[gpfsug-discuss] Election news

[Jez Tucker]

Hello all

   Simon Thompson (Research Computing, University of 
Birmingham<http://files.gpfsug.org/presentations/2015/>) has put himself 
forward as sole candidate for position of Chair.

I firmly believe it in the best interest of the Group that we do not 
have the same Chair indefinitely.  The Group is on fine footing, so now 
is an appropriate time for change.

Having spoken with Simon, the UG Committee are more than happy to 
recommend him for the position of Chair for the next two years.
Over the same period, the UG Committee has proposed that I move to 
represent Media (as per sector representatives) and continue to support 
the efforts of the Group where appropriate.

The UG Committee would also like to recommend Ross Keeping for the IBM 
non-exec position.  Some of you will have met Ross at the recent User 
Group.  He understands the focus and needs of the Group and will act as 
the group's plug-in to IBM as well as hosting the 'Meet the Devs' events 
(details on the next one soon).

With respect to the above, we do not believe it is prudent to spend time 
and resource on election scaffolding to vote for a single candidate.
We would suggest that if the majority of members are extremely against 
this move that it is discussed openly in the mailing list. Discussion is 
good!

Failing any overwhelming response to the contrary, Simon will assume 
position of Chair on 19th June 2015 with the Committee’s full support.


Best regards,


Jez (Chair) and Claire (Secretary)


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Simon's response to the Election call follows verbatim:

a) The post they wish to stand for

Group chair

b) A paragraph covering their credentials

I have been working with GPFS for the past few years, initially in an 
HPC environment and more recently using it to deliver our
research data and OpenStack platforms. The research storage platform was 
developed in conjunction with OCF, our IBM business partner
which spans both spinning disk and TSM HSM layer.

I have spoken at both the UK GPFS user group and at the GPFS user forum 
in the USA. In addition to this I've  made a short customer
video used by IBM marketing.

Linked in profile: uk.linkedin.com/in/simonjthompson1
Blog: www.roamingzebra.co.uk

c) A paragraph covering what they would bring to the group

I already have a good working relationship with GPFS developers having 
spent the past few months building our OpenStack platform
working with IBM and documenting how to use some of the features, and 
would look to build on this relationship to develop the GPFS
user group.

I've also blogged many of the bits I have experimented with and would 
like to see this develop with the group contributing to a wiki
style information source with specific examples of technology and configs.

In addition to this, I have support from my employer to attend meetings 
and conferences and would be happy to represent and promote
the group at these as well as bringing feedback.

d) A paragraph setting out their vision for the group for the next two years

I would like to see the group engaging with more diverse users of GPFS 
as many of those attending the meetings are from HPC type
environments, so I would loom to work with both IBM and resellers to 
help engage with other industries using GPFS technology. Ideally
this would see more customer talks at the user group in addition to a 
balanced view from IBM on road maps. I think it would also be
good to focus on specific features of gpfs and how they work and can be 
applied as my suspicion is very few customers use lots of
features to full advantage.

Simon

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