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Roy: We need to manage contractors (infra, press, apachecon); we might consider hiring an ED. Many, possibly most, foundations delegate running the foundation to an ED. The ED sets policy and implements the policy with minimal direction from the board. Apache is on the other end of the continuum, with the board very involved in setting policy, and volunteers taking responsibility for running operations. Jim, as President, would like to take more responsibility, such as: manage books to pass an audit; manage contractors; manage fundraising; manage contractors in different countries. Greg would want ED to be a member to avoid not understanding how Apache works. Consider growth; once we have a 6th contractor, we should consider an ED. Basically the foundation runs smoothly day-to-day, but what happens with unusual situations that come up? Greg suggests we cannot delegate more to Jim because he isn't paid. Perhaps an ED could be better at managing people as a paid employee. Bertrand offers that looking at what we envision the ED doing, it seems like a COO or Director of Operations title would be more appropriate. Sam doesn't see the problem; we have plenty of member/volunteers to cover the tasks that need to be done. In future, if we run out of bandwidth, we can reconsider. If the board agrees to create an ED position in future, we would probably look at someone who executes the strategy set by the board and members, not at someone who sets the direction of the foundation, as an ED might be expected to do. Meanwhile, we will create an operations@ mail list to discuss non-project items needing President attention or coordination, and make President responsible for concom, press, infra, fundraising, bookkeeping, trademark, travel assistance board reports. This brings the President's role closer to an ED/COO role, and should help delegate some or all of our operations management tasks to a hired ED should the need arise.