Voting Is Now Open for the openSUSE Board Election 2025
1. Mar 2026 | Lubos Kocman | CC-BY-SA-3.0
Voting for the 2025 openSUSE Board election starts today.
All openSUSE Members have the right to vote and should have received their personal ballot link by email yesterday. Please check your inbox (and your spam folder, just in case) and take a few minutes to cast your vote.
This year we are electing two Board seats, currently held by Simon Lees and Shawn W Dunn. Both Simon and Shawn have stepped forward and are seeking re-election. Joining them on the ballot are Ihno Krumreich and Soc Virnyl Estela.
Voting is open from March 1 until March 8, and we plan to announce the results on March 9.
Full details about the election process can be found here.
Although voting is taking place in 2026, this is officially the 2025 openSUSE Board Election due to a delayed start of the election cycle.
Meet the Candidates
Four members of our community have stepped forward to stand for election this year.
From left to right on the top picture: Shawn W Dunn, Simon Lees, Soc Virnyl Estela, Ihno Krumreich.
In addition to their individual platforms, Luboš Kocman asked all candidates two questions:
1. What is your opinion on the new governance proposal initiated by Jeff Mahoney, and how can the project help ensure the success of the proposed committees?
2. Do you plan to attend openSUSE Conference 2026 in person?
Below is a short overview of each candidate, along with links to their platforms and responses.
Ihno Krumreich (bigiron)
Ihno was nominated by Sarah Julia Kriesch, who described him as a knowledgeable and trusted member of the openSUSE community and part of the openSUSE zSystems Team. She highlighted his openness, experience, and ability to act as a bridge between SUSE and the broader openSUSE community.
The nomination can be read here.
Ihno recently retired after 25 years at SUSE, where he worked for more than 22 years as Project Manager for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) for System z. His long experience with enterprise Linux and large-scale development brings deep historical and organizational insight to the project.
The questions addressed to Ihno can be found here.
Shawn W Dunn (sfalken)
Shawn has served on the openSUSE Board since 2024 and is seeking re-election.
In his candidacy announcement, he outlined several ongoing efforts he would like to continue supporting, including governance discussions, moderation policy alignment, questions about the project’s legal status, and representing the community during the transition to a git-based packaging and maintenance workflow.
More about Shawn and his background can be found here.
His responses to the governance and oSC2026 questions can be found here.
Simon Lees (simotek)
Simon has been part of the openSUSE community for more than 15 years and has served multiple terms on the Board. He is also running for re-election.
Simon has expressed strong support for the governance proposal, describing it as an important step toward empowering committees and enabling more contributors to take initiative. He emphasized the importance of trust in newly formed groups and clearer contribution pathways for community members.
His full platform is available here.
His responses to the governance and conference questions can be found here.
Soc Virnyl Estela (uncomfyhalomacro)
Soc, also known as uncomfyhalomacro, is a self-taught developer who began contributing to open source in 2019. He holds a degree in Biology (Major in Microbiology) and contributes to openSUSE as a packager and developer.
He maintains obs-service-cargo and roast, tools that help automate Rust software packaging in the openSUSE Build Service.
Soc views the governance proposal as an opportunity to diversify leadership and distribute responsibilities through new committees. He describes governance as something that evolves through change and experimentation.
His platform can be found here.
His responses to the governance and conference questions can be found here.
If you are an openSUSE Member, please participate and cast your vote before March 8.
If you are an active openSUSE member and haven’t received email with subject openSUSE 2025 Board Election please reach out to Election officials.
Serving on the Board is not an easy task. It requires commitment, thoughtful decision-making, and a steady hand during times of change. We truly appreciate the courage and dedication of all candidates who stepped forward, and we wish them the very best.
Lubos Kocman on behalf
of The Board Election Committee
election-officials@lists.opensuse.org
Categories: openSUSE Project Community Governance Board
Tags: openSUSE Board Election Governance Community