Board Meeting 4/2022: Wed 16 Nov 2022 16:00-17:00 EET

Present board members:

  • Eric Herman, Chairman
  • Sergei Golubchik, MariaDB Corporation
  • Max Mether, MariaDB Corporation
  • Barry Abrahamson, Automattic 
  • Espen Håkonsen, Visma 
  • Steve Shaw, Intel 

Absent board members:

  • Todd Boyd, IBM
  • Xiang Peng, Alibaba 
  • Michael Widenius, MariaDB Corporation

Absent observers:

  • Mark Stockford, ServiceNow
  • Parikshit Savjani, Microsoft 
  • Serguei Beloussov, SIT

Guests:

  • Maria Lepskaya, SIT
  • Stanislav Potassov, Acronis

Additionally, as non-voting secretary:

  • Kaj Arnö, CEO, MariaDB Foundation

1. CEO update

  • no new hires, no departures
  • continued good vibes from new personnel (Andrew and Soeren)
  • sponsorship status: Tasjeel.ae new sponsor, discussions ongoing with other Internet service providers and other sponsor candidates
  • Server Fest tomorrow Thu 17 Nov 2022, with most presenters being physically present in Grankulla, Finland

2. Follow-up on the establishment of an EU subsidiary foundation 

  • establishment of entity in Finland likely to happen in January 2023
  • needs capital injection of 50k€, but that can be used for expenses, so we stay within mandate given by Board
  • papers ready to hand in with few changes, Kaj working out details mainly guided by Eric
  • model based on two to-be-identical boards
  • initial board based on Eric, Espen, Sergei, Monty
  • US / Delaware legal framework obviously different from Finnish law, but spirit of by-laws can remain unchanged
  • official Board protocols of Finnish entity cannot be in English (not an official language in Finland), so the official documentation will be in Swedish, with a translation into English (a practice also followed by MariaDB Corporation Ab)
  • by-laws and certificate of incorporation will be sent FYI to Board before being handed in to Finnish officials, in English and Swedish
  • no board decision requested or made

3. Follow-up on the status of MariaDB Corporation as sponsor 

  • Kaj noted that the previous board meeting had requested a follow-up of the status of MariaDB Corporation as sponsor
  • Max presented his proposal on changing from previous “diamond like” sponsoring level until May 2022 to normal Platinum level beginning June 2022
  • Max mentioned the option of having at least two 50k € “packages” of deliverables related to Adoption or Openness, on areas with joint goals between MariaDB Foundation and MariaDB Corporation; contents being sorted out 
  • Max and Kaj shared a sample package idea of an upgrade regression testing framework for the community 
  • assuming the Foundation’s remaining questions on outstanding payments and payment schedule are resolved, no board actions are required

4. Next meetings during 2023

  • every meeting on a Wednesday, same time as this BoD meeting
  • four meetings in total
  • calendar invites will be sent out
  • Wed 15 Feb 2023 – overview of financials for 2022, plans for 2023; Soeren von Varchmin as guest
  • Wed 24 May 2023
  • Wed 6 Sep 2023
  • Wed 29 Nov 2023