LinuxChix announces new leader

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact:
Mary Gardiner
media@linuxchix.org
http://www.linuxchix.org/

LinuxChix announces new leader

The women's technical group LinuxChix has appointed a new international
co-ordinator, Mary Gardiner, replacing previous coordinator Jenn
Vesperman, who resigned after six years running the organization.

Mary Gardiner's primary focus as coordinator will be on forming a closer
relationship with the regional chapters, enabling the LinuxChix
community to better reach potential and existing women Free Software
users worldwide. Gardiner will also be investigating other ways that
LinuxChix can reach a larger audience and help its members engage with
the Free Software community. She intends to be coordinator of LinuxChix
for two years. Gardiner, a resident of Sydney, Australia and a
postgraduate student in computing, has been active as a volunteer in
LinuxChix since 2000. 

Mary Gardiner was chosen as the new coordinator by her predecessor Jenn
Vesperman from among three candidates — the others were Terri Oda and
Noirin Plunkett — following discussion and an indicative vote by the
LinuxChix volunteer community. Jenn Vesperman stated that "Mary, Noirin,
Terri: your peers respect you and trust you and think you would all
three do a great job... This is probably the hardest single choice in my
tenure: but at least I can't make a wrong choice. It's just a choice
between good choices." After announcing Mary Gardiner as her replacement
Vesperman concluded by asking the community to also congratulate Oda and
Plunkett on being close seconds.

Mary Gardiner will be the third LinuxChix coordinator, following Deb
Richardson, who founded LinuxChix in 1999 and ran it until 2001, and
Jenn Vesperman, who ran LinuxChix from May 2001 until March 2007.
LinuxChix thanks Jenn Vesperman for her hard work as coordinator of
LinuxChix over the last six years.

ABOUT LINUXCHIX

LinuxChix is an international group of Free Software users and
developers, founded in 1999 with the aim of "supporting women in Linux."
Founder Deb Richardson described it as an alternative to the "locker
room atmosphere" found in some online technical forums and gave
LinuxChix two core rules: "be polite" and "be helpful".

LinuxChix has been continually active for eight years and its forums
have attracted over one thousand members worldwide. In addition, it has
over fifteen active regional chapters, including LinuxChix Africa,
LinuxChix India and LinuxChix Brazil.

For additional information on LinuxChix or its new coordinator contact
media@linuxchix.org or visit http://www.linuxchix.org/