Board Elections

Necessity for a Board

As we incorporate and move to create some serious forward movement for this organization we'll need a team of people who have focused responsibilities that will aid in keeping HeatSync Labs in working order. Below are a list of position ideas that the founders brainstormed. Please feel free to add additional ideas to the list. Also feel free to add yourself to the "Interested Parties" table below if you're interested in a certain position. We'll be meeting up to discuss position ideas and who may be interested soon. Check out the date under "Board Meeting".

Position Ideas

There is much written about how large a board should be. Some non profits will seek to have large boards which are meant to represent many different interests and donors in the community. Other advice argues to keep a board small and agile. For now it is expected our board will be small, agile, and targeted to the task at hand, creating a hackerspace out of nothing. As such these positions were chosen to represent what we should need now and are expected to be flattened down into maybe 5 overlapping roles.

Champion: Responsible for coordinating between the different board members. Helps maintain the primary goal of the organization (the mission statement). Also helps to support all members with various tasks and is responsible for public and board meeting agendas.

Secretary (Scribe): Responsible for maintaining records of all meetings and other paperwork for the organization, including membership applications.

Treasurer/CPA: Responsible for handling finances for the organization and managing the bank account. This includes membership fees, operation fees, and donations.

PR/Marketing: Responsible for press releases, social networking, and promotion of the organization in general.

Editor: Responsible for monitoring the blog and wiki. Edits submissions for publication and recruits contributors for entries.

IT Administrator: Responsible for maintaining the HSL server. Also will gain additional responsibilities once a physical space is obtained.

Event Coordinator: Responsible for maintaining a calendar of events for the organization. This would include presentations, talks, conferences, projects, meetings, etc.

Fundraising/Social Coordinator: Responsible for fundraisers and social events for the organization. Also responsible for fundraising as a whole.

Resource Manager: Responsible for ordering supplies and updating/maintaining the tool share database.

Legal: Responsible for legal matters for the organization, either in a lawyer capacity or as a liaison to a lawyer. This would also include handling waivers, insurance information, and other paperwork related to our liabilities.

Board Meeting

When: Quarterly
Time: 7pm Place: HeatSync Labs
140 West Main St. Tempe, AZ 85201

Interested In Being a Board Member?

Three questions for everyone!

1. Do you see yourself in any of these job roles?
   
2. Are any of these roles unnecessary for the organization?
   
3. Is there anything additional we should account for?
   

Current Board Members

See this link for current members.

Previous Board Members

Position	People Interested
Champion	Jacob Rosenthal, Jeremy Leung
Secretary/Scribe	Andrea Young
Treasurer/CPA	Shannon McCormick
PR/Marketing	Rick Osgood
Editor	David H.
IT Administrator	Zachary Giles, Will Bradley
Event Coordinator	Consolidated into Scribe Role
Fundraising/Social Coordinator	Split between Marketing and individual champions of fundraising ideas who will communicate with scribe.
Resource Manager	Andre Sprague
Legal	External Party

Interested Parties Nomination Speeches

Jacob Rosenthal

Greetings HeatSyncers! Please consider this my intent to run for the Champion role. I have a background in supervising and project management and I delight in constantly pushing projects forward.

In Madison Wisconsin I Managed a call center for the deaf and hard of hearing before being offered a position with Arizona State University where I currently utilize my skills as Application Systems Analyst. I also enjoy working with ASU’s Cognitive Center for Ubiquitous Computing (CUbiC) lab where, after my Senior Capstone, I was asked to return to mentor two newly formed Capstone teams as they begin their two-semester projects.

I look forward working with you all to build HeatSync into an active, sustainable, and transparent community resource. No matter what role I find myself in within our ranks, I see myself continuing to outreach, create partnerships, and pursue large funding like the 2k and 20k proposals.

Zachary Giles

I would like to nominate myself for the IT Administrator position.

My Background: I have had quite a few years of experience with Small to Medium business IT admin and Networking. My current day job is as a Network Admin for a software development company with self-hosted customer applications for larger companies (Think Fortune 100ish). We maintain our own high-availability network and server system for maximum uptime. I also have a pretty good understanding of the telecom systems around the Phoenix area and can assess the potential connectivity of that space when we are deciding it. (Nothing is worse than signing a lease on a place you can't connect to ..) My technical knowledge and experience ranges from small IC chips and microcontrollers all the way up to large linux systems, supercomputers, and large internet pipes. That of course includes enterprise-level desktops and file servers etc.

What I want to make happen: I see HeatSync not only as a great location for tools/metalwork/woodwork etc, but also for the computer-savvy individuals who want a place to work and learn more about enterprise-level systems without having to purchase them themselves. One of the great motto's of HeatSync is that we want to provide people with the tools and resources they need to be able to learn and make new products. Why not do that for the computer industries as well as manufacturing (they're quite related)? We can provide that learning and those tools and systems that would not have otherwise been avaliable. (Cisco router labs, linux servers, raid arrays, multimonitor setups, VoIP phones, etc). With my knowledge of all these systems and where to get them, we can make sure that they are up to spec and working correctly to minimize people's frustration and maximize the usability of the tools. This could easily create all kinds of opportunities for classes and learning sessions.. which is something we want.

Will Bradley

I'm nominating myself for IT Administrator, or Vice IT Administrator if the position exists as I'm happy to work alongside Zach.

