Candidates for the GNOME Foundation 2026 Elections

Below you find the list of candidates running for the GNOME Foundation Board of Directors in 2026. We encourage everyone to check the candidates' full candidacy statements, and follow related discussions on Discourse.

When deciding who to vote for, please consider the various tasks under the responsibility of the Board of Directors. This overview might be helpful. The board makes a number of important decisions and performs many tasks which require time, effort and the ability to work and communicate with others. The Board of Directors will represent GNOME to companies and the world. It is a good idea to strive for a well-balanced Board consisting of people with various backgrounds, skills, and perspectives.

Additional elections details can be found on the GNOME Foundation Web Site.

Candidates for the GNOME Foundation Board of Directors

  1. Aaditya Singh
    Full statement
    Affiliation: GNOME Nepal & Ubuntu Nepal
    I am the community lead of GNOME Nepal and Ubuntu Nepal. I founded GNOME Nepal in 2024 and revived the decade-long inactive Ubuntu Nepal community in 2025. I am an organizer for GNOME Asia and have worked on the past 3 GNOME Asia summits. I successfully led GNOME Nepal to organize the largest UbuCon Asia to date. I am also part of the GNOME fundraising team. If elected, my focus will be on:
    • Expanding GNOME local chapters and maintaining better communication and support for them, including creating a collaborative space for communities like GNOME Germany, GNOME Africa, GNOME Persia, GNOME Nepal, etc.
    • Creating a clearer roadmap for new contributors, with online and onsite training initiatives through local communities
    • Encouraging the creation of more regular and engaging social media content, representing contributors and users, and recording ground-level activities of local communities
    My focus will mainly be on connecting the community with the project, facilitating the formation and sustainability of local GNOME communities, and capacity building for new contributors.

  2. Adrian Vovk
    Full statement
    Affiliation: Red Hat
    I have been working on GNOME OS and systemd with the goal of making GNOME OS a general-purpose OS. I was one of the contractors during the Sovereign Tech Fund's investment into GNOME during 2023/2024, and I am now managing an STF project for systemd. I also helped organize another STF project for 2026/2027 and have been involved in standing up Modal, a collective to strategically fund work on the Linux desktop stack. Day-to-day, I maintain gnome-session and co-maintain GDM. If elected, I would focus on:
    • Supporting the Foundation's current positive trajectory, including improved financial health, transparency, and the Fellowship program
    • Preparing the Foundation for coordinated grant work again, including keeping track of community members' availability for future projects
    • Bringing Flathub's payments system over the finish line to get app developers paid
    • Establishing a baseline AI policy for the GNOME GitLab infrastructure, banning AI slop while allowing individual maintainers to set stronger policies

  3. Deepa Venkatraman
    Full statement
    Affiliation: nilenso
    I have served as Treasurer since June 2025 and on the Board since November 2025. My initial focus was bringing clarity to the Foundation's financial position, which led to a balanced budget for 2025-26 and more timely financial reporting. This has helped the Board make informed decisions, including investing in fundraising efforts that contributed to the launch of the Fellowship program. My goal is to create a virtuous cycle where stronger fundraising enables more programs, contributor support, conferences, and community initiatives, which in turn attract more funding and participation. My background in running an employee-owned coop, consulting, entrepreneurship, and finance provides practical experience in governance, budgeting, and long term planning.

