The Drupal Association on 13th September 2022, released blog posts of the 2022 candidates for the open at-large board seat.  The voting for the same opens on 21st September at 00:00 UTC.

The blog posts cover the following questions:

• Who are you? (biography/background)
• Why are you running for a board seat at the Drupal Association? (mission/motivation)
• Why should members vote for you? (qualifications)
• Can you speak to how you would uphold these duties if you were elected?
• How could you serve as a link between the organization and the community?
• What do you hope to achieve within your term limit (2 years)?
• What’s a fact about yourself that no one would guess? 

The candidates for this year's 1 open at-large board seat are  Bhavin Joshi, Mark Dorison, Adam Bergstein, Esaya Jokonya, Monica Flores and  John Doyle. 

Bhavin Joshi from Gujarat, India, has been with Drupal for more than 15 years. When answering why he is running for a board seat at the Drupal Association he said,

In my region, there are a lot of developers & companies working with Drupal. They hardly participate in any events/initiatives. They have no idea about contribution. Most of the time, they are the end users of all the initiatives and looking for a solution to the issues they face with their Drupal projects. I would like to create awareness by organising local events and spread the word about the existing as well as new initiatives as soon as they happen. This way, no one will feel left out.

You can check out his profile and other answers here.

Mark Dorison from United States, has been with Drupal since 2008. When answering how he can serve as a link between the organization and the community he said,

I believe that meeting the community’s needs is essential to the future of the Drupal project and the Drupal Association. My understanding of those needs will not end at the culmination of this election. I commit to make myself available to the community via email, social media, and holding regular office hours so that I can continue to learn and be a conduit for their feedback to the Board.

You can check out his profile and other answers here.

Adam Bergstein from United States has been with Drupal for over 10 years. When answering what he hopes to achieve within the term limit he said,

I would like to emphasize the growth and viability of the Drupal project as part of the mission of the Drupal Association. I would like to get more contributors, better focus on initiatives/outcomes, greater adoption, and help current adopters continue to get value staying on Drupal. 

You can check out his profile and other answers here.

Esaya Jokonya from Harare, Zimbabwe has been working with Drupal since 2010. When answering why he is running for a board seat at the Drupal Association he said,

The Drupal Association (DA) is a not-for-profit organization which promotes, supports, and defends the Drupal open source content management system. The DA Board of Directors consists of seven individuals who are responsible for the governance and management of the Association.

As a Drupal advocate and enthusiast, I would like to be a part of the DA Board of Directors. My goal is to help promote and grow the Drupal platform, while ensuring that the DA remains an effective and valuable resource for the Drupal community.

I have a strong background in business and technology, and have been involved in the Drupal community for several years. I am confident that I have the skills and qualifications needed to serve on the DA Board of Directors. I am committed to working with the other Board members to support the Drupal community and grow the Drupal platform.

I want to help the Drupal Association (DA) continue its work in promoting, supporting, and building the Drupal community.

The DA does a lot of great work in promoting Drupal and supporting the community, and I want to help them continue this work. I also want to help the DA build a stronger community by working on initiatives like increasing diversity and inclusiveness, and creating better tools and resources for Drupal users.

You can check out his profile and other answers here.

Monica Nikki Flores from United States has been using Drupal since 2008. When answering how she can serve as a link between the organization and the community she said,

I will be available for public discussion and deliberation for issues that continue to surface as being important to the community. As an example from the ongoing Code of Conduct suitability and refinement process: through identifying interested parties, reaching out for feedback and review, and continuing to expand communication to more open channels (such as the Drupal Slack discussions) I think there are ways to build connections between novice users and experts, and for people new to Drupal to find ways to participate that they might not otherwise have opportunity.

I believe existing programs can be expanded to include wider varieties of participants, such as presenting more sponsors, mentors, and partners as resources to existing Drupal groups and camps. At heart I have found that people who use Drupal love to share their knowledge, and I’d issue a challenge for us to step toward “each one teach one” in the form of mentoring, demonstrating, or sharing in a blog post or video, something that you’ve learned recently.

I’d also encourage Drupal users to share their general stories of how they entered technology or entered as a Drupal user - we learn from the experiences of our peers, and in the community we have many opportunities to grow from each other’s lived experiences. I’d like to highlight more stories that we possibly haven’t heard yet, with the understanding that we foster a stronger sense of belonging when we have better mechanisms to understand one another.

Finally, I would like to build bridges between existing certifications and Drupal, for example in my personal work I am studying for IAAP Certification, and two years ago received the CSM designation - I’d like to identify ways that Drupal users can continue to stay on the platform, expand their licensing or certifications, and continue to grow their careers.

You can check out her profile and other answers here.

John Doyle from United States has been with Drupal for over 10 years. When answering what he hopes to achieve within the term limit he said,

During my 2 year term, I hope to give back to the community that has given me so much by continuing to enable the growth and development of community members. I would like to help the organization spread the word about the capabilities of Drupal and extend the footprint. Drupal has been losing some steam to newer, "cooler" front-end frameworks and one of the big opportunities I see over the next 2 years is to continue sharing the story of the power of Drupal as a headless CMS and extend our footprint beyond the traditional CMS market as a partner to these new platforms, not competition. 

You can check out her profile and other answers here.

The idea of these blog posts are to help you better understand the candidates and then vote the one that you think is best suited for this position.

Note: Remember that in order to be eligible your Drupal Association membership must be active for a full 24 hours before voting opens.