W3C Statements about AB Nominees for 2021 Election

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This is the list of nominees for the 2021 Election to the W3C Advisory Board (AB). Each person has been nominated by at least one W3C Member according to the AB election process.

The W3C Membership elects the AB. For this election W3C will fill six seats. W3C will announce the results on 4 June 2021.

Note: The deadline for votes is 03:59 UTC, 3 June 2021 (23:59 ET, 2 June 2021).

The following statements were sent about the nominees (in alphabetical order by nominee family name):

  1. Heejin Chung (Samsung Electronics)
  2. Joel Marcey (Facebook)
  3. Avneesh Singh (DAISY Consortium)*
  4. Eric Siow (Intel)*
  5. Léonie Watson (TetraLogical)*
  6. Chris Wilson (Google)*
  7. Hongru (Judy) Zhu (Alibaba)*

An asterisk (*) indicates that the nominee is a current participant. All individuals were nominated by the AC Representatives of their organizations unless otherwise indicated below.

Heejin Chung (Samsung Electronics)

I am a Principle Engineer for Samsung Internet. My experience in the web started with Tizen WebKit development in 2011. Since then I've worked on various parts of the web including Chromium on Android, supporting specs such as Web Payment, Immersive Web, and Device Posture, and bringing the web to wearables. The entry barrier to the web was not low, but as experience increased, I became a strong believer in the value and infinite possibilities of the web. Though it may be a short career compared to other nominees, I trust that I will be able to add a new perspective to the AB.

The web has played a crucial role in allowing us to go on with our daily lives amidst the global Covid-19 situation. We are relying more and more on the web to continue giving our children the education they deserve, getting important information, conducting our everyday businesses, and staying connected with friends and family. However, there are still many people left out without easy access to the web.

We still have more to do.

I am running for the W3C Advisory board because I highly appreciate what that web has achieved so far and believe it will reach new heights. I wish to support W3C's mission of long-term growth to make the web equally accessible to everyone around the world and to bring the web to the next level.

If elected, my plans are to contribute to Legal Entity, Globalization, Inclusion, and Diversity, and Incubation.

The W3C is an international organization and has been making a lot of effort to get a wide variety of people involved. I will assist in gathering diverse opinions on the web from both the user's and W3C member's points of view. My status at a consumer electronics company that has a global user base and actively listens to their opinions, would be especially helpful in understanding users of the web.

Being in the process of transferring to Legal Entity, active participation of members is required and more than ever. My small observation is that members located in countries with Hosts tend to show more active participation in W3C. I hope to understand how the presence of Hosts affects the participation of members, what that means to members in other countries, and make sure moving to Legal Entity results in higher engagement from all members. In addition, I plan to help in gaining insight on how organizations decide to join W3C. What values they seek and the challenges they face while considering enrollment.

Transfer to Legal Entity can be an opportunity for W3C to broaden member participation to more countries, and I hope to make the most of that opportunity. I will particularly reach out to my colleagues in South Asia and South America to see what will make people in their communities consider joining W3C. While advocating for enrollment, we will also need to be ready to welcome anyone from anywhere, and have an easy and comfortable environment ready for them to participate as much as they want. I will help gather and resolve the difficulties non-native members experience.

I also hope to help in incubation based on my experience setting up and changing various collaboration models and working processes inside Samsung. In order to take the Web to the next level, attempts without fear of failure should be actively encouraged and supported.

If you have any questions, please contact me at heejin.r.chung@samsung.com. Thank you.

Joel Marcey (Facebook)

Facebook is pleased to nominate Joel Marcey for election to the AB. In Joel’s own words:

The world wide web is one of the greatest inventions in the history of humankind. What started as a tool for sharing knowledge has literally turned into a core part of the life of nearly every person on the planet. It is important that the W3C always keeps in mind what the web was and what it is today. Never forget its history, but always be looking towards the future. From technology to inclusivity, the W3C has the potential to be the driver of web technologies and development for another 30 years and longer.

If elected to the advisory board, I will strive to work together with its other members to continue to represent the needs of the web community while also looking towards the future for the W3C as an organization, particularly as it faces one of its biggest challenges yet as it looks to transition into a single, standalone legal entity.

I am a senior developer advocate at Facebook, primarily responsible for leading its ecosystem engagement strategy and efforts. I have over 20 years of standards experience. I started as Intel’s lead sponsor for the standardization of C# and the CLI in Ecma, where I held roles of editor, convenor and chair for the various responsible task groups and technical committees. I am currently the Vice-President of Ecma and the chair of the committee responsible for programming languages, TC49. I am also a member of TC39, the committee responsible for the standardization of JavaScript. In addition to Ecma, I am on the board of the Rust Foundation and a member of Open Web Docs. Open Web Docs is chartered to maintain and produce high quality web technology documentation, many of which are based on technologies from the W3C.