  4. Guillaume Bernard
    Full statement
    Affiliation: MAIF
    I joined the free software community in 2013 and have spent more years inside the GNOME community than outside of it. I maintain and develop Damned Lies, GNOME's translation platform, and serve as an internationalization coordinator and coordinator of the French GNOME community. I also have experience with boards and project management from other free software organizations. My priorities for the Foundation Board:
    • Supporting non-code contributions: continuing to value translators, documentation writers, designers, accessibility contributors, event organizers, and infrastructure maintainers
    • Accessibility and inclusion: ensuring GNOME is usable everywhere, by everyone, across cultures, languages, and levels of technical expertise
    • Ecology and digital sustainability: promoting a computing model that extends the lifetime of devices and reduces dependence on cloud services
    • Growing GNOME's public and institutional presence, engaging with public institutions and companies to advocate for reinvestment into free software communities
    • Bringing new contributors into GNOME by expanding onboarding approaches beyond application development

  5. Jonathan Blandford
    Full statement
    Affiliation: Google
    I have been part of the GNOME community since nearly the beginning, with my first contribution for GNOME 0.12 in 1997. I worked on GTK2, wrote the original control center, and co-authored evince. I spent a decade running the Red Hat Desktop team and five years as VP of Engineering at Endless. I previously served on the GNOME Board from 2001 to 2006 and as an Advisory Board member for over a decade. If elected, I want to focus on:
    • Navigating the current moment: capitalizing on the shift in the desktop landscape as users seek alternatives to established platforms
    • Facilitating a wider community conversation about responsible use of AI and LLMs
    • Branding and storytelling: using our ecosystem of apps to attract new users and contributors, and finding ways to get developers paid
    • Strengthening the Foundation with long management experience and history to bring additional stability

  6. Julian Sparber
    Full statement
    Affiliation: SPI (systemd contractor)
    I have been a contributor for about 10 years, working on core components such as GNOME Shell, Libadwaita, Settings, Contacts, Fractal and more. Over the past 2 years I served on the executive committee, attended weekly meetings, served as secretary, was on the ED hiring committee, and serve on the travel committee. I helped conceptualize the Fellowship program alongside the fundraising initiative. If re-elected, I will continue to focus on:
    • Getting contributors paid: growing the Fellowship, pursuing public grants, and enabling Flathub payments using an EU entity
    • Bridging the gap between community and Foundation: re-establishing trust through more efficient service, increased travel sponsorship, and better communication about available support

  7. Robert McQueen
    Full statement
    Affiliation: Endless Access LLC
    I have been in the FOSS community for around 25 years, across Debian, freedesktop.org, GStreamer, and GNOME. I founded Collabora in 2005 and joined Endless in 2015, becoming CEO of Endless Access in 2020. I have served on the GNOME board since 2018, as President from 2019 to 2025, and currently serve as Vice President. I co-founded Flathub and helped launch GNOME Circle and the Fellowship program. My focus is to improve the signal to noise ratio: the Foundation must raise money and spend it on GNOME, build community and donor trust, invest in the community, and tell a clear story. Should I be re-elected, I will not stand for an officer position but will provide context, continuity, and advice. My main area of work will be Flathub, moving ahead with the legal and governance steps to enable payments and donations for app developers.

  8. Sriram Ramkrishna
    Full statement
    Affiliation: None
    I am a long-serving member of the GNOME project spanning decades. I previously served on the board from 2013 to 2015, where I was actively involved in the Groupon trademark battle. I launched the GNOME extensions community with Andy Holmes, and I am active in the GNOME OS community. Day to day, I manage Reddit and help the Engagement Team. I recently helped organize Linux App Summit in Berlin. If elected, I want to focus on:
    • Fundraising: contributing from all sides of the equation, building on 10 years of experience fundraising for Linux App Summit and other conferences
    I bring 28 years of experience in professional open source, with a background in fundraising, developer programs, event planning, and legal knowledge of trademarks and privacy laws. I am connected to many open source non-profits and have represented GNOME at conferences and communities for over 20 years.

Additional Elections-related Information

Note, that according to the Bylaws Article VIII Section 2d the Board cannot have more than two members affiliated with one same company. If more than 2 people from one company are elected, only the top 2 candidates will join the Board. You will be able to vote for up to 4 candidates of your choice, with no restrictions in terms of affiliation. You cannot vote more than once for the same candidate.

If you have any futher question, please consult the Rules for this election or write to GitLab.