Find out more about the Board Candidates

Before casting your vote on OpaVote, take some time to get to know the candidates for this year’s .NET Foundation Board of Directors elections.

We’re excited to have a diverse group of outstanding candidates. Explore their profiles, watch their candidacy videos, and learn more about their vision for the community.

Jordyn Wallace
Peter Smulovics
Hayk Yeghoyan
Meagon Hansen
Talles Valiatti
Mitchel Sellers
Hayden Barnes
Maourice Gonzalez

LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordyn-wallace/

What would it mean for you to serve in the Foundation?

Serving on the .NET Foundation Board would be one of the most meaningful things I've done in my career, and I don't say that lightly.

I've spent years advocating for the idea that community is not a soft skill—it's a strategy. Being asked to bring that belief into a governance role at one of the most significant open-source foundations in tech is both a personal milestone and a professional validation I didn't know I needed.

It would mean having a real seat at a real table, not just as a cheerleader for the ecosystem, but as someone with the responsibility to shape it. For someone who has built her entire career around the conviction that the "human in the loop" layer of technology matters as much as the technical one, this is the opportunity to prove it at scale.

What do you believe is the most important challenge or opportunity facing the .NET Foundation over the next 2–3 years?

The Foundation's most important work over the next few years is primarily relational.

The community trust that was damaged by the governance controversies of 2021 hasn't fully healed, and the decline in active member projects is a symptom of that. I see the opportunity in front of the Foundation to rebuild—not through policy documents, but through consistent, human-centered engagement that makes developers and maintainers feel like the Foundation is working for them, not around them.

I would focus on rebuilding that trust through transparency, by creating spaces where community members feel genuinely heard, and by championing initiatives that put maintainer experience and contributor belonging at the center of the Foundation's identity.

Trust isn't a governance problem—it's a community problem. This is exactly the kind of problem I know how to solve.

Which specific skills, experience, or perspective would you bring?

I bring the skills the Foundation needs most right now: community architecture, ecosystem relationship-building, and the ability to make people feel like they belong somewhere no matter where they actually are.

As a RenderATL and Torc ambassador, I've represented communities globally and built authentic relationships across the developer ecosystem. Through Let's Take This Offline, my blog and personal brand dedicated to human connection in tech, I've built an audience around the exact values the Foundation is trying to reclaim: transparency, inclusion, and showing up for each other.

On the BD and partnership side, I bring experience identifying and cultivating sponsorship relationships, building programmatic community initiatives, and thinking strategically about how an organization presents itself to the world.

As someone who is not a .NET developer, I bring an outsider's clarity about what the ecosystem looks like to the people the Foundation most needs to reach.

How would you actively contribute your time, network, and effort?

I have built both my personal and professional identity around showing up.

I would bring my network of conference organizers, developer advocates, community builders, and ecosystem partners directly to the Foundation's benefit, opening doors to sponsorships, event partnerships, and visibility opportunities that a technically focused board may not have natural access to.

I would champion community programming that makes membership feel indispensable for the individual developers inside them.

I would use my platform on LinkedIn, X, and through Let's Take This Offline to amplify Foundation initiatives and model the kind of engaged, human-centered leadership I believe the Foundation needs more of.

And I would attend, contribute, and do the unglamorous work because I believe this Foundation matters, and the people who believe something matters are the ones who do the work to prove it.

LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/smulovicspeter/

What would it mean for you to serve in the Foundation?

Serving on the .NET Foundation Board would be an opportunity to give back to a community that has shaped much of my professional career while helping guide its future.

Throughout my career, I have benefited from the innovation, collaboration, and openness that have made .NET one of the most successful developer ecosystems in the world. For me, board service is not about recognition; it is about stewardship.

It is an opportunity to help ensure that the Foundation continues to support maintainers, empower contributors, attract new participants, and remain a trusted home for open-source projects.

I believe the Foundation plays a critical role in connecting developers, enterprises, sponsors, educators, and technology leaders, and I would be honored to help strengthen those connections.

What do you believe is the most important challenge or opportunity facing the .NET Foundation over the next 2–3 years?

Over the next two to three years, I believe the greatest opportunity facing the .NET Foundation is expanding its relevance and visibility beyond its existing community while simultaneously increasing the tangible value it provides to projects and maintainers.

The .NET ecosystem is stronger than ever: it is cross-platform, cloud-native, AI-enabled, enterprise-proven, and increasingly relevant beyond traditional Microsoft-centric audiences. Yet many organizations, students, developers, and potential sponsors still do not fully understand the breadth of the ecosystem or the value the Foundation can provide.

