I've been a sysadmin of some sort since the mid 1980s and a member of the community since I attended my first LISA conference in 1993. My involvement in the community has varied since then.  I worked on the Day in the Life project in the 1990s.Most recently I've been writing book reviews for :login:.

Currently working at Red Hat, I've been a vocal advocate for sysadmins in the design of OS and service management software, whether on conventional hosts or containers. 

I no longer have a Grand Vision for the profession of system administration.  We've been struggling for recognition and understanding since before LOPSA was formed and we'll be struggling for a long time to come.  In the mean time I think it's critical to work with people both inside and out of the profession to improve the standards of practice, training and communication.  Efforts exist already in all of those areas and as a member of the board I'd look for ways to strengthen and broaden those efforts. I also think it's critical to engage academia to study system administration goals and processes rigorously to understand and improve the state of the art not just in technology but in human factors.

The Leadership Committee has been working to get you a strong candidate slate for the 2018 election! Your participation is key to us having a strong organization, so please plan to take part in the election.

Here's our planned election timeline:

• May 1 - Final slate and candidate statements
• May 16 - LOPSA Live
• June 1 - Open election
• June 22 - Close election

To Whom It May Concern,

Greetings - I am Andree Jacobson; at the time of writing, the CIO for the New Mexico Consortium (a non-profit in Los Alamos, NM) - but I am transitioning into an Infrastructure Cluster Engineer role for Tesla's autopilot team. I also run a small consulting company that assists local companies with systems design, implementation, and training on computer systems. However, even outside the professional world, I am a long time computer systems and networking administrator. I’ve practically been on any system I could get my hands on since before I started school, started small - but now it’s the very large and complicated systems that motivate me. The point I’m trying to get across here, is that I’m passionate about computers - one of man’s greatest technology creations. I find it fascinating to see how we keep coming up with new uses, how the field of Computer Science is still growing and morphing rapidly, and we’re right here in the middle of it! It shows no sign of slowing down either. I am however also baffled with the lacklustre of education and prestige for the field of Systems Administration, especially at scale. Ever since the early days of computation it seems that people who know how to operate these systems always take a secondary role, yet the world’s whole infrastructures rests in the hands of a handful of very talented individuals who are often ignored. I’m running for the board of LOPSA because I believe in the organization’s mission, and I would be proud the have the opportunity to represent this particular group of people.

My name is Branson Matheson and  am putting my name in the hat as a Board Member for LOPSA.  I am a 30 year veteran of system administration and the many disciplines that make up our doctrine. I believe I am a strong candidate given my experience, vision and support for a stronger community. I am asking for your support that together we may continue to improve LOPSA.

My experience provides strong capabilities to support many goals.  I am an active participant in our sysadmin community and have worked in a wide variety of environments including large corporation, government contracting, startup and small and large-scale internet services provisioning. I plan, manage, teach and speak around the world at a diverse set of security and system admin focused conferences such as LISA, LOPSA-East, Cisco SecCon and Shmoocon. I have a history of developing  concepts and ideas into successful tools. I have a strong desire to see system administration develop to meet the evolution of our Art, while also providing support to individuals and organizations that must continue to maintain existing systems and environments. 

I envision LOPSA continuing growth as a haven for system administrators of all stripe; and becoming a larger part of the core of our community.  As sysadmins we are finding that the power of the internet has developed and changed how we practice our art. This evolution should lead to stronger bonds among peers and collaborative groups such as engineering, networking and security. I will work to find creative ways for LOPSA to provide or produce services that can enable our community and the groups we support to communicate effectively and improve the ability to provide high levels of service.  

As a board member I intend to work with the league and community to promote ideas and develop new resources used to support our day-to-day job functions, improve the security of our existing offerings and help enhance our chosen profession.  Through these enhancements I hope to continue expanding LOPSA as the leading community for system administration.  I am asking for your support. 

