This is to announce the 2012 election of OpenID Foundation community board members. The Foundation plays an important role in the evolution of Internet identity technologies. Those elected will help determine what role the OIDF should play in helping facilitate faster and broader adoption of open standard identity systems. Last year four community board members were elected to 2-year terms and so are not standing for election: • Nat Sakimura • Mike Jones • John Bradley • Kick Willemse Other current community board members may seek re-election. They are: • Allen Tom • Axel Nennker • Chris Messina Brian Kissel has indicated he will likely not be a candidate. This is a good time to thank Brian, and all the current board members, for their time, attention and leadership over the last year. For the purposes of the 2012 election, there are 5 confirmed sustaining members: Google, Microsoft, PayPal, Ping Identity, and Symantec. Thus, we will be electing 2 community members to the Board of Directors for 2-year terms. In order to be eligible for election, your candidacy must have been seconded by at least three other members. The election will be conducted on the following schedule: Nominations open: Monday, January 9 Nominations close: Monday, January 23 Election begins: Wednesday, January 25 Election ends: Wednesday, February 8 Results announced by: Wednesday, February 15 New board terms start: Thursday, March 1 Times for all dates are Noon, U.S. Pacific Time. All members of the OpenID Foundation are eligible to nominate themselves, second the nominations of others who self-nominated, and vote for candidates. If you’re not already a member of the OpenID Foundation, we encourage you to join now at https://openid.net/foundation/members/registration. Voting and nominations are conducted using the OpenID you registered when you joined the Foundation. Log in at https://openid.net/foundation/members/ with your OpenID to participate in the nomination and voting. If you are already a member, you will receive an email advising you the election is open and how to participate. If you experience problems participating in the election or joining the foundation, please send an email to help@oidf.org. Board participation requires a substantial ongoing investment of time and energy. It is a volunteer effort that should not be undertaken lightly. Should you be elected, expect to be called upon to serve both on the board and on its committees where the work of the foundation is conducted. If you’re committed to OpenID and advancing open digital identity and are a person who works well with others, we encourage your candidacy. The OIDF’s Executive Committee has suggested a few questions candidates may want to publicly address in their candidate statements: 1. What is you view of the opportunity of the OpenID Foundation? 2. What are the key opportunities you see for the OpenID Foundation in 2012? 3. How will you demonstrate your commitment to the work of the foundation in terms of resources, focus and leadership? 4. What would you like to see accomplished over the next year, and how do you personally plan to make these things happen? 5. What resources can you bring to the foundation to help the foundation attain its goals? 6. What current or past experiences, skills, or interests will inform your contributions and views? Candidates can address these questions in their election statements on various community mailing lists and at http://openid.net – especially openid-general@lists.openid.net, and via blog@oidf.org. Please forward questions, comments and suggestions to me. Don Thibeau Executive Director The OpenID Foundation