As previously announced, the WordPress Photo Directory Team is seeking two to three new Team Reps to join their ranks. These new representatives will take over from Katie Richards, Topher DeRosia, and Marcus Burnette, who have each dedicated over two years to the role. The previous call for nominations was in 2022.
The nomination period ended on Friday, August 30th, and we now have the final shortlist of candidates ready to step into these positions:
Who is a Team Rep and What is Their Role?
As per Marcus Burnette’s announcement, “ Team Reps work with other teams across the project, share key updates across all contributor teams, and generally help to support the team as a whole.”
Every Make WordPress Team has representatives with various responsibilities and for the Make WordPress Photo Team, Marcus has cited the responsibilities as follows,
- Prepare meeting agenda by requesting updates from Photo Directory working groups
- Conduct the team’s monthly meetings on the Make Photos Slack channel
- Document meeting notes and share updates with other teams as necessary
More information on moderating photos is defined in the Photos Handbook.
Meet the Nominees
- Bigul Malayi – a Support & QA Analyst at WPML, has also submitted the most number of photos as per the February stats. His current photo contribution stands at 1032 at the time of this writing. He was also one of the organizers of the WordPress Photo Festival 2024.
- Sam Alderson – currently working with Emilia Capital and she is also the co-founder of Days Of The Year. She recently published an article titled, “ WordPress Photo Directory: Elevating standards and purpose” where she talks about the way forward for the Photo directory and more.
- Michele Butcher-Jones – the COO of WebArc Technologies, Founder of Can’t Speak Geek, and one of the founders of the WP Wonder Women Newsletter. She is also an organizer for the WordCamp US 2024 and was an organizer for WordCamp St. Louis 2018 and 2019. She also has a couple of plugins to her name and was also a recipient of the Yoast Care fund.
- Gale Wallace – who is currently a customer success manager for Pantheon.io and a WordPress Enthusiast and Developer. She is one of the organizers for WordCamp US 2024.
- Roy Tanck – WordPress developer, photography enthusiast, and open-source advocate. He is also a plugin author and has a total of 6 plugins in the repository.
- Nilo Velez – contributor to the WordPress Photo and Polyglot Teams, has been a part of various WordCamps as an organizer and volunteer. He was one of the winners of the WordPress Photo Festival 2024 and Share Your Pride. Previously, he has also secured the Yoast Care fund. As per the February photo stats, he is in the top 10 of most photos contributed to the directory.
Voting is Now Open
The voting for the new WordPress Photo Directory Team Reps is open until Friday, September 13, 2024, and you can vote for two members. Remember, once you have submitted your votes, you won’t be able to vote gain. The new representatives will be announced during the WordCamp US Contributor Day, which is on September 17, 2024, and also with a follow-up post later on.