At the same time, maintainers continue to face growing challenges around sustainability, contributor onboarding, security, governance, and project operations.

I would help address this by focusing on three areas:

• Strengthening support services for maintainers
• Expanding contributor onboarding and mentorship programs
• Building stronger relationships with enterprises and sponsors that depend on .NET

The Foundation has an opportunity to become not only a steward of projects but also an active enabler of their long-term success.

Which specific skills, experience, or perspective would you bring?

Beyond technical expertise, I bring extensive experience in governance, community leadership, strategic planning, sponsorship development, and open-source ecosystem growth.

I currently serve as Chair of the FINOS Technical Oversight Committee and Chair of Open Source Readiness within the Linux Foundation ecosystem, where I have worked on project governance, maturity models, contributor engagement, transparency initiatives, and strategic planning across a large portfolio of open-source projects.

Professionally, as a Distinguished Engineer at Morgan Stanley, I understand how large enterprises evaluate, adopt, fund, and depend on open source. This combination of enterprise and open-source experience allows me to bridge the needs of maintainers, contributors, sponsors, and organizational stakeholders.

I also bring extensive experience in community building through conferences, hackathons, mentorship programs, developer events, and industry partnerships, as well as a strong track record of communicating complex technical topics to diverse audiences ranging from developers to executives.

How would you actively contribute your time, network, and effort?

I fully understand that board service is a working leadership role. If elected, I would actively contribute my time, network, and energy to advancing the Foundation's mission.

I would leverage my relationships across the Microsoft, Linux Foundation, FINOS, enterprise, and developer communities to help build new partnerships, sponsorship opportunities, and collaborative initiatives. I would continue to advocate for the Foundation through conferences, community events, articles, panels, and mentoring programs.

I would also work closely with fellow board members, maintainers, contributors, and Foundation staff to improve transparency, strengthen communication, and ensure that the Foundation remains responsive to the needs of its community.

My goal would be to help the Foundation become more visible, more useful, and more impactful while preserving the values that have made it a trusted part of the .NET ecosystem.

Ultimately, I believe my combination of governance experience, enterprise perspective, community leadership, and passion for open source would allow me to make a meaningful contribution to the Board.

I have spent much of my career bringing together organizations, communities, and individuals around shared goals, and I would bring that same collaborative approach to helping the .NET Foundation grow, evolve, and thrive in the years ahead.

LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/yeghoyanhayk/

What would it mean for you to serve in the Foundation?

The .NET ecosystem has been part of my work for most of my career, so serving would be a way to give back to a community I rely on.

More than that, I see a real opportunity right now. AI is reshaping how software gets built, and .NET sits at the center of a huge amount of enterprise and fintech work. I'd want to help make sure the Foundation and its projects stay relevant and well-positioned through that shift, rather than reacting to it after the fact.

What do you believe is the most important challenge or opportunity facing the .NET Foundation over the next 2–3 years?

The biggest one is AI.

The opportunity is making .NET a first-class platform for building AI and agentic systems—strong SDKs, clear patterns for LLM integration, structured outputs, orchestration, and tooling that developers actually reach for instead of defaulting to Python.

The risk is the opposite: that .NET gets seen as a legacy enterprise stack while the AI-native work happens elsewhere.

I work on this every day. I build agentic systems with LLM API integration, structured outputs, and multi-provider orchestration, and I architect production AI for regulated environments.

I'd help the Foundation set a clear direction here—prioritizing the libraries, reference architectures, and developer guidance that keep .NET competitive for AI workloads, and helping the community see a credible path forward.

Which specific skills, experience, or perspective would you bring?

My strongest non-technical contribution is the intersection of fintech, compliance, and AI.

I've led engineering teams in banking and financial services, where governance, risk, and regulatory constraints aren't optional. That gives me a useful perspective on Board-level questions around governance, partnerships, and how the Foundation positions itself with enterprise sponsors who care about exactly those concerns.

I also bring multi-team engineering leadership and solutions architecture experience, so I'm comfortable with the operational and strategic side—setting priorities, managing competing interests, and turning direction into something teams can actually execute.

How would you actively contribute your time, network, and effort?

I treat board work as working leadership, not a title.

Concretely, I'd commit time to the AI direction described above—helping shape strategy, reviewing proposals, and supporting maintainers working on AI-related projects.

