Subject: [TC-Announce] Strengthening the OGC

Dear OGC Members:

Over the past few months as the GeoServices REST candidate standard neared a vote, the extraordinary dialog among members and the user community has been passionate and often insightful. It has shown the necessity for members to watch consortium proceedings with care and actively engage in the process and voice concerns, as well as vote. While all of us, members and staff, understand that from time to time the Consortium membership will entertain contentious topics, I believe we can and must do better to motivate discussion, seek agreement, and work to facilitate decisions earlier in the process.

Recent events and the continued growth of OGC with an ever diversifying membership are a reminder that our policies and procedures must evolve to meet new challenges. The need for greater clarity and visibility of leadership roles and accountability has been well highlighted through the discussion. Staff and I are thankful for the many great ideas and critical feedback (sometimes painful to read) that we have received from members, our alliance partner organizations and the public. I believe we now have an excellent opportunity to review the Consortium's vision and mission as well as our policies and procedures. While our resources are limited, there are times when renewed effort to assess and improve the effectiveness of the organization becomes a priority. OGC has done this many times in the past, and I believe we are again at this point of opportunity. However, we cannot do this without the support and commitment of our members.

I have asked Geoff Zeiss and Jack Pellicci from our board to join me in establishing a leadership group to solicit your ideas and concerns, and to produce a slate of recommendations for action within 90 days. If you have an interest in working with us as part of this group to represent the interests of the OGC membership please contact me as soon as possible. An online forum will also be created to provide an open and accessible environment for members and the public to participate. We will be setting up a series of online meetings in the coming weeks, with a first meeting scheduled on 2 July for OGC members only. Registration details can be found here: https://portal.opengeospatial.org/public_ogc/register/130702ideas.php. A meeting open to the public will be scheduled for 11 July with several follow-up sessions for members and the public planned for late July and early September. We’ve also set up a Wiki and email address to receive your feedback (below). My commitment is to have resulting recommendations brought to OGC membership, staff and the OGC Board of Directors for action as part of our upcoming September TC/PC meetings in Frascati, Italy.

As we engage in this assessment, I do not want us to lose sight of our achievements. Since 1994, the OGC has grown to be much more than a standards organization. We have become the world's leading forum for technology providers and users to meet, discuss and test the advancement of location and spatial data sharing and service interoperability in an increasingly broad range of disciplines. I thank OGC members and stakeholders for their commitment and continued support of our vision and mission. I look forward to working with you to strengthen the OGC.

Mark Reichardt
President & CEO
Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC)
+ 1 301 840-1361
+ 1 240 899-8026 Mobile
mreichardt@opengeospatial.org

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