I am running for reelection as LOPSA Treasurer.  During the past two years, my major accomplishments in this role have been:

• Reinstatement of LOPSA's 501(c)(3) status, which has been revoked due to past delinquencies in IRS filings
  
• Set up system for timely and transparent management of accounts payable
  
• Provided detailed bi-weekly reports to LOPSA Board of current bank balances and P&L
  
• Consolidated bank accounts for easier management of cash flow
  
• Full participation as LOPSA Board member in online and face-to-face meetings
  

I have been working in the IT industry for the past 23 years, and have been a system/network administrator for thirteen of those years. I hold graduate degrees in Geology/Geophysics. Current areas of specialization include Windows and Linux server administration, LAN/WAN and wireless networks, cloud (Microsoft Azure and Office 365) administration, and network/host security. Due to working in a medium-size (~260 person) company where I hold a number of roles, I consider myself an IT generalist. This requires ongoing training both to ensure my skills remain current, and to learn new topics as job responsibilities evolve. LOPSA has played a significant role in my career development through professional conferences, trainings, meetings, and networking opportunities with peers. As a LOPSA board member, my commitment would be to expand these opportunities, and ensure that other system administrators recognize LOPSA’s considerable career benefits and become involved with the organization.

We are happy to announce our new initiative, KnowledgePress! Share your knowledge with the community while increasing visibility and traffic for your own blog. With KnowledgePress, you can contribute articles without sacrificing the health of your blog or having to use other than your preferred blogging platform. We will be accepting submissions immediately. 

KnowledgePress submission will be reviewed by the Community Manager, then distributed. Distribution will be over our various social media channels as soon as an article is approved. Submissions will also be indexed at https://lopsa.org/KnowledgePress. A weekly digest of KnowledgePress articles will be sent to all Members over e-mail. 

Your submissions should include a link to the article on your blog. If you'd like to select a section of your article as a preview please include the quote in your e-mail, otherwise a blurb will be selected for you by the editor. 

We're excited to see read your articles. Please send your submission to community@lopsa.org

LOPSA is excited to relaunch our Mentorship Program on more stable footing. Sharing our excitement is our first mentee, Adam Snetiker. We picked his brain about participating in our program and present the interview below. If you'd like to contribute as a Mentor or participate as a mentee check us out at https://mentor.lopsa.org/

[Q: Could you please introduce yourself to our readers and tell us about your current background and experience, and your aspirations with regard to the field of system administration?]

It all begins with my love of design. I've always been impressed by anything that looked really cool and stopped me dead in my tracks. I always wanted to get into the field of special effects, but when I went to college at Indiana University (Bloomington), I noticed the Informatics major. Not knowing much about it other than that it was a new, hot field related to IT, my family and I decided it would be a more practical major than fine arts. It was all about choosing a cognate area, and I chose Telecommunications which allowed me to take courses in Flash, 3D modeling and animation, DVD authoring, video editing, and TV studio and field production along with the required courses in Java programming, mathematical foundations and others.

My first few roles were in DVD menu design and authoring. After being laid off, I began to teach myself the basics of web development which led to a content management role producing marketing and client retention content for mortgage companies and their loan officers. After being laid off from that role, I began self-study in advanced web development tools including various JavaScript frameworks, automation tools and more. After failing to grasp some of those concepts and build up my skills without proper instruction, I decided to return to school to begin pursuit of a career in one of the more traditional areas of IT including networking, system administration and cybersecurity. Currently, I'm taking these courses in pursuit of an Advanced Network Specialist Certificate of Achievement at Moorpark College, and eventually will be going after a Cybersecurity certificate when those courses are developed in the near future.

Two of the required courses for the certificate that I have already taken include Microsoft Windows Administration and Microsoft Windows Server Administration. Both of these courses completely opened my eyes to System Administration as both an area of IT and a viable future career path by making me look at computing in a completely new way. Immediately, I was blown away by the sheer number of useful tools available in Windows that I never noticed as a general user and the fact that these tools have always been right there on every PC I have owned. I am amazed the power they give administrators to perform both simple routine maintenance and complex tasks that enhance system performance and allow management of all devices in an organization.

