Dear members of the F-Droid community,

I am happy to make the announcement of this year’s F-Droid Board of Directors appointments. First and foremost, thank you to everyone who made a nomination, and to all the nominees for their interest in contributing to F-Droid’s governance. Juliana Sims, Peter Serwylo and myself, Sebastian Crane, have been selected for two year terms on the Board. I feel honoured to have been chosen and look forward to serving the F-Droid community, a sentiment I share with my fellow new arrivals:

“As a passionate free software advocate and F-Droid user, I am delighted to bring my experience with community organizing and moderation to the Board in order to help the F-Droid project and community continue to grow equitably and inclusively into the future.” - Juliana Sims

“F-Droid is an extremely important part of the free software ecosystem. With so many people carrying powerful computers in their pockets, it is more important than ever to have a strong free software alternative to the proprietary app stores, walled gardens, and adware found elsewhere. I’m constantly amazed by what the F-Droid team and community have achieved, and look forward to serving on the board, bringing my software development and computer science background to help the project grow.” - Peter Serwylo

Not only will this bring new perspectives to the Board, but it will also enhance its geographic diversity. Peter lives in Australia, Juliana is on the USA’s Eastern Seaboard, and I hail from Britain. That means two countries hitherto unrepresented on the Board of Directors, and our first director from south of the Equator! This is especially welcome given how F-Droid is part of the global movement of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS).

As originally planned, Max Mehl, one the founding directors of the Board, is leaving. I am sure I speak for the whole F-Droid community in wanting to express gratitude for his service to the project. Max has a few words with which to bid the Board farewell:

“I would like to thank the F-Droid community and my fellow Board members for giving me the opportunity to serve on the founding Board. Having been an avid user since the early days of F-Droid, this role has made the often time-consuming and tedious background tasks much more transparent to me. So my greatest appreciation goes to the volunteers who put so much long-term work into F-Droid!

My wish and hope is that the Board will continue to reduce the friction for current and future F-Droid contributors, while at the same time professionalising the handling of incidents and conflicts. I am confident that the Board in its new composition has everything it takes to succeed.” - Max Mehl

Andrew Lewman and Matthias Kirschner continue their two-year terms as directors, and Hans-Christoph Steiner continues his two-year term as Technical Lead (a non-director role advisory to the Board). Showing their belief in F-Droid, Morgan Lemmer-Webber, John Sullivan and Michael Downey volunteered to continue after their initial one-year terms and have subsequently been re-elected. This will help to maintain continuity in what is the first change to the Board’s composition since its founding, and brings the total number of directors to eight, up from six directors during the Board’s first year.

Since its formation, the F-Droid Board of Directors has had four designated roles, namely that of Chair, Vice Chair, Clerk and Treasurer. Although none of the directors holding these positions are leaving, the Board has chosen to introduce one additional role and reassign an existing one: Peter will take the newly-created position of Vice Clerk, and I will succeed Morgan as the Chair. John, Andrew and Michael will continue in their capacities of Vice Chair, Clerk and Treasurer respectively.

The Board is therefore now composed as follows:

• Sebastian Crane (Chair) - until 2026
• Michael Downey (Treasurer) - reappointed, until 2025
• Matthias Kirschner - until 2025
• Morgan Lemmer-Webber - reappointed, until 2025
• Andrew Lewman (Clerk) - until 2025
• Peter Serwylo (Vice Clerk) - until 2026
• Juliana Sims - until 2026
• Hans-Christoph Steiner - ex officio, until 2026
• John Sullivan (Vice Chair) - reappointed, until 2026

During 2024, the Board of Directors intends to form new subcommittees to establish additional points of liaison between the Board and those interested in specific aspects of F-Droid’s activities (fundraising, for instance). If the prospect of participating in such discussions interests you, please keep an eye out for further announcements! Board meetings continue to be open to the entire community, and will be announced in advance on the F-Droid Forum.

Best regards,

Sebastian Crane on behalf of the F-Droid Board of Directors