Nominating my successor for Gateway API

[Shane Utt]

Hello SIG Network,

It's been around 6 years since my journey with Gateway API started. In our technology area this is an age. I've worked with many great people, and watched the project grow from early beginnings to become the large and robust community it is today. I'm not done with the project, however for the greater benefit of Kubernetes as a whole: those of us with leadership roles often hold our positions too long, and we need to be ready to step out and let another person who is ready "take the wheel".

I started working on Kubernetes right at the beginning, over 10 years ago now. However, for the first couple years, this was a "downstream-only" kind of effort. On my own time I started attending meetings and listened (camera off, muted) unsure where I should engage. One individual in the SIG Network community noticed me and outstretched an arm to include me, and encourage me to join in and explore further. Over the years, this person has outstretched the same arm to many others and is a true champion of the community: Ricardo Katz.

Not only has Ricardo been a long-time champion of the community, but also a key player in the history of Ingress on Kubernetes as a maintainer of the ingress-nginx project (which is in many ways a foundation on which Gateway API was built). As ingress-nginx has been spinning down the last couple years and is on its way to archival, Ricardo has pivoted to Gateway API and his impact on the project and community have been tremendous. His involvement in features, reviews, release, communications and even the often-neglected general maintenance and documentation around the project has been exemplary: he's been doing the work of a maintainer here in Gateway API, and brings an enormous wealth of knowledge from his long-time work in SIG Network. It's become clear to me he's the right person to "take the wheel".

As such, I nominate Ricardo as my successor as Gateway API Maintainer. Thank you for being a pillar of the community Ricardo. You've inspired me, and my own approach to community building. Thank you for stepping up to drive the project forward. I look forward to your leadership in the project in the coming years.

Shane

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Standard Notice: Nominations for new maintainers undergo a ~2 week grace period. Given the holidays, this means we'll be looking at January 2026 to be official. If you have any concerns or questions about this nomination please reach out privately to Gateway API and/or SIG Network leadership during this time.

[Antonio Ojea]

Hi,

Thanks Shane for your hard work on the Gateway API project.

+1 for Ricardo as Gateway API maintainer

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[Carlos Tadeu Panato Jr]

+1

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[Lior Lieberman]

Thanks Shane for all you've done within the space and your consistent efforts to recognize contributions and get in new contributors.

Huge plus 1 to Ricardo.

Thanks both!

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[fl...@buoyant.io]

Thanks for everything, Shane! We'll continue to drag you into things, I'm sure. 😂

 

+1 for Ricardo as well.

 

 -- Flynn

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[Bowei Du]

+1

Bowei

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[Rob Scott]

Thanks for all you've done to make Gateway API what it is today Shane! Really have enjoyed working with you. 

A big +1 for Ricardo as well, he's been doing some great work on Gateway API.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/kubernetes-sig-network/CAGv8vBoyvJpYXa%3DucpoiUpkFznfcPza_THHND23vXbydhS_VOg%40mail.gmail.com.

[Amim Knabben]

+1 for sure, a great person for this role!

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[Evan Jones]

Shane, thank you for being a great steward of Gateway API and the SIG network community, more broadly!

Best

Evan Jones

Website: www.ea-jones.com

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/kubernetes-sig-network/CAODc%2BXaG%2Bg-HR3H-EAUxFqgZF7-Zp9hyettZVh7aFEybzv3SnQ%40mail.gmail.com.

[Nick Young]

Shane, thanks for everything you've done to make Gateway API the
success it is today. I've really enjoyed working with you on it, and
I'm looking forward to continuing to work with you on everything else
SIG-Network.

Huge +1 to Ricardo, looking forward to having you on the team!

Nick

[Surya Seetharaman]

Thanks Shane for being a great leader in this space and

for always encouraging and promoting new talent and

recognising everyone's contributions around you always!!

Huge +1 to Ricardo!! I'm looking forward to working with you

in any cross-project collaborations!

Best Regards,

-Surya

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/kubernetes-sig-network/CA%2Bdr%3DDhMqop1DKh6AE-HqfB3GAKo86ZTnYdgC_oebV4ucgACZw%40mail.gmail.com.

[Adrian Moisey]

Both Shane and Ricardo are great people, and very welcoming to new-ish
people like myself.
Thanks for all the work you've done Shane!

Well done Ricardo, your impact on Gateway API has definitely been noticed!

On Tue, 9 Dec 2025 at 10:40, 'Surya Seetharaman' via
kubernetes-sig-network <kubernetes-...@googlegroups.com>
wrote:

> To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/kubernetes-sig-network/CAB6P0CA0MrBTuqp5D9Ko2FB-C5wmFEJ9SC42NCN3deKkVW5gAg%40mail.gmail.com.

[Norwin Schnyder]

Thank you, Shane, for always being so welcoming to new contributors and for all the work you’ve done for the Gateway API.

A huge +1 from my side as well,  really looking forward to continuing to work with you, Ricardo.
🎉 Congratulations!