Richard Brown to Chair openSUSE Project Board

NUREMBERG, Germany, July 17, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The openSUSE®Project today announced Richard Brown has been appointed chairperson of the openSUSE board. The openSUSE board provides guidance, governance and support for the openSUSE Project, developer of the reliable, modern and easy-to-use multi-purpose Linux operating system. The board members are elected by the community, and the chair is appointed by SUSE®.

"Richard brings a tremendous amount of experience and understanding to his new role as openSUSE board chair," said Ralf Flaxa, SUSE vice president of engineering. "openSUSE is fortunate to be supported by an active, enthusiastic community – a community Richard is a part of and knows well. His leadership combined with the community's diligence and support will help advance the project to even greater heights."

Brown has been active in the openSUSE community since 2005 when the project was launched, and he has served as a board member since early 2013. Initially active in testing, bug reporting and providing support via the project's IRC channels, Brown has worked with the Artwork, Marketing and Advocates (formerly Ambassadors) teams and helps maintain GNOME and the branding/theme packages in openSUSE. He is also currently on the openSUSE Membership Officials team that recognizes community contributors. In 2012, Brown was a mentor for openSUSE's involvement in Google's Code-In. In recent years he has led the organization of openSUSE's presence at the FOSDEM conference, the largest FOSS event in Europe. He has more than 10 years of experience as a sysadmin and is currently a QA engineer for SUSE.

Brown said, "As a long-time Linux user and community developer, it is both humbling and exciting to participate in the openSUSE Project as board chair. Hard work and collaboration in the openSUSE community has contributed to a remarkable Linux distribution, and I'm looking forward to ongoing growth in both the community and the openSUSE distribution."

About openSUSE

The openSUSE project is a worldwide effort that promotes the use of Linux everywhere. openSUSE creates one of the world's best Linux distributions, working together in an open, transparent and friendly manner as part of the worldwide Free and Open Source Software community. For more information, visit www.opensuse.org.

About SUSE

SUSE, a pioneer in open source software, provides reliable, interoperable Linux and cloud infrastructure solutions that give enterprises greater control and flexibility. More than 20 years of engineering excellence, exceptional service and an unrivaled partner ecosystem power the products and support that help our customers manage complexity, reduce cost, and confidently deliver mission-critical services. The lasting relationships we build allow us to adapt and deliver the smarter innovation they need to succeed – today and tomorrow. For more information, visit www.suse.com.

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