[Q: How did you find LOPSA? When did you join? Why did you join? ]

I decided to search for professional organizations and joined LOPSA and others in an effort to make valuable connections with people and continue learning outside of my current classroom environment. In addition to LOPSA, I am currently a student member of the ACM, IEEE, ISSA and OWASP, and have attended a few conferences.

For a long time, I have followed thought leaders and industry experts on Twitter and other social media platforms and have occasionally sent emails soliciting advice or asking questions. Generally, I have gotten their opinion which I value very much, but have always hoped to find a mentor I can turn to for help in establishing myself as somebody who can add value to an organization as an IT professional. Thankfully, I came across LOPSAs mentorship program and was recently accepted and matched.

[Q: What do you find appealing about the LOPSA mentorship program? You mentioned you've been looking for something like this for years, could you tell us more about that, and what excites you the most about the program? What do you hope to get out of it?]

What excites me the most about this program is the ability to interact with someone who is a current practicing professional with experience in areas of IT in which I hope to build a successful career. What I hope to get out of it is specific feedback that will help me to establish a focused plan of action that includes careers I should target at the entry level and the most important skills for success. Eventually, I hope this feedback process will repeat itself as I work through my career so that as the specific skills and job titles change, the focus is still on making sure they are in sync so I can continue to advance and add value.

[Q: How has your interaction with your mentor been so far?]

We have sent several messages back and forth through the LOPSA Mentor web page, have connected on LinkedIn and have scheduled a Google Hangouts meeting next weekend. My biggest hope is that this person becomes a valuable connection that will be able to hold me accountable and notice the progress I make while being able to continue pushing me further towards success.

[Q: Anything else you want to communicate to our readers (who are both seasoned professionals and students and everything in between.]

The biggest thing I would emphasize for readers is to become somebody in the eyes of other people. Networking is the best thing you can do for yourself regardless of what career level you're at, but make the extra effort to send a message so that people know who you are. Take me for example - if I was just another person who filled out the form on LOPSA's mentor website, I wouldn't be featured in this newsletter. Instead, you're all reading a story written about me.

Adam may be found on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamsnetiker) or contacted via email at adam.snetiker@ieee.org. "I look forward to meeting anyone and everyone and hope we can all work together to advance our careers and continue learning together."

LOPSA has hired a new Community Manager. As LOPSA expands, the work of maintaining such a large organization is a daunting task for volunteers. Roger Luedecke is a long time Member and Volunteer of the openSUSE Project. As Community Manager he brings his experience in open source and tech communities to the tasks of managing  the LOPSA community.

Roger can be reached at rluedecke@LOPSA.org

I'm proud to announce the Leadership Committee's 2017 election results. The results were prepared Matt Okeson-Harlow, processed by Andrew Hume, and confirmed by Scott Murphy.

Thanks to Paul English, George Beech, Ski Kacoroski, and other members of the board for supporting the Leadership Committee during the elections.

Extra special thanks to the Leadership Committee this year. Without having any incumbents re-run, there was much more work leading up to the election compared to usual. Our success is thanks to Adam Luck, Andrew Hume, Matt Okeson-Harlow, Scott Murphy, and Trevor Thorpe. They are our Leadership Committee.

I'd also like to recognize our exiting Board Members for their service. Thank you for your service Atom Powers, Paul English, Ray Thrush, and Ski Kacoroski. 

Ski has served eight terms, which is the longest of any Board Member in LOPSA history. Thanks for your time and dedicatation, Ski. We wish you the best in your future endeavors.

=========================

Election Results

The elections for the 2017 LOPSA Board of Directors has concluded. The winners are Drew Adams, Andy Cowell, Aleksey Tsalolikhin, and Danielle White.

We present below the report of the independent monitor, Andrew Hume. The Leadership Committee

----------------

Report on the 2017 election.

The 2017 LOPSA election was conducted as it has been in the past. Votes are automatically collected by software run by Matt Okeson-Harlow and at the end of the election are captured and processed by the Meek single transferable vote method. The software is available at http://www.openstv.org (although I just did a ‘yum install openstv’) and if you'd like to run the election yourself, the raw ballots are presented below. I used version 1.7 of OpenSTV.