I'd use my network in fintech and enterprise AI to open conversations around sponsorship and partnerships, since those organizations are exactly the ones investing heavily in both .NET and AI right now.

And I'd show up consistently for the unglamorous parts: governance, member support, and the day-to-day decisions that keep the Foundation healthy.

LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/81megs/

What would it mean for you to serve in the Foundation?

Serving on the .NET Foundation Board would mean contributing to the long-term health, clarity, and credibility of an ecosystem that has shaped so many careers and communities.

For me, board service is not symbolic—it's stewardship. In my view and with my experience, it is the responsibility to expand reach, create connections, and share resources.

It would be an opportunity to bring my experience in growth, partnerships, and organizational alignment to a community that deserves strong, stable leadership and is passionate about thriving.

What do you believe is the most important challenge or opportunity facing the .NET Foundation over the next 2–3 years?

The biggest challenge—and opportunity—for the Foundation over the next few years is building trust, clarity, and engagement across the community while modernizing how the Foundation operates.

Developers, maintainers, sponsors, and partners need a Foundation that is transparent, communicative, and aligned around a shared mission. At the same time, the Foundation has an opportunity to expand its influence by strengthening partnerships and telling a clearer story about the value it provides.

I would help by focusing on these areas:

Governance Clarity

Ensuring processes, expectations, and decision-making frameworks are communicated clearly and consistently.

Partnership and Sponsorship Growth

Bringing my experience in revenue generation, relationship-building, and strategic partnerships to expand the Foundation’s financial stability and reach.

Community Engagement

Helping shape messaging and programs that make contributors, maintainers, and members feel seen, supported, and connected to the Foundation’s mission.

The Foundation is at a moment where it can evolve into a stronger, more consistent organization with greater alignment and community value. I see that as an exciting direction, and I’m ready to help move it forward.

Which specific skills, experience, or perspective would you bring?

I bring a combination of skills that directly strengthen the Foundation’s operational and strategic capacity.

Partnerships & Sponsorships

I’ve prospected, closed, and managed major partnerships with organizations such as Microsoft, Pluralsight, SAP, Oracle, Octopus Deploy, Redgate, Red Hat, and Dell. I know how to build relationships, structure value, and create sustainable revenue pathways.

Marketing & Communications

As a former VP of Marketing, I know how to clarify messaging, elevate brand identity, and build trust through consistent, transparent communication.

Community Growth

I’ve spent my career building programs that engage, educate, and empower communities—skills that translate directly to supporting maintainers, contributors, and members.

Operational Rigor

I bring process discipline, cross-functional alignment, and a focus on measurable outcomes, all of which are essential for a small organization with significant responsibilities.

My value is in strengthening the Foundation’s structure, visibility, and relationships so the technical work can flourish.

How would you actively contribute your time, network, and effort?

I would contribute as an active, engaged working board member. That means:

• Showing up consistently for meetings, committees, and working groups.
• Leveraging my network to expand sponsorships, partnerships, and visibility for the Foundation.
• Driving clarity and alignment across initiatives so the Foundation operates with more predictability and transparency.
• Contributing hands-on to marketing, messaging, and community engagement efforts that strengthen trust and participation.
• Collaborating closely with other board members to ensure decisions are strategic, mission-aligned, and grounded in good governance.

I’m prepared to put in the time, the thought, and the work.

LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tallesvaliatti/

What would it mean for you to serve in the Foundation?

Serving in the .NET Foundation would be a meaningful opportunity to give back to an ecosystem that has been central to my professional journey and to the work I do with the developer community.

As a Microsoft MVP, Cloud Developer Advocate, .NET developer, speaker, and content creator, I have dedicated a significant part of my career to helping developers learn, adopt, and apply .NET, Azure, AI, and modern software development practices in real-world scenarios.

For me, serving in the Foundation would mean supporting the people and projects that make the .NET ecosystem stronger, including maintainers, contributors, members, companies, and local communities.

It would also be an opportunity to bring a broader community perspective to the Board. I actively speak at events in Brazil and the United States, create technical content, and help foster discussions around AI, .NET, cloud development, and software architecture.

I believe the Foundation has an important role in connecting global communities and making the .NET ecosystem more visible, accessible, and sustainable.

What do you believe is the most important challenge or opportunity facing the .NET Foundation over the next 2–3 years?

I believe one of the most important opportunities for the .NET Foundation over the next two to three years is to strengthen its role as a global connector between open-source projects, developers, companies, and emerging technology trends such as AI.

