About me and (F/L)OSS

Hello, I’m Helen Hou-Sandí! I’m the Director of Open Source Initiatives at 10up, a fully-distributed full service agency, where arguably the most visible part of my work is as one of a handful of Lead Developers on the WordPress open source software project. Outside of that, my general mandate is to determine what needs and opportunities there are for us as a company in the OSS space, and to own driving those forward from both the product and technical perspectives. My primary motivator in my work remains the cause of “democratizing publishing” via an open platform that currently powers more than 40% of the web (reference: https://w3techs.com/technologies/details/cm-wordpress), including most recently personally being a part of the team behind the relaunch of the White House site for the new administration, but over the years I have naturally also become invested in the finer details around free and open source software, the open web, and how all of that fits into the current realities of the world.

Why me for the OSI Board?

I have no existing agenda to bring - I am running because I believe that as a leader in such a large software project with an even larger ecosystem and economy surrounding it, it is important that we participate in organizations that are a part of ensuring our relevance and sustainability now and into the future. As an individual member of the OSI Board, I would look to:

* Support the work to move the OSI from a volunteer-driven to volunteer-supported organization.
* Work with the board and team to identify priorities and strategies to effectively execute on them, such as organizational sustainability and community relationships.
* Bring a perspective that includes being a part of a large mission-driven OSS project as an individual funded by a separate corporate entity where OSS and community involvement is a central tenet of our business practices.
* Leverage existing OSS and tech community relationships and forge new connections.