For a more detailed explanation of the overall method, material may be found at http://www.openstv.org and Wikipedia.

The abbreviated summary for this election follows below.

Andrew Hume

------------------

Election title: LOPSA Vote 2017

Method: Meek STV with Droop-Dynamic-Fractional threshold

Ballot Cleaning: San Francisco

Number of total ballots: 54

Number of invalid or empty ballots: 0

Number of ballots used in the count: 54

5 candidate running for 4 seats.

Round 1: Aleksey Tsalolikhin and Danielle White are elected.

Round 2: Transferring surplus votes; no new electees.

Round 3: Transferring surplus votes; Andy Cowell and Drew Adams elected.

The election is over since all seats are filled.

The votes in BLT format (md5=c1d76489ea5fe1176d79d251adbbc022)

5 5

1 1 4 3 5 2 0

1 4 1 2 0

1 3 5 4 1 2 0

1 4 5 1 2 3 0

1 4 1 2 3 5 0

1 4 3 1 2 5 0

1 5 4 3 2 1 0

1 3 4 1 0

1 4 5 1 2 3 0

1 1 4 3 2 5 0

1 4 1 5 3 2 0

1 4 1 5 2 3 0

1 4 5 2 1 3 0

1 4 1 2 3 5 0

1 4 2 5 3 1 0

1 4 1 2 5 3 0

1 1 4 2 5 3 0

1 1 3 4 2 5 0

1 4 1 2 5 3 0

1 1 4 2 3 5 0

1 4 1 2 5 3 0

1 1 4 5 2 3 0

1 1 5 2 3 4 0

1 2 3 5 4 1 0

1 1 4 2 0

1 4 1 2 3 5 0

1 4 3 1 5 2 0

1 1 5 2 3 4 0

1 5 3 2 1 4 0

1 1 4 5 2 3 0

1 1 4 2 3 5 0

1 1 2 4 5 3 0

1 2 5 3 4 1 0

1 1 5 2 3 4 0

1 1 4 2 5 3 0

1 1 2 4 3 5 0

1 4 1 2 3 5 0

1 1 4 5 2 3 0

1 1 4 2 5 3 0

1 4 2 5 3 1 0

1 1 4 3 5 2 0

1 4 3 1 5 2 0

1 4 5 2 3 1 0

1 1 4 0

1 4 1 3 5 2 0

1 4 2 1 5 3 0

1 4 1 5 2 3 0

1 4 1 2 5 3 0

1 1 4 5 2 3 0

1 2 1 4 5 3 0

1 5 4 3 1 2 0

1 5 1 2 4 3 0

1 1 3 4 5 2 0

1 3 4 5 2 1 0

0

"Aleksey Tsalolikhin"

"Andy Cowell"

"Andree Jacobson"

"Danielle White"

"Drew Adams"

"LOPSA Election 2017"

JUNE 21 CANDIDATE Q&A (CONTINUED)