The .NET ecosystem is evolving quickly. AI is changing how developers build applications, how teams work, and how companies think about software.

At the same time, .NET continues to be a strong platform for enterprise, cloud-native, cross-platform, and AI-powered solutions. This creates an opportunity for the Foundation to help the community understand where .NET fits in this new landscape and how open-source projects can grow with these changes.

I would help by supporting practical initiatives focused on education, visibility, contributor engagement, and community growth. This includes promoting .NET Foundation projects through talks, articles, demos, webinars, live sessions, and community events.

Since I speak at events in Brazil and the United States, I can help bring the Foundation’s message to different audiences and connect more developers with its projects and mission.

My contribution would be focused on making the Foundation more visible, more accessible, and more connected to developers and organizations building with .NET, cloud, and AI today.

Which specific skills, experience, or perspective would you bring?

Beyond technical expertise, I bring experience in community leadership, developer advocacy, education, content creation, event organization, and ecosystem growth.

As a Cloud Developer Advocate, Microsoft MVP, software architect, and technical leader, I regularly communicate complex technical concepts to diverse audiences through presentations, articles, workshops, webinars, and community events.

I also bring the perspective of someone actively working to grow the AI and .NET communities in Brazil while staying connected with the international ecosystem through events and technical communities in the United States.

This perspective can help the Board expand communication, improve project visibility, strengthen contributor engagement, support regional growth, and build stronger partnerships with companies and local communities.

How would you actively contribute your time, network, and effort?

I understand that Board service is a working leadership role, and I would contribute actively through time, execution, network, and community engagement.

I would use my experience as a Microsoft MVP, Cloud Developer Advocate, speaker, event organizer, and content creator to help promote the Foundation’s mission and its projects.

This includes creating and sharing content, presenting Foundation projects in talks and webinars, supporting community campaigns, helping organize or promote events, and encouraging more developers to participate in the .NET open-source ecosystem.

I would also use my network in Brazil, Latin America, and the United States to connect the Foundation with local communities, companies, speakers, contributors, and potential partners.

I believe there is a strong opportunity to increase the Foundation’s presence and impact in these regions.

In practical terms, I would be willing to participate in working groups, support outreach initiatives, help with sponsorship and partnership conversations, promote project visibility, and contribute to programs that help maintainers, members, and contributors.

My goal would be to serve as an active Board member who helps execute initiatives, expands the Foundation’s reach, supports the community, and strengthens the connection between .NET, open source, AI, cloud development, and global developer communities.

LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mitchelsellers/

What would it mean for you to serve in the Foundation?

What do you believe is the most important challenge or opportunity facing the .NET Foundation over the next 2–3 years?

Which specific skills, experience, or perspective would you bring?

How would you actively contribute your time, network, and effort?

LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/thbarnes/

What would it mean for you to serve in the Foundation?

Serving on the Foundation would close a loop. I have been working at the intersection of open source and the Microsoft ecosystem for years.

I sit comfortably in what used to be two very distinct camps. I understand the needs and interests of each community and have, I hope, helped bridge the legacy gap between the two over the years.

I take my role as an ambassador from the open-source and Linux community to the Microsoft ecosystem seriously, advising projects on community engagement, policy, and strategy. Likewise, I have represented the Microsoft ecosystem, including .NET and Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), in the broader open-source and Linux community.

I started a small WSL community-backed project called Pengwin in 2018, recruited a team from the WSL subreddit, and bootstrapped a sustainable, user-centric WSL-focused distribution that is still going strong.

I drove Ubuntu adoption on WSL at Canonical, worked on creating snaps of .NET for Ubuntu, and led Windows container engineering on Rancher at SUSE, continuing my work at the intersection of open source and the Microsoft ecosystem while engaging the community.

I am a six-time Microsoft MVP and Arm Ambassador.

I believe that since I began working in this space, we have collectively made enormous progress for both open source and the Microsoft ecosystem, particularly around .NET.

I see the introduction of third-party support for .NET as an important milestone in the maturation of .NET as an independent open-source ecosystem. I led the creation of Never Ending Support (NES) for .NET at HeroDevs, the first third-party post-EOL support provider.

Today, I sit on Microsoft's .NET Security Working Group on behalf of HeroDevs, alongside Canonical, Red Hat, and IBM, providing secure post-EOL builds of .NET to enterprises every Patch Tuesday.

