[foundation-board] CEO Update for February 2016

Fri Feb 19 15:30:31 UTC 2016

Dear all, please find below an update on important developments here at
Open Knowledge International. You can find the text as a Google Document
here
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GrKJeH1WVHwBsSmaTZ0phldbZVSZ1eB1qggRU04pKJg/edit#>
.

Highlights from our projectsOpenSpending

OpenSpending 'Next' is currently in private alpha-testing with local
OpenSpending communities in Malaysia, Macedonia and Cameroon. Based on a
new version of the lightweight Fiscal Data Package standard, we will
release this radically new version of OpenSpending publicly by the end of
February.
OpenTrials

OpenTrials is working on getting data released that can be included in the
platform, having secured data on 5,000 clinical trials in Schizophrenia
from Cochrane, and working with the Health Research Authority who have
agreed to release some of their data to us. We have released the tech
roadmap publicly on opentrials.net/2016/02/10/opentrials-technical-roadmap/.
Frictionless Data

Our technical vision on working with data is centered around the concept of
Frictionless Data using Data Packages. We announced the grant we received
from Google and are ramping up work on Data Packages in 2016
blog.okfn.org/2016/02/01/google-funds-frictionless-data-initiative-at-open-knowledge/
.
GIFT

I am meeting FiscalTransparency <http://www.fiscaltransparency.net/> to
discuss the potential of aligning work between the two organisations.

OperationsMark Gibbs joins as COO

>From more than 70 applications and a shortlist of four people, I am happy
that we have found a great new COO, Mark Gibbs. He started on Tuesday 9th
February, after being introduced to the staff on the Monday afternoon at
our weekly call.

Mark brings a wealth of experience gained in a global operations career.
He has worked for a number of International blue-chip companies including
Fujitsu in the role of Operations Director in Tokyo, Lucent Technologies in
The Netherlands as Projects Director, and AT&T to name but a few.  Mark is
a keen advocate of Open Source and has previously developed a number of
open source solutions for both Government and Health care. Mark has
previously delivered projects to British, Dutch and Russian Governments.
Mark returned to England after 20 years abroad in 2015 with his wife
Evgenia and two sons Gregory aged 13 and Nick aged 12 - they now live on
the Isle of Wight.

As COO, Mark will be responsible for all our operational processes: HR,
Project Management, Finances, internal IT, administration and legal. He is
reporting directly to me, and will, together with Sander, form my Senior
Management Team. His annual salary is 60,000 GBP, plus a performance-based
bonus of up to 5,000 GBP per year (starting after six months of
employment). The first 6 months will be a probation period of an initial
term of two years. Because Mark will play a vital role in our organisation,
I have proposed that he joins the next Board meeting on 9th March 2016 in
person in London. As part of his onboarding, Mark is setting-up 1:1 calls
with all members of staff, in advance of meeting everyone present at the
summit in Brighton later this month.

It would be great if you would have any advice for me, or have any
particular questions, or just some general feedback.

I am really excited about this and I am looking forward to working with
Mark!
Viderum

Viderum was officially launched to the public on Monday 15th February.
Here's the blog post: blog.okfn.org/2016/02/15/introducing-viderum/.

We've had some very good responses so far, some of which are likely to lead
to future business.

We're actively pursuing commercial opportunities in the UK and in Germany
that will help create a stronger baseline of recurring revenues to sustain
Viderum. We've signed about £50K of sales this year so far.

Sebastian is currently working on a renewed business model & strategy
document which will inform upcoming pitching to third-party investors in
the Spring.

Sebastian will join the next Board meeting to report back to the Board.
Please highlight to him what areas you would like to know more about, so he
can prepare a presentation tailored to this. Just drop a short mail to
Naomi, and she will take care of it.

