Position statement for Michael Schultheiss

I am Michael Schultheiss, schultmc on IRC, and I am running for re-election to the SPI Board of Directors.

I have been an SPI Director since July 2006 and an SPI Officer since August 2006, serving as Vice-President from August 2006 through August 2007 and as Treasurer from August 2007 through the present. I also served as Assistant Treasurer under the previous two Treasurers, assisting with timely mail pickup and depositing of donations. During my tenure as SPI Treasurer, I made timely deposits of donations and released periodic financial reports.

I have been a Debian Developer since April 2002. I participated in the IA64 port and currently maintain a handful of packages, primarily web applications. I have used Debian since 2000 both personally and professionally.

I am on the core team of the Gallery project, an open source web based photo album organizer (http://gallery.menalto.com) and SPI Associated Project. I package Gallery for Debian, help out with documentation and user support, and offer guidance on Gallery's involvement in SPI. I led Gallery's involvement in the Google Summer of Code program from April 2006 through September 2008.

I frequently use the software and services provided by several other SPI Associated Projects. I'm on irc.oftc.net daily, run several Drupal websites, use OpenOffice.org nearly every day, and use PostgreSQL for several sites as well.

I have been an SPI Contributing member since January 2003. In May 2005, I joined the SPI Membership Committee. I have attended the vast majority of the SPI board meetings over the past several years, regardless of whether I was serving on the Board at the time. I also serve on the Board of Directors for several other non-profit organizations and am also interested in the Bylaws Committee.

In addition to Debian, Gallery, and SPI, I have contributed to the FLOSS community in other areas:

  1. I've served on the Board of Directors of the Central Indiana Linux Users' Group (CINLUG) since March 2001 (March 2001-2002 and March 2003-Present as President, and March 2002-2003 as Vice-President). I have helped schedule and plan dozens of monthly presentations and helped organize our installfests and in-depth training sessions. Debian is often a key component in our training sessions.

  2. I'm the co-founder of the Indiana Ubuntu Local Community Team and coordinated the effort to get the Indiana LoCo Team officially approved status from the Ubuntu Community Council. I provide Ubuntu support and advocacy for users throughout Indiana.

I've participated in CINLUG's Application for Recognition of Exemption Under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and am also helped direct the discussions for the possible creation of the Gallery Software Foundation. Gallery decided to become an SPI Associated Project to avoid the painstaking process of starting and running their own organization. I know first hand how time consuming the 501(c)(3) application process is and organizations should be very grateful that umbrella organizations like SPI exist so they can benefit from tax-exempt status without having to go through the tedious application process themselves.

SPI provides a great service to the FLOSS community. I look forward to SPI's future expansion as it welcomes new projects under the SPI umbrella. SPI's current activities as an umbrella organization are only a small portion of its authorized purposes listed in its Certificate of Incorporation. In addition to serving as an umbrella organization, SPI could also help the FLOSS community by expanding its activities to include other authorized purposes.

In addition to serving as SPI Treasurer, I am also treasurer of other non-profit organizations. I have taken numerous business and accounting courses and am familiar with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. I am interested in continuing as SPI Treasurer.