Open source is not only about monitoring CVEs, merging pull requests, and releasing software. Budgets, sponsorships, partnerships, marketing, and governance are equally critical to the success of an ecosystem the size of .NET.

I know we have talented people working on the technical side. The Board also needs people who understand and have successfully navigated governance and sustainability challenges.

I would treat Board service as work and help tackle those challenges head-on.

What do you believe is the most important challenge or opportunity facing the .NET Foundation over the next 2–3 years?

The Foundation's most important challenge is financial sustainability.

The opportunity is equally clear: rebuilding and diversifying the Foundation's sponsorship base.

The .NET ecosystem includes thousands of companies that depend on projects stewarded by the Foundation, yet only a small fraction actively sponsor it.

I believe the Foundation's focus this election cycle on sales, partnerships, sponsorships, and marketing is exactly the right response.

We need to:

• Clearly define sponsor value and ROI.
• Identify organizations that should be participating but currently are not.
• Build relationships with prospective sponsors.
• Create sponsorship programs that deliver measurable value.
• Improve transparency around Foundation finances and impact.

There are many organizations actively building with .NET at scale that are not currently Foundation sponsors.

I have done this work throughout my career. I have built sponsorship and partner relationships at Canonical, SUSE, HPE, and HeroDevs with organizations including Microsoft, Red Hat, IBM, NVIDIA, and Unity.

At HeroDevs, I helped bring the company into the .NET Foundation as a sponsor in January 2026.

I understand what makes a sponsorship conversation resonate with decision-makers and what it takes to turn interest into commitment.

A broader sponsor base strengthens both financial sustainability and governance independence. Financial diversity is governance diversity.

That is the opportunity I would help the Foundation pursue.

Which specific skills, experience, or perspective would you bring?

Beyond technical expertise, I bring four key strengths.

Partnerships & Sponsorship Development

I have built partnerships across Microsoft and the broader open-source ecosystem, including relationships with Microsoft, Red Hat, Canonical, IBM, NVIDIA, Unity, Uno Platform, Ampere, HP, and Lenovo.

Working credibly across both corporate and open-source communities requires understanding what each side needs and building solutions that create value for both.

Go-to-Market Strategy

I have taken open-source products and initiatives from concept to revenue.

Examples include:

• Growing Never Ending Support (NES) for .NET into a seven-figure ARR business within eighteen months.
• Growing Ubuntu on WSL from 40,000 weekly installs to over 100,000 weekly installs.
• Growing Pengwin from a Reddit project into a featured Microsoft Build showcase.

The Foundation's sponsorship program is itself a product, and I understand how to position, market, and grow it.

Community Building & Communications

I have built developer communities around WSL, Determined AI, Pachyderm, and Pengwin.

I authored Pro Windows Subsystem for Linux and maintain popular community resources including awesome-wsl and awesome-unix.

I regularly participate in podcasts, conferences, and community events across both the .NET and Linux ecosystems.

Audience growth comes from trust, and trust is built over time through consistent engagement.

Governance & Nonprofit Leadership

I served on the Muscogee-Columbus County Parks and Recreation Board, including serving as Chair.

I am also a Georgia-licensed attorney who volunteers with the Pro Bono Partnership of Atlanta, advising nonprofits on governance, employment, regulatory, and contract matters.

While I would not serve the Foundation in a legal capacity, I understand fiduciary responsibilities, board governance, conflicts of interest, audits, and nonprofit operations.

The Foundation stated that this election cycle requires business expertise. I bring that expertise.

How would you actively contribute your time, network, and effort?

My employer, HeroDevs, actively supports my participation in industry governance and community leadership as part of my role.

The time required for Board service will be part of my professional commitment, not something squeezed into spare evenings.

I will:

• Arrive prepared for Board and committee meetings.
• Review materials thoroughly.
• Participate actively in governance discussions.
• Engage between meetings through email, GitHub, and working groups.

I would also be willing to chair a committee, particularly one focused on outreach, sponsorship, marketing, partnerships, or community growth.

I have spent fifteen years building relationships across Microsoft, Canonical, Red Hat, IBM, Arm, and the broader .NET and Linux ecosystems.

I will use that network to open doors, make introductions, and help build new sponsorship and partnership opportunities.

As a speaker, podcast guest, writer, and community organizer, I already have regular opportunities to reach developers and technology leaders.

When I have a platform, the Foundation will have one too.

I would approach service on the .NET Foundation Board the same way I approach my work every day:

Outcomes, not posture.