#LOPSA-Live 2017-06-21

Trev71	So, next question, order will be Andy, Andree, Aleksey, Danielle and Drew...
Trev71	One sec..
Trev71	Moderator copy/paste issues :) hang tight a second please..
Trev71	What methods do you think would work for reaching out to members and providing more community to them (other than IRC and mailing lists)? -- From Dan Rich.
Trev71	Andy - you are up...
vt102	typing...
vt102	I believe LOPSA is currently recruiting a paid Community Manager, and I believe this was a great decision by our current board.  Community is important.  Tools and methods are less important that having someone capable helping organize it.
vt102	There are so many "social" tools out there that it seems almost inevitable that there would be some fragmentation of the community.  But the community manager could curate the most important ideas and propagate those through the largest and most important communities, whatever those become.
vt102	EOF
Trev71	Andree ?
Trev71	-- and a reminder, send your questions or follow ups over to Adam (aluck), thanks !
NMSwede	Well… As much as I love IRC, the younger generation doesn't seem to know about it. If we use it as a tool for reaching out, the audience probably won't be huge. LinkedIn, Facebook, etc are important. Like Andy is saying, the Community Manager will be a huge help, and I also think trying to reach out at job fairs, etc. At least have a flyer that can be printable, and a link sent to people we know that does recrui
NMSwede	ting, etc. It might be useful, might not. Word of mouth helps as well, so encouraging current members (like Aleksey said - you get out what you put in) to help with this will be key. \n
NMSwede	That was an EOL there, btw...
Trev71	Yea, I saw that... lol
Trev71	ok, next up Aleksey please...
atsaloli	Aleksey Tsalolikhin: For reaching out to members, there is no substitute for live communication. Chapter meetings are awesome -- I'd love to see more L.A. area LOPSA members participate. I wish it was easier for me to get in touch with them (or even know who they are).
atsaloli	The LOPSAgram is great -- I read mine eagerly every month.   And I always greatly enjoy the Annual Community Meeting. Let's keep that in and do a bit more on connecting individual members with their local chapters. EOF
Trev71	Danielle ?
ClothoMoirai	For tools Slack is worth investigating; most of my tech interaction outside of work is on that platform these days.
ClothoMoirai	I certainly support the decision to bring in expertise in a Community Manager.
ClothoMoirai	I believe our strongest tool at this point is to be in person and getting us into the organizations where we were not seen previously, to integrate our community there.
ClothoMoirai	EOF
Trev71	And, Andy...
vt102	Drew
ClothoMoirai	I think you mean Drew.
Trev71	Yes indeed I do.
Trev71	You guys/gals don't need me either way :)
NMSwede	Trev - I wouldn't be so sure - it's a pretty rowdy crowd in here tonight... :)
Trev71	You don't know the half of it :)
Trev71	Drew is up, no pressure, just a reminder...
druonysus	Nothing replaces in person. In person methods are the strongest and easiest ways for us to build connections. As part of this, I think we need to make sure we have a lively and attractive presence at conferences. Also, we need to find pace-makers in our current local communities and help them grow personally and professionally to put themselves out there… that is to say, booths and talks at conferences, attending meetups and generally
druonysus	talking to people about LOPSA. This benefits them and if they can also talk about how their participation LOPSA has helped them it would go a long way. We need to encourage people to connect with others. If we make sure the benefits are there, it will be easy for them them to tell their peers about the good thing that is LOPSA.
druonysus	END
Trev71	Thanks for those answers...
Trev71	Next question we will jump to Aleksey first, Danielle, Drew, Andy and then Andree...
atsaloli	ok
Trev71	ok "Some of you have mentioned student outreach as part of sustainable membership retention. As a student in perpetuity, I'm interested in this. Could the candidates please elaborate on what they think can be done to do this, what concrete projects or relationships they can build to acheive this goal? What does a successful student outreach program look like?
Trev71	"
atsaloli	I did a presentation on the sysadmin career path at the UCLA computer club a while back.  The room was packed!
atsaloli	There are computer clubs at other local colleges and universities, for example USC.
atsaloli	In addition to the "what is a sysadmin and what does a sysadmin do" type presentations, interested LOPSA members could offer talks on Linux basics, troubleshooting etc.
atsaloli	As we don't have a "student" membership in LOPSA, success would be measured by students actually joining the profession when they enter the workforce and being professional members of LOPSA.
atsaloli	of course they could join now as well and mayhap we could offer a student discount
atsaloli	ultimately successful outreach would equal a growing member base
atsaloli	EOF
Trev71	Thanks Aleskey, Danielle please..