My goal is to support the Phoenix tech/hacker community, and Valley community-building in general. The more friendly we are and the more fun we can have together, the better. Since my skills and experience are mostly tech- and leadership-related, I feel I can best serve HeatSync by managing (or helping to manage) the computer systems, code, and networks you decide HeatSync needs.

Since 2003 I've been (and am sometimes cursed with being) a natural leader in IT. Starting with desktop computers, and quickly moving into networking and server administration, I've created and managed numerous networks, systems, and applications from scratch: from home networks, to small and large offices, to server rooms and collocated webservers -- and the code and routers that make them work-- I've done almost everything. My budgets have always been razor-tight, so I know how to deliver world-class technology for $5 and for $50,000-- nothing is off the table, and I lay out the advantages of each option: you can trust that your donations and membership dues will be put to the best possible use.

I see the IT Admin's immediate task being the creation and maintenance of the various websites and tools necessary to connect the community and help HeatSync become a physical reality. The email list, website, blog, wiki, and tool sharing site are just the most immediate concerns and we've barely gotten started! Everything from server configuration to html and advanced PHP, ASP.Net, and Ruby on Rails code is no problem. Plus, an IT guy's job is never truly done, because these things can always be made better and there are always new ideas (which I look forward to hearing from you!) Once we have room for physical equipment, the job will also require management of the Internet connection and routers, plus providing for and maintaining any computers or servers on-site. As Zach mentioned, this could even include hacking and learning opportunities as we receive donated equipment or gather the money to purchase equipment outright. Whatever you HeatSync members want IT-wise, I'm sure I can make it happen.

Andrea Young

I have been nominated for Secretary/Scribe (which also includes Event Coordinator and some duties of Fundraising/Social Coordinator).

I came into HeatSync Labs near the beginning of its manifestation, after the initial concept had been born. I visited another hackerspace with Jeremy and responded "So, what can I do to make this whole thing work?". And I mean that. Since July, I have been helping to keep up records, research whatever we need, and to handle a lot of the administrative work that many people find tedious. I am extremely thorough and detail oriented, but can see how all the little things fit into the big picture. I currently assist the local director of a different non-profit in the valley, Youth of Unity. I have a BS in PreLaw from ASU and am working on a BA in English (emphasis on Education) currently. I am hard working, dedicated, reliable, and resourceful. I will do everything I possibly can to make HSL thrive and succeed.

David H

I am nominating myself for the position of Editor, an office established to handle the responsibility to getting things written for public view, such as the HSL Bylaws, and editing content that gets submitted to the HSL blog. At DeVry, I was a contributing writer for the school newspaper and wrote a number of articles on various topics of hacker interest. I have also written and edited founding documents for other organizations, most notably the DeVry Linux User Group, which I co-founded in 2003. For ABLEconf 2009, I also wrote a majority of all written content, including press releases, some blog posts and most marketing copy. I tend to pride myself in being a detail-oriented perfectionist and don't mind holding that standard to content for the HSL blog, which I intend to make extremely awesome.

Jeremy Leung

As a co-founder of HeatSync Labs I've been dedicated to driving this concept forward since its inception. I would like to continue doing so if the membership will accept me as one of their Champions. I've been committed to hearing out everyone's suggestions for what we'll need to have to create our hacker space and what we'll need included in it. When ever I get a chance to travel I've made it a point to stop by any local successful hacker spaces and talk to their constituents. Through this activity I've learned a number of things that we could use in our own space and some that we should avoid.

A few years ago I acted as the leader of a Defcon chapter(hacker group) in the local area for some time. Through this experience I learned a heavy lesson on group dynamics and leadership responsibilities. Out of that time period I also learned the positives and negatives of working with marketing and donating parties. Our goal is to provide the tools, space, and direction necessary to develop things you envision. Those ideas and products are your own. I want to make sure it stays that way.

I have years of experience as a Senior Systems Administrator where I've led a team of Admins in a 24x7 environment ensuring that thousands of systems stay up and running and safe from threats. Over the last half year I've acted as a teacher and mentor to employees coming into the company I work at. I hope to carry and spread that mentality throughout the organization. Most of all, I can act as a strong voice for this organization. When I speak of the group I speak with passion and doing so hope to warm others to the idea of having a hacker space in their community, as well as, hopefully inciting them to join in the fun. With the help of a dedicated membership we can have the dream hacker space that we want. I would love to be one of the leaders to guide us in that direction. Thank you.

Andre Sprague

I have been super excited about HSL since I first saw the post on makerblog. My wife and I are very interested in homemade crafts/do it yourself and have a mini workshop on our patio. I have worked for a major Internet Technology company for the last 3 years around the valley. I am committed to doing everything I can to make HSL a major entity both in our community and the online hackspace community. I hope to help create a tracking system for tools as well as other facility responsibilities once we have a location established. I hope work with the IT Admin to create web apps to track almost every aspect of the location, from a real time tool database, security and access, web bots and anything else we can wire to the net so that we can all be a part of the many projects we will tackle.

Future Position Ideas

• Education- I see a real need to coordinate all our presentations and knowledge into modules which we can continually refine.
• Safety - I foresee a real need here as we begin to obtain large industrial equipment to create safety guidelines and training procedures.
• Facilities Management- Setup, repair and oversight of all our facilities needs