[Osia-members] OSIA November update

[Jack Burton]

Afternoon, all.

The last month has been a busy one for OSIA, and the coming months are
likely to see a further increase in activity.

** OSIA events **

Thankyou to everyone who attended the OSIA domestic market event
"Removing the silos: a future built on unencumbered open standards" in
Adelaide on 15 Oct and special thanks to speakers Ron Skeoch (of Muli
Management) and Anastasia Kuusk (of Inforg Information Governance). An
interesting and enjoyable evening was had by all.

The next OSIA event will be held in Sydney, during the first quarter of
2015. Watch this space for further details early in the new year.

** AGM **

The AGM was held on the Gold Coast on 4 Nov (during OSDC). Thankyou to
all those members who attended. The business of the AGM was once again
transacted in record time, and was followed by an impromptu gathering
of OSIA members at a local watering hole. The new Board met for the
first time the following day.

Draft minutes of the AGM will be distributed on this list next month.

** Retiring directors **

David Bullock retired from the board at the AGM and since then Anastasia
Kuusk has resigned from the board (Steven Sackett also retired as a
director at the AGM, but was re-appointed as company secretary during
the following day's board meeting).

David was first elected as a director at the 2012 AGM and served
throughout his two terms in the infrastructure portfolio. From November
2013 to April 2014 he also served as treasurer. Amongst other
contributions to OSIA, David was responsible for spawning the Member
Referral Service project (see below). South Australian members may also
remember David as the keynote speaker at OpenSA's inaugural member
event back in 2009.

Anastasia was appointed as a director in March 2014 to fill a casual
vacancy. She served throughout her term in the marketing &
communications portfolio and since June was also responsible for
membership & sponsorship. Amongst other contributions to OSIA, Ana was
responsible for key marketing initiatives (more on that next month) and
for the outsourcing of certain operational matters, which freed the
board up to take a more strategic approach. South Australian members may
also recall Ana's excellent presentation at the recent OSIA event in
Adelaide.

The board thanks David & Anastasia for their valued contributions to
OSIA.

** New directors **

Ryan Cross (Cross Functional, NSW) was elected as a director of OSIA at
the AGM. At the following day's board meeting, Jessica Field (Anchor
Systems, NSW) and Aimee-Maree Forsstrom (also NSW) were appointed as
directors to fill the two casual vacancies.

All three of our newest directors are well known in open source circles
in NSW (and indeed also much further afield), so require no further
introduction here.

The board congratulates Ryan, Jessica & Aimee-Maree on their new roles
at OSIA.

** New board structure **

At its November meeting the board decided to take a more agile approach
to the governance and management of the company in the coming year.

Aside from the chairman (your truly) and company secretary (Steven
Sackett), all members of the board are now directors without portfolio.

The plan is to focus at any one time on a small number of key projects
to be delivered quickly, each to be managed by a task force established
just for that purpose. Three such projects are in train already -- with
a collective focus on building membership value and improving OSIA's
image.

The first three projects will be run internally within the board, while
we're still getting the new model just right. After that, we'll be
calling for volunteers from the general membership to participate in
task forces for future projects -- so watch this space early next year!

While the transition is in progress, please direct any general OSIA
enquiries in the first instance either to Alison Brown
<alison.brown at osia.com.au> or to me (except for financial matters,
which should still go to Steven Sackett <secretary at osia.com.au>).

** Member referral service **

Progress on the member referral service has intensified (it's one of the
3 current key projects) and it is now expected to launch in early 2015.

** Board meetings **

The board met on the Gold Coast on 5 Nov and will next meet in Sydney on
2 Dec.

As always, members are encouraged to bring any pertinent matters (and
indeed your views on them) to the attention of the Board, either on
this list or by contacting any of us directly -- all board members and
their OSIA email addresses are listed at:
http://osia.com.au/drupal7/?q=board


Regards,



Jack Burton
<jack at saosce.com.au>