The OASPA Board of Directors comprises 11 members who serve for a term of 3 years. This September four of the current OASPA Board Members reach the end of their term of service.
In keeping with our annual election process, OASPA member organisations were invited to nominate a representative for consideration as a candidate. We are very grateful to all of those who took part in the election this year.
OASPA’s Articles of Association require that the board is appointed by the membership. As in previous years, details of the candidates for 2023 were circulated to all members who were then asked to choose their preferred candidates and to vote for them in no particular order.
Each year there are particular requirements for replacing the outgoing board members which are based on who is leaving and how that effects the distribution of organisations. The OASPA By Laws also state that at least half of the seats must be held by organisations which obtain at least 50% of their revenue from open access publishing. We are keen to ensure that the board represents the diversity of the membership as much as is possible, both in terms of business model and with regards to publishing vs the service and infrastructure providers which we also have as members, and so the Board assesses the requirements and implications on an annual basis.
As such, to maintain the existing balance in 2023:
- Two seats will go to fully open access publishers
- Two seats will go to service and infrastructure providers
Having finalised the results of the voting, we can announce that seats this year will go to Caroline Edwards (Open Library of Humanities), Susan Murray (African Journals Online), and Sofie Wennström (Stockholm University Press). Juan Pablo Alperin (Public Knowledge Project) has been re-elected. We are looking forward to all of them starting their three year term in October.
All of OASPA’s board members are expected to make an active contribution. Sincere thanks goes to our outgoing board members, Jennifer Gibson (Dryad), Catriona MacCallum (Hindawi) and Lara Speicher (UCL Press) for their input.
A special thank you goes in particular to Jennifer who has served as Chair of the OASPA board since October 2020 and has really been a huge support to the organisation throughout this period. We express our heartfelt gratitude for the dedication she has shown and the time she has given to OASPA.
Cheers for Jennifer Gibson – an outstanding term as Chair during a difficult time and also a transformative one! This board is, as always, representative of the most outstanding people in the industry. I look forward to what is to come from this great team. And thank you to OASPA for being transparent about the decision process.