ClothoMoirai	System adminstration is not a field that seems to be often shown to students in their academic career typically so I believe there is a lot of room. We certainly see this with interns at my current workplace.
ClothoMoirai	They need to be shown it as a career option but including information that could mean they decide that it is unsuitable for them.
ClothoMoirai	LOPSA presence on campus will go far here. When I was a part-time student at UNC-Chapel Hill I often saw companies do presentations with soda and pizza that were well attended.
ClothoMoirai	But that's the first step. I will admit that I'm too far removed from current students to say what would continue to appeal to them and would seek further information before I could commit to extended plans.
ClothoMoirai	EOF
Trev71	Thank you, Drew ?
druonysus	Connecting and collaborating with colleges and universities is a good place to start. That covers the formal students, but I think meetups and other local learning and networking events are another good way. I think we can also help students and people in general to understand the different specialties and careers/career paths available to people with knowledge of systems… show them how we can help them form a community of enthusiastic
druonysus	and effective learners. By doing this we not only help people start out to feed the industry with a strong pipeline of next generation of talent. As more people discover the benefits of LOPSA as they learn and grow, it will encourage them to remain a lifetime active member.
druonysus	END
Trev71	Thanks Drew!
Trev71	Andy ?
vt102	The primary goal would be discussion of career paths and the skills that are neeeded.  I learned SysAdmin while in school, but it wasn't in the classrooms.  It was through in-person mentoring and on-the-job training.
vt102	Now more that ever, people need guideposts in their career and understanding how the pieces fit together.  It would be a poor DevOps engineer who ignored decades of valuable, hard-learned SysAdmin expertise!
vt102	I am currently exploring a multi-facted student program locally, by coordinating several local usergroups to interact with each other in real, meaningful ways.
vt102	The dev usergroups code an opensource project, the LOPSA members package and operate, the PMs organize, and those interested in management manage it.  Technologies and topics could be selected specifically to gain widest exposure.
vt102	Alternately, somebody like a LOPSA member could join the developers, to gain some empathy and understanding of their experiences.
vt102	I thought to encourage the work to be done as though remote, since more work is done that way today, to give that experience as well.  It then occurred to me, that if people were working as though remote, there's no real need for it to be a solely local program.
vt102	It may or may not pan out in the end, but I think it's a good example of an idea to give students or people in other careers exposure to a realistic work environment and/or possible careers.
vt102	EOF
Trev71	Thank you, and Andree ?
NMSwede	Many areas in NM are pretty rural. It's hard to get students to do stuff after hours. I taught at UNM for 5 years before going to where I'm at now. I've seen local ACM chapters fail here, etc. just because so many students have families, and other things to do.
NMSwede	When I was in school, the computer labs were full, because few really had useful computers (too early for linux) at home.
NMSwede	We networked there. This does not happen very much today, when everyone has laptops and does work from home.
NMSwede	However, students are still important - The reason, I think students are important is because they are us, but in the future. However, there aren't many sysadmin hackathons organized.
NMSwede	Why, because there isn't a specific "let's just do fun sysadmin stuff..."
NMSwede	We sorta need something to support for it to be really useful. Something like Cluster building, or similar.
NMSwede	I think if we as a group can organize some activities around this, maybe do a networked event something like helping multiple groups of students setting up a redundant system across multiple schools or something like that, something that's useful.
NMSwede	Advertise it, perhaps in support of some specific other activity that also draws people. Meetups, or the like. Like Danielle said, academic programs don't teach systems administration, and without hands-on experience, it's almost impossible to learn. A push in that direction, I think, would be great. EOL.
Trev71	Thank you for those answers, Candidates.
Trev71	So, we are approaching the 90 minute marker and I think its time to wrap things up a bit.
atsaloli	Thanks for keeping us on track
Trev71	I would like each candidate to give us a brief closing statement, I'll default to the initial order of Drew, Andy, Andree, Aleksey and Danielle.
Trev71	Meanwhile I want to remind everyone that the transcripts for both sessions will be available on the lopsa.org website for your review...
Trev71	and that we need your vote --> https://election.lopsa.org
lopsabot	Title: LOPSA Election (at election.lopsa.org)
Trev71	We can open this channel up, after the closing statements.
