Jasig-Sakai Merger Update

[Josh Baron]

Community members,

I am writing to provide a brief update on the work that has taken place following the EDUCAUSE conference in October regarding the plans to merge Jasig and Sakai.

Following the conference the newly formed Founding Board (which includes many of the original Joint Working Group members) dedicated its regular meetings to preparing for a a series of three 4-hour "virtual planning sessions" which took place at the end of November.  These sessions were designed to provide the Founding Board with focused time to finalize a draft of the new organization's Bylaws and a transitional Membership Model.

Leading up to these sessions the Finance Committee dedicated significant time and effort to collecting the data and developing financial modeling tools needed to allow us to "test" a range of different membership models that had been previously identified.  During this period the Legal Committee also dedicate time to reviewing suggested changes and feedback to our original draft Bylaws documents with our attorneys and preparing a new version of the document.

As the results of a significant effort over the 12-hours of virtual sessions last week, the Founding Board has now finalized a set of Bylaws and identified a transitional Membership Model which it believes will ensure financial stability as we merge.  The Jasig and Sakai Board of Directors will be reviewing these during our regularly scheduled meetings next week and once approved we will be sharing them with our broader communities for comment and feedback ahead of a community approval process.  Details of this process and timelines will be shared early in the new year.

If you have questions please feel free to reply back to the list or me directly.

Thanks,

Josh Baron
Chair, Sakai Foundation Board of Directors

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Joshua Baron
Senior Academic Technology Officer
Marist College
Poughkeepsie, New York  12601
(845) 575-3623 (work)
Twitter: JoshBaron