Geir Bækholt

Plone core developer and open source activist. Geek and 'suit' combined. Managing director of Jarn AS (previously Plone Solutions) —  Norway. Current board member.

• Plone contributor in some form since the start of the project  years ago. During that time i have contributed user interface design, CSS, javascripts, bug fixes, core components in Plone itself and add-on-products.
• Managing director and co-founder of Jarn AS, (formerly Plone Solutions). — A Norwegian, but internationally oriented Plone consultancy and development company. My job involves managing a distributed workforce including a large chunk of the active core contributors to Plone. The company has close ties to the Plone community and contributes a fair share to the development of Plone and its surroundings.
• An all-hands type person who enjoys working with people and organizations as much as writing code. I have a diverse background in marketing, design/art, sociology, film-science and web-applications. I worked 5 years with large scale web-applications and payment management databases before i started doing Plone full-time in 2003.
  
• In April 2006, Arranged the Archipelago Sprint, gathering 40 developers from around the world, spearheading the development of what became Plone 3.
• Speaker at all Plone Conferences but the first.
• Has a large interest in Open source business models, software patents (no way!), marketing and licensing.
  
• Instigated a name switch from Plone Solutions to Jarn AS in 2007 to make for a cleaner competitive environment among Plone companies. (CMSWatch)
  
• Works with key organisations for improving government- and general public awareness on Open Source in Norway and Europe.
  
• Even though i probably represent developers and small businesses best, i meet and work with a lot of people in universities, government organizations, NGOs and larger companies, – and get to share their challenges and experiences with Plone, both on a technical and on an organizational level.
• Founder of the 10% Plone Manifesto
  
• Participant at the 2008 Plone Strategic Planning Summit
  
• Proud to be serving on the Plone Foundation Board (2006-08) and would be proud to provide continuity into the next term as well. I am an active participant in board and committee work for the Plone foundation.
  

My plans for the foundation in the next term, should i be trusted to keep serving on the board.

• Stimulate Plone development events and processes so we can get:

• A clearer add-on product story (and a slimmer, faster, core)
  
• A simpler, easier Plone that is approachable by new developers
• Completion of the bumpy framework transition we are in so Plone can get simpler again
• A useful, usable, page-composition system that allows users to build the complex pages they want, without the need of a developer
  

• Find more ways to make Plone companies commit to furthering the development of Plone itself. (like the Plone Tuneup-days, 10% manifesto and similar approaches —  stuff that goes beyond the single developer's goodwill. To get real impact we need real effort — and Plone companies need to help pull this weight together.
  
• Vigilantly protect the Plone license model and the GPL
• Complete the processes of improving Plone.org and Plone.net stability and performance.
  
• Get a proper quality assurance/rating system for Products on Plone.org
• Clarify the currently easy-to-misunderstand rules on usage of the Plone name and trademark for community members. Trademark stuff is not easy, but should not block us from promoting Plone.
  
• Complete the process to manage collaboratively funded projects (like bounties for developers)
• Find more or better ways for the Foundation to earn money, so we will be able to execute the plans we want. 

Seconded by

Steve McMahon and Jon Stahl