When I first considered leading the Philly JUG, I strongly suspected that whether I took the job or not, I would come to regret it. It was a daunting responsibility to take on, but the JUG community was something that I had valued for quite some time and I didn’t want to risk losing it entirely.

I’m happy to report that after 3 years of service, I regret nothing.

The JUG has expanded to include a healthy roster of presenters, venues, sponsors, organizers and members. My focus over this time was to objectively make this job easier for myself, my co-organizers, and our successors. We achieved this by simplifying the responsibilities, expanding the leadership, and reducing the personal obligations of everyone involved. We have worked hard to ask as little as possible of all of those who contribute to the JUG.

In that spirit, my penultimate act as JUGmaster is to establish a term of service for this position of 2 years, in order to limit the commitment and make the position more attractive in the future. JUGmasters may serve multiple terms if they so choose.

The collective contributions of the Philly JUG community have allowed us to achieve all of the goals I laid out for the JUG in 2016 and we are well-positioned to take advantage of new energy and leadership from this point forward. The other members of the Philly JUG leadership during my tenure deserve special mention for all of their support and hard work. Thank you Paul Burton, Jeanne Lane, Reza Rahman, Tracey Scanlon, Paul Snyder, Greg Taylor, and Jason Young.

Special thanks to Dave Fecak for the opportunity he has given me, and for trusting me with the organization he founded and ran for 15 years.

And so, with no further delay, I am naming Paul Burton as my successor and Philly JUGmaster. While I will remain in the JUG as a member, I will be leaving the leadership and look forward to contribute in other ways in the future!