[Announcements] Lance Speelmon joins Sakai Foundation staff

[Michael Korcuska]

Greetings,

I'm extremely pleased to announce that Lance Speelmon of Indiana  
University will be joining the Sakai Foundation staff from now through  
the end of 2010. Lance will initially focus on leading the community  
in the development of a Sakai 2 to Sakai 3 migration strategy. He will  
also have other responsibilities as well that he and I will determine  
as his work progresses.

Although Lance will remain an employee at Indiana University he will  
report to me on a day-to-day basis. This creates at least the  
perception of a conflict with his role as a member of the Sakai Board  
of Directors and Lance will therefore be stepping down from the Board.  
I want to salute Lance for his willingness to take this step. While we  
will miss his contributions there, he believes he can make a greater  
contribution to the Sakai community in this new capacity. I hope he  
will consider running again when his time with the Sakai Foundation  
concludes.

This leaves the Board with one too few members (Clay also stepped down  
for the same reason).  At the request of the remaining Board members  
and in accordance with the Sakai Foundation by-laws, Mara Hancock has  
agreed to serve as a Board member for the remainder of this year when  
a new slate of Board members will be elected.

This arrangement is made possible by the generous and forward-thinking  
leadership team at Indiana University which will continue to fund  
Lance's salary while the Foundation will fund his travel expenses. I  
want to thank everyone at IU, especially Barry Walsh and Brad Wheeler.  
IU has always embraced "enlightened self-interest" and this is  
certainly an exemplary case of that attitude.

It feels strange for me to welcome Lance to Sakai since Lance was at  
the very dinner where the idea of Sakai was born, so let me just say  
that I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to work even more closely  
with him. I know the entire Sakai community will benefit greatly from  
his efforts.

Best regards,

Michael

-- 
Michael Korcuska
Executive Director, Sakai Foundation
mkorcuska at sakaifoundation.org
phone: +1 510-859-4247 (google voice)
skype: mkorcuska