[Osia-members] OSIA March/April update

[Jack Burton]

Evening, all.

The last 6 weeks have seen substantial change at OSIA, and we're now
well placed to begin delivering more substantially against a broad
range of the objectives set out in the OSIA Strategic Plan.

Setting the changes in motion required a significant amount of the
Board's time, which was why you didn't see an OSIA update from me
during March. I apologise for that and promise to return to monthly
updates from May onwards.

Matters of significance since the last update include:

*** 10 year anniversary event ***

OSIA turns 10 this year!

To mark this historic occasion a member event will be held in on 7 May
(5:30pm for a 6pm start) at the Pullman at Sydney Olympic Park.

To register, just mail rsvp at osia.com.au -- see separate list post for
further details.

*** Farewell & thanks to Don Christie ***

Don Christie has resigned from the OSIA Board, effective as of 8 April.

Don was first appointed to Board in January 2012, to fill a casual
vacancy for the remainder of the 2011/12 term and was subsequently
re-elected for the 2012/13 & 2013/14 terms. He served as Director
(Alliances) until December 2012, then as Director (Export Markets)
until November 2013 and as Director without portfolio thereafter.

It was Don who first brought to the Board's attention the risks to the
Australian FOSS sector embodied in the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP),
at the very first Board meeting following his appointment. Throughout
his tenure, he remained involved in OSIA's ongoing efforts on the TPP
front. Don also led OSIA's involvement with NZRise and OSDC2013 and was
amongst the authors contributing text both to OSIA's submission to DFAT
on TPP and to our submission to the ACIP Innovation Patent Review.

The Board thanks Don for his significant contribution to OSIA over the
last two and half years and wishes him well for the future.

*** New Directors appointed ***

On hearing the sad news of Don's impending departure, the Board decided
to fill all casual vacancies for the remainder of the 2013/14 term.

I'm pleased to announce that Mr Paul Foxworthy (Coherent Software,
Vic.), Mrs Anastasia Kuusk (Inforg, SA), Sir Tim Purcell (Catalyst IT,
NSW) and Mr Steven Sackett (Adaxa, Vic.) are now Directors of OSIA.

We now have a full complement of Directors again. Collectively, the new
& continuing Directors make for a very strong Board indeed and I look
forward to reporting substantial progress towards OSIA's strategic
objectives in the coming months.

*** New portfolio structure ***

Having 8 Directors once more has allowed the Board to reinstate its
portfolio structure, with a few changes.

Our key target remains delivery against the OSIA Strategic Plan, and as
such each of the three Objectives in the plan has its own dedicated
portfolio, with the remainder of the portfolios focussing on the
functional areas which will facilitate delivery against those
Objectives.

The new portfolios and the Directors with responsibility for them are:

* Chairman - yours truly
* Secretary - Steven Sackett
* Domestic Markets - Paul Foxworthy
* Public Policy - Daniel Jitnah
* Export Markets - Sir Tim Purcell
* Membership & Sponsorship - Mike Hideo
* Marketing & Communications - Anastasia Kuusk
* Infrastructure - David Bullock

*** Member referrals ***

OSIA recently received two enquiries from the public seeking referral
to member organisations with suitable capabilities for their needs.

The first of these was likely to be of interest to many OSIA members,
so a call for expressions of interest went out on this list and all the
EOIs received were forwarded to the prospective client.

The other was in a specific niche in which only one OSIA member
operates, so the prospective client was referred directly to that
member.

Meanwhile, work continues on the OSIA Member Referral Service website,
which should be ready to launch around EOFY. Once in place, the site
will automate the handling of these sorts of enquiries.

*** Board meetings ***

The Board met in Melbourne on 21 March and again by teleconference on
11 April.

The next Board meeting will be held in Sydney on 7 May (prior to the 10
year anniversary event).

As always, members are encouraged to bring any matters they feel are
relevant to the Board's attention, either on this list or by contacting
any member of the Board directly.

I look forward to seeing many of you in Sydney on 7 May.

Regards,



Jack Burton
<jack at saosce.com.au>