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I've been a Linux user and OSS advocate since 1994 and a contributing 
member of SPI since 2004.  Professionally I am a Linux system 
administrator and have dedicated myself to the OSS cause personally and 
professionally.

Over the last 13 years I have endeavoured to educate IT and non-IT people 
alike about open source, open standards and why they are important.  With 
our society so dependent on computers and the information held within 
them, OSS and open standards become a necessary tool in the defence of 
democracy and freedom.  I have given a number of public talks over the 
years on Linux and open source and always try to incorporate aspects of 
the philosphy of open source in to these events.

In 1995 I founded the Home Unix Machine - Brisbane User Group 
(http://www.humbug.org.au) in Brisbane, Australia to support the use of 
(predominantly OSS) Unix in the home.  I served on the executive of HUMBUG 
for the first 4.5 years and have remained involved with the club for its 
entire life.  I've also run an OSS consultancy that contributes 2% of 
gross profits in support of OSS.  In the last 13 years I have donated 
thousands of hours of my time in support of OSS, answering technical 
questions on mailing lists and on irc and I have also assisted many times 
in projects such as Software Freedom Day.

I now reside in Toronto, Canada and am involved with the Greater Toronto, 
Area Linux User Group (http://www.gtalug.org), being the Talks 
Coordinator.

I would like to join the board to assist SPI in becoming more central in 
the OSS world.  It is my belief that a higher profile for SPI can only be 
beneficial to OSS.

I previously proposed to the board the idea that SPI could become a UN 
Non-governmental Organisation (NGO) as this would allow us to advocate on 
behalf of OSS to people who really can make a difference.  This did not 
proceed, no doubt due to the work load on the board members at the time. 
If elected to the board I promise to proceed with this process as a top 
priority.

I can be found on the OFTC irc network as Solver.