Lay the foundation for regular communication between the Board and the members who put them in office.
• Advise LPI staff as they develop and implement a long-term straegy to further the mission objective of promoting open source by supporting the people who work with it.
• Collaborate with the LPI BoD, staff, and committees to develop a strategy for leveraging LPI certification in order to open up new opportunities for individuals from groups historically under-represented in technology, and to ensure that certification remains within reach of these people.

_My profile image is copyright Peter Adams Photography and used with permission._

If I was to say I was not much different then you, that would be a failure of imagination of the diverse and wondrous group that are the LPI Members. What I am though is a young professional, steeped in the local Open Source communities of Toronto Canada.

For over a decade and a half I’ve dug into the details of systems and technology around me. Seeking to learn tools and skills, and sharing with those I meet and collaborate. This lead me to supporting and leading local community groups like the Greater Toronto Linux Users Group. It’s embedded me in the makerspace Hacklab.TO where I can constantly learn from and teach to others.

My Career has taken me through the ISP and Datacenter business, where I focused on customer support and human experience. I moved on to the Visual Effects, where my infrastructure design, support and automation let artists create beautiful fantasies. And I continued from there to underpin the critical services at a company that empowers individuals and Changes the Way the World works.

Already, I server the boards for the Toronto based makerspace Hacklab.TO and community group GTALUG. These two community organizations have been a source of complex challenges, and rewarding relationships.

Through them I’ve helped shape community driving policies, rallied and organized teams of volunteers through callenging times and physical relocations. LPI presents a new challenge. To take what I’ve learned and apply it at a new scale. To bring forward my humble experiance, share what I see on the ground help guide policy towards inclusive ends.

I have been a Computer Science professor for nearly 40 years and am currently Chair of my department. My teaching and research is primarily focused on programming languages and software engineering.

I have exclusively used Unix-like systems for almost 40 years, starting Linux with an early Slackware. I have since used many distributions including RedaHat, Fedora, Debian, and Ubuntu.

I have served on several non-profit boards, including being president of my faculty association, president of my condominium board, and vice-president of /usr/group/cdn

Linux is obviously becoming ubiquitous in the server and phone markets. But it also scales beautifully down to hobby computers and many embedded devices.

I would like to see LPI become a more natural “go to” for people in both ends of the market.

I think my experience gives me an excellent vantage point to help provide direction to LPI from a position on the Board.

Mark Phillips is an Engineering and Technology Engineer with around 40 years in Defense and Aerospace spanning Australia and the US. He has consulted in multiple countries to include France, UK, Singapore, Canada, Sweden, Germany among others. He has spent the majority of his career pushing the boundaries of technology working in fundamental to applied research in the areas of Computer Simulation supporting Training, Test and Experimentation. Mark specializes on making ideas reality. Mark serves on the Board of Directors of the International Test & Evaluation Association (ITEA); and Educational and Professional development Organization as a Non Profit and understands the importance of volunteering and giving back to the community to help the next generation step up and contribute.

Mark is an Engineering Fellow at Raytheon Missiles and Defense mentoring professionals and conducting fundamental and applied research into Defense and Aerospace. Mark is a graduate of the Royal Military College of Australia, has a Bachelor of Electrical engineering (Honors) from the University of New South Wales, a Masters in Engineering (Modelling and simulation) form Old Dominion University and is a Ph.D candidate in Engineering Management at Old Dominion University.

Mark lives in Tucson Arizona with his wife Sarah and two of their 6 Children.

I have been a proponent for the free and open source software (FOSS) movement starting in the 90s seeing that Operating Systems like Linux would dominate the market and drive for more of a crowd sourced approach to software development. In practicing what I preach I introduced FOSS to the Australian Army in the mid 90s at a time when DEC, HP and Sun dominated the market. I experienced the cultural push back from those that did not trust that FOSS could be effective in many ways, to include cost savings, faster product development and innovation driven by the community. I have continued to drive innovation and done it faster with the use of Linux and the myriad of libraries and tools that allowed me to push the envelope when it seriously could not have achieved success without the community contributing to the base. I have had and still have the honor of mentoring junior to senior engineers and opening their eyes to the possibilities of community driven code and the trust that comes with the many hands that drive innovation. I would like to contribute more to the community through LPI by driving education and development of professionals from high school through to senior professionals globally. I see LPI as a driver for empowerment of the many and a force for innovation and would like to be more of a global then local contributor along with the other board members and LPI community. I believe in the purpose of LPI and would be honored to help drive the vision and strengthen the community.

Brazilian, father, grandfather and a veteran of the IT industry, with 43 years of professional experience. Alma Mater by The Federal University of Rio de Janeiro UFRJ), with a BSME and graduate studies in Economics and Social Development by Pontificia Universidade Catolica (PUCSP). Had a lot of fun doing vectorial programming with IBM and DEC Vaxes in the aerospace sector iin the early steps of my career, before joining Sun Microsystems, where I was leading Open Source initiatives during my thirteen-year-long tenure at this company. Also worked with Cisco and Capgemini. A lover of mountain trailing with Galileo Galilei, my chocolat lab, reading and learning on IT innovation. Recently coached startups in the Big Data and Analytics space.

Being a sound contributor with LPI Board in order to help on strategic decisions, promote Linux adoption and make the global community stronger and more vibrant.