OASIS Board - Paul Knight re-election note

["Paul Knight" <paul.knight@nortel.com>]

Dear OASIS voting members,

Your vote (as well as your participation in OASIS technical work) really
does matter.

Please take a minute or two to vote for the OASIS Board of Directors, if
you have not done so already... And even if you have voted, perhaps you
will have a few seconds to read on...

First, the voting link for the Board is:
http://www.oasis-open.org/apps/org/workgroup/voting/ballot.php?id=1471

Second, I want to thank those members who voted for me two years ago,
and ask for all of you who have been pleased with my contributions to
vote for me this time.  My detailed election profile is at: 
http://www.oasis-open.org/private/elections/2008board/knight.php

I also want to take this opportunity to mention some important points
regarding OASIS, as well as a concern (at the bottom):
- I hope all of you will give your support to our new Executive
Director, Laurent Liscia.  I am impressed with the qualities of focus
and inventiveness which he brings to this position.  Personally, I look
forward to having the opportunity to work with him to improve OASIS over
the coming years (whether as a Board member or as an OASIS contributing
member). 

- I have been impressed with the quality of the Board members with whom
I have had the privilege to work over the past two years, and I urge you
to support all the current members who are standing for election:
  - Bob Glushko
  - Frederick Hirsch
  - Jeff Mischkinsky
  - and me, Paul Knight (kind of self-serving, I know)
  ++ PLUS ++ after voting for the four current Board members, you will
still have two of your six votes to choose among the four excellent new
candidates!
We have had to deal with some very challenging issues over the past two
years, and each of the Board members has dedicated enormous time and
energy to the tasks.  In addition to our usual monthly teleconferences
and quarterly face-to-face meetings, we have been meeting weekly (and
working on issues for many hours beyond the meetings) since the
resignation of the OASIS President at the beginning of the year.  Each
Board member has been a part of an impressive team, and nearly every
Board member personally interviewed all of the candidates for the
Executive Director position.  In particular, Eduardo Gutentag, as
Chairman of the Board, undertook an extraordinary load as the interim
President.  I think all OASIS members owe our appreciation to him, as
well as to Sun Microsystems for its generosity in making his talents
available nearly full-time.  I also want to thank the OASIS staff for
their dedication in these trying circumstances.

- Over the past few years, OASIS has greatly improved its reputation as
a major standards organization.  Recognition as a standards organization
by the International Telecommunications Union (the leading United
Nations agency for information and communication technologies) is
granted to very few bodies, and OASIS has achieved this.  For OASIS
members, this status brings value and responsibility.  Value, because
our work has a clear potential to progress as an international standard.
Responsibility, because we must ensure that our OASIS Standards are of
the highest quality, and reflect our values of open participation.

I want to close with a concern, which I hope to have the opportunity to
address as an OASIS Board member:
- OASIS is still recovering from the financial turmoil which has
affected much of the technology sector over the past several years, and
the organization operates within narrow margins.  I hope to work with
Laurent Liscia and the Board to continue guiding OASIS to sound
financial health and a sustainable future.  This will provide OASIS
staff with clear prospects for building a career with a respected and
solidly established organization, and will provide OASIS members with
the satisfaction of knowing that their efforts - embodied in OASIS
documents - will continue to be widely available as foundational
elements of information interchange well into the future.  When the
Board interviewed Laurent, he mentioned that he looked at OASIS as an
organization with undervalued assets, and that he wanted to help build
upon the true value of those assets to strengthen OASIS.  I am excited
about the prospects for leveraging the assets of OASIS to enhance and
build an organization of which we will all be proud.  Some of my ideas
along these lines are mentioned in my candidate profile, at
http://www.oasis-open.org/private/elections/2008board/knight.php.

Again, the voting link for the Board is:
http://www.oasis-open.org/apps/org/workgroup/voting/ballot.php?id=1471

(Also, the link for the Technical Advisory Board election is:
http://www.oasis-open.org/apps/org/workgroup/voting/ballot.php?id=1473 )

Please feel free to contact me to discuss any matter regarding the
election or other OASIS matters.

Thank you and best regards,
Paul

Paul Knight
Nortel Certified Network Architect
Technical Diplomat and Standards Advisor - Applications and Services
Nortel, Office of CTO
Email     paul.knight@nortel.com
Telephone +1 978 288 6414 
Director, Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information
Standards (OASIS)
OASIS email: paul.knight@oasis-open.org
ITU-T email: paul.knight@ties.itu.int 
personal email, etc: ask