Trev71	Drew, you are up.
Trev71	We had some well thought out answers tonight, much appreciated candidates...
Trev71	Voting ends on July 1, 2017....
Trev71	And another quick reminder, one of our candidate, Danielle White, did miss the first LIVE event and her answers to the questions are posted on our news page.
Trev71	Part 4 of the Lopsa Live, June 14 event http://lopsa.org/blog/4906590
theWarner	To no fault of her own. Unfortunately, I was unable to provide enough notice.
Trev71	Be sure to catch up on her answers !
druonysus	I want to say thanks to everyone for being patient with me as I know I have not cranked these answers out at the fastest pace ever. I hope everyone can detect the care and thought I have put into my answers. I care. A lot. I care about LOPSA and the success of our organization and, very importantly, it's members. I would love to bring my unique skills to the board to help us collectively leverage what I have learned in my diverse set of
druonysus	experiences into this new domain. However, I want to be clear that I know there is no one size fits all answer to our success. I know what works well to speak to people in big cities will be different than attracting people in smaller, more spread out areas. What we have to offer for students may not always be the thing that keeps the long time members sticking around. When I worked sales it was very important that I would read my customer
druonysus	to be able to communicate to them and speak to their needs most effectively. As a technology professional, I think learning in important and I think that is at the core of what we have offer each other as LOPSA members and as a board member I hope to do much learning and growing as we all find more success together. Lastly, I want to thank everyone who submitted questions as well as everyone involved in this election, including my fellow
druonysus	candidates.
druonysus	END
vt102	In summary, I am running for the board because I give a damn about system administration and LOPSA, and I am willing to give my personal time and energy to them.
vt102	FIN
Trev71	Andree ?
NMSwede	Up until now, I haven't been a terribly active member of LOPSA, but I have been a paid member for several years. Someone thought I would be a good board candidate and nominated me - I still don't know who, but I'll find out eventually :) I'm honored to have been nominated - and I see the tremendous benefits that being part of this organization can be. I
NMSwede	have this nack for getting involved in stuff, and when I do - I typically get involved at a relatively high level. As a board member of LOPSA, I will definitely be more active, and get to know a lot more of you significantly better. I can't really think of a better community in which to be more involved in. If elected will do my best to help the organization reach the goals we set for it. EOF.
Trev71	Aleksey ?
atsaloli	What you get out of LOPSA is related to what you put into it.   I intend to put more into LOPSA.  =)  My primary concern is to get our membership growing -- I'd love to see us reach and pass the 1,000 mark.
atsaloli	The LOPSA-LA "Build a cloud day" event got lot of interest. I'd like to do more hands-on events like that in LA. I encourage any LA-area LOPSA members to get in touch with the LOPSA-LA chapter (www.meetup.com/lopsala) -- we need your energy and ideas.
atsaloli	Thanks to the leadership committee and the organizers/moderators of the LOPSA-live session. Thanks candidates for running.  Thanks everyone for coming out and participating, and hello to the LOPSA members reading the session transcript!
atsaloli	EOF
Trev71	And Danielle ?
ClothoMoirai	I appreciate everyone's time today and the confidence of the nomination.
ClothoMoirai	We clearly at a critical point and I will work toward ensuring LOPSA can meet these challenges.
ClothoMoirai	Across the questions here tonight and conversations with others I have been able to quantify those challenges and will focus on meeting them.
ClothoMoirai	In the short term I am doing work to get LOPSA into places where we haven't been, such as the All Things Open conference, Girl Develop It, and students.
ClothoMoirai	Those venues include many individuals who have either not felt welcome or were simply missed in the past, particularly women and minorites, and Windows admins.
ClothoMoirai	For LOPSA to remain viable this must improve and I am comitted to seeing that through, including in person such as at ATO which is local to me.
ClothoMoirai	EOF
Trev71	Thank you...
Trev71	I want to take a quick moment to thank all of the members for coming out and showing personal interest in the direction of the organization.
vt102	Thanks Trev71,  scott5, theWarner, and my fellow candidates!
Trev71	Also, of course, the candidates for wanting to play an active role.
Trev71	Please review the transcripts -- and Vote!  https://election.lopsa.org
lopsabot	Title: LOPSA Election (at election.lopsa.org)
theWarner	Thanks so much, everyone.
Trev71	Thanks everyone!
theWarner	Vote! =)
NMSwede	Thank you for organizing all this, and for all the thoughtful questions as well
atsaloli	Thank you! =)

Don't forget to vote! Voting closes July 1, 2017