FundingOmidyar

Karin and I are meeting Marin next month to discuss the next phase of
funding from Summer this year.
Hewlett

I am discussing a short-term bridging grant, to avoid any potential
complications or delay regarding our charity application.
Adessium

This was a very broad meeting to discuss background and potential future
collaboration. We explained how we are developing our theory of change and
how we are going to work moving forward, and had a productive exchange
about the various projects in our field. They were specifically interested
in how we aligned with other 'public interest' initiatives. We will follow
up with another conversation in a few months' time, to pursue a follow-up
project grant and to build the relationship towards core funding which they
also may consider in due course.
Google

We have announced the Google-funded Frictionless Data initiative (see
projects section above).
Avina

Our Open Data Day ‘16 mini-grants are being co-funded by avina.net/avina/
<http://www.avina.net/avina/> (this is where we give a maximum of 350 USD
per person or group for community-led open data initiatives
<http://blog.okfn.org/2016/01/29/open-data-day-2016-grant/>).

As noted in the last update, I plan for a longer trip to the US in the
first half of 2016, to deepen relationships with current funders as well as
visiting potential new ones, and we will bid on at least two of the
upcoming Horizon2020 initiatives of the European Union.

HR / StaffCurrent live vacancies

The following may be found at https://okfn.org/about/jobs/:

   -

   Portfolio Manager - Planting the Seeds
   -

   Portfolio Manager - Growing the Trees
   -

   Portfolio Manager - Harvesting the Fruits
   -

   HR Assistant
   -

   Also the Board Finance vacancy

New staff

James Gardner joined as Community Manager - OpenTrials (if you recognise
the name - he used to be CKAN lead, about 4 years ago).

Danny Lämmerhirt joined as Research Assistant with FutureTDM.

James Hamilton will join this month as School of Data Fundraiser (note,
this is zero-hours contract and James will not undertake duties elsewhere
in the organisation).
Departures

Neal Bastek gave notice to leave at the end of this month, although will
stay on for 10 hours per week to complete our website update.
Changes

The live role ‘Technical Trainer - School of Data’ has been closed without
being filled, as School of Data Steering Committee decided a Fundraiser to
support this sort of role is more important (see ‘new staff’ above).
Daniela Mattern

In January we received an offer to settle for £25,000, which we did not
accept. Our lawyer spoke with the lawyer now leading the case on the
claimant’s side, and discussed what might be reasonable. Mattern’s lawyer
has now confirmed that Mattern will accept a settlement of £2,000 and a
reference.

In the meantime, AXA, our insurers, confirmed they were happy for us to
proceed with the claim, and our legal team prepared a counter schedule of
loss totalling £18,544.13 (this is not what we would be willing to pay, but
simply what we consider a worst case scenario should the Claimant be
successful)

I decided to pursue the settlement of £2,000 because it saves preparing
witness statements from Rufus, Fiona, Karin, Sander and Michelle, as well
as attending X days of tribunal hearing. Given the fact that the claimant
started out demanding £95,000, the £2,000 settlement will not be seen as a
victory by the claimant.

Financials

The quarterly accounts to end February will be presented at the Board
meeting on 9th March.

Network

Monthly calls with Chapter leads continue to go well.

I continue my discussions with Open Knowledge Finland on their “Mydata”
project and how we can support it from an international perspective
OK Festival

The current status of OKFestival is that we will likely have a smaller OK
Festival around the IODC event in Madrid in October ‘16. I remain keen on a
2017 bigger OKFestival and am looking at Bangalore as an option for
location.

AOB

The next in person meeting is on 9th March 2016 in London at Canonical.

Our Charitable Status application continues - there has been hindrance in
terms of information not being available or clear, and we are following up
with Hewlett to ensure our UK application is suitable for our US plans.

International employment: Mark and I are liaising with a Netherlands-based
payroll company to set up both NL and DE employment.

The Advisory Council met on 1st February where I joined to share the
current status of the organisation as well as plans. Notes may be found
here: https://pad.okfn.org/p/AdvisoryCouncil2015

There is a tribute to Michael Bauer, our former colleague, here:
http://mihi.lo-res.org/

I will send the next CEO Update in the middle of April. Please do give
feedback on these reports, so that I can provide you with the information
that you require.

-- 
Kind regards

Pavel Richter
CEO
Open Knowledge International
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