Dear people of the Joomniverse, this is your chance to help shape Joomla’s future. You guessed it: it’s election time! Read more if you want to know which board positions are up for election and what it takes to be part of Joomla’s leadership! 

The Board of Directors of Open Source Matters, Inc. (the organisation behind Joomla) provides organisational, legal and financial support to the Joomla Project. In other words: these are the people who facilitate Joomla.  

As a board member, you have specific duties towards Joomla and its community. In other words: you have to do stuff. Twice a month, you have a board meeting with your fellow board members. And twice a year there’s the Semi-Annual Member Meeting, where the board reports to the community about everything they’ve done, are doing or are going to do. And last but certainly not least, every first of every month, you can join Ask OSM Anything, a meeting where you can meet one or two board members and discuss pretty much everything that’s on your chest.

The board positions open for this election are President, Secretary, Production Department Coordinator and Operations Department Coordinator.

I hope I speak on behalf of all of us, the whole Joomla Community, when I take the opportunity to thank Crystal Dionysopoulos, Carlos Cámara, Sigrid Gramlinger and Luca Marzo for stepping up, dedicating their time and putting effort into making Joomla the best it can be (and if you’re running for another term: good luck)!

In one of our previous elections articles we had Denzel Washington to inspire us, in another we had Barack Obama. And since Obama is an overflowing fountain of useful quotes, let’s pick one by him once again. Because he knows what is necessary to bring change: “Take off your bedroom slippers, put on your marching shoes. Shake it off. Stop complaining, stop grumbling, stop crying. We are going to press on. We’ve got work to do.”

Now let's see what each of these positions means: what would you do and what skills do you need?

President

The president represents the Joomla community (yes: that means us). Joomla’s ideal president coordinates, inspires, and leads Joomla towards its current and future goals. Apart from that, the president also has legal and fiscal responsibilities. So is the president the capo di tutti Joomla? Well, actually it’s the department coordinators who set the goals and the strategies, and the board as a whole that discusses and approves them and thus sets the direction and the future of Joomla. You know: together. 

What should you bring?

Passion for Joomla, obviously. And commitment to open and healthy collaboration with the rest of the board, a sense of curiosity for ideas that challenge your own, and a willingness to listen to our community and advocate on their behalf.

Secretary

Do you like to be involved and know everything that’s going on within Joomla? Then this is your dream job. The secretary writes minutes and reports, organises the elections, knows all about the legal stuff, has permission to sign non-financial documents, helps the board with everything necessary for taking the right decisions, knows what’s going on in the community and… you name it, and the secretary is probably responsible for it.

What should you bring?

Passion for Joomla, a well-structured mind, organisational skills, a fair bit of legal knowledge, a super helpful mindset, knowledge of procedures and regulations. And the ability to help your fellow board members with their tasks. 

Production Department Coordinator

The Production Department Coordinator is  in charge of the Production department, aka the people who code and do everything around it, for example the Security Strike Team, Bug Squad, Documentation, Accessibility and Maintenance, to name just a few of the many teams. You bring all these people together, organize meetings, set goals and budgets, and make sure every team can function at its best.

What should you bring?

Passion for Joomla, the ability to listen and make important strategic decisions. Being a techie is not particularly necessary, but it might help. 

Operations Department Coordinator

The Operations Department keeps the public face of Joomla working. As Department Coordinator, you’d be responsible for the day to day operation of all the Joomla.org websites, such as the Joomla Extensions Directory, the Resource Directory and the Volunteers Portal. Your department has teams for this, and you’re in charge of organising sprints and meetings, providing an accurate budget for the teams in your department, and supporting those teams as best you can. 

What should you bring?

Passion for Joomla, great communication skills, the ability to listen and make decisions, a helpful attitude and the ability to act quickly when necessary. Tech skills may come in handy, but are not necessary per se. 

What should all potential Board Members bring?

You guessed it: passion for Joomla. You would also benefit from a sense of reality and the ability to put things in perspective. Things will happen, because our community is made of people. There will be discussions, disagreements and situations that are not pleasant. Thick skin may come in handy, as does a sense of humor. And keep these wonderful words from Barack Obama in mind: “What is important is that we make sure to work together, that we understand our strength comes from unity and not division.”

How do the elections work?

At the moment of writing, the call for manifestos is open. It closes on January 24. The idea is you write a manifesto that contains your ideas and your plans, and submit it. 

After that, there’s an option for people to write a recommendation for you. And then it’s up to the Joomla Community to pick the best candidate for each role!

Read about the whole process and the timeline here: https://community.joomla.org/blogs/leadership/call-for-manifestos-group2-2025.html  

We have elections twice a year for organisational reasons. The term for a board member is one year. We’ve split the board in two groups, election-wise, so the board doesn’t change all at once and has to start over again from scratch with every election: there’s always a group of board members that have been in their role for at least the last six months.

Who can vote?

For the president/secretary, every member of every official Joomla Team can vote.

For the DC roles, you can vote if you’re a member of an official team in the Department.

Why should you even think about doing it?

Let’s quote our dear friend Barack Obama once more on that one: “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”