As an employee of Facebook, I understand the importance of the standards driven by the W3C. Many of Facebook’s products and services are built on these exact technologies and are quite literally responsible for their usefulness and success. Facebook itself is an active member of the W3C, including helping drive web accessibility, XR and performance. My team is directly responsible for Facebook’s W3C membership.

I have the traits necessary to help drive the challenges and opportunities that W3C faces as it nears its 30th anniversary:

  1. Experience: I have experience with a wide variety of organizations, from Ecma to the Linux Foundation, each with their own opportunities and challenges. For example, as part of Facebook, I helped manage and contribute to the creation of the GraphQL foundation, with its own governance and legal model. As the W3C grapples with how to manage a potential transition to a singular, standalone legal entity, I can bring this experience to help ensure the W3C is set up for future success.
  2. Driver of consensus: With my leadership positions in standards organizations such as Ecma, I know what consensus building means to their success. I will have my own thoughts, but I will always have an open ear to everyone’s ideas, and first try to see if there is any solution to a problem that can combine the best of all proposals. This will be especially important during W3C’s legal entity transition as there will be many opinions from members and the community on the best path forward.
  3. Belief in the common good: As a developer advocate in open source, I understand first hand that one of the most important qualities for a successful organization like the W3C is that its eye must always be on delivering value for an entire community. I may work at Facebook, but I am always a community representative.
  4. Technical Aptitude: I am highly technical and understand the realities of the current technology landscape. I have worked on groundbreaking technologies such as Blockchain and have helped develop highly used open source projects such as Docusaurus. I will take my technical knowledge and use it to help propose relevant solutions for the W3C, whether for the organization or its standards.

I believe in the mission of the W3C of “leading the World Wide Web to its full potential by developing protocols and guidelines that ensure the long-term growth of the Web”. As both the W3C and the Web evolve, I will work to ensure that we stay true to that mission.

Avneesh Singh (DAISY Consortium)*

This statement is available in 日本人, 中文, Español, Français.

A strategic leader with a drive for leading a life of purpose

I am Chief Operating and Strategic Officer at the DAISY Consortium, the international organization which pioneered standards for accessible digital books and a longtime active W3C member.

Thank you for electing me to the AB for my first term. It has been a journey full of strategic development, analysis and learning. Soon after joining the AB in 2019, my experience in managing a non-profit consortium helped me discover the crucial strategic issues which are likely to disrupt us in the new incarnations of the W3C. With this understanding, I initiated the work on organizational strategy (purpose, vision, values, principles, and strategic goals) using a three-way open collaboration between the AB, the W3C team, and the greater W3C community.

I also focused on bringing diversity and global participation to the legal entity’s Board model, which is still in progress. I have been contributing to improving the board of directors’ structure by emphasizing diversity, inclusion, worldwide participation, and balancing of business interests, along with collaborating with the learned members of AB for making other important strategic decisions.

I am based in India, the emerging economy which will add more than 1 billion internet users in the next decade.

I am a computer engineer with extensive experience in developing international standards and software implementations. I earned an Executive MBA in Strategy and Marketing from the Indian Institute of Management and further expanded analytical and strategic skills at Harvard University, studying approaches for mobilizing non-profit Boards and optimizing governance.

I have gained vast relevant experience in non-profit governance, international strategy development and general management while working with the Board of Directors at the DAISY Consortium, a community-based non-profit organization with members and network partners in more than 100 countries.

As W3C is going through this transitional phase we need to make crucial decisions around the legal entity, strategic direction, and the governance model, while evolving the organization to reinforce its worldwide leadership. Based on insights that I gained over the last two years, I will be instrumental in:

I have relevant experience, and I have a listening and reflective personality. This offers the ideal balance of the required skills, with the ability to comprehend and synthesize diverse views.

We are at a crucial point in the W3C, with Tim stepping down, transition to a new legal entity, transformation of the governance model, and all when the world is in a critical pandemic. Well-considered strategic decisions will transform this crucial point into a historical, positive inflection point for the W3C.  I am looking forward to representing you in the AB.

Please do not hesitate to contact me at asingh@daisy.org.

Eric Siow (Intel)*

I’m running for re-election to the W3C Advisory Board (AB). As most of you are aware, I bring a unique skillset to the AB via my background in business management, corporate finance and launching new entities, including consortia. See my LinkedIn Profile.

Today the W3C faces both exciting new opportunities and thorny challenges. Novel use cases from emerging domains are re-energizing the Web platform and attracting new stakeholders, while privacy and security issues inflicted by changes in the business and technological landscape need more diligent care than ever. The W3C's plan to spin off into a standalone legal entity must adapt the organization to these changes in the environment. The W3C does not exist in a vacuum. If future work is being incubated outside the W3C, it will be detrimental to both the W3C as an organization and the broader web community surrounding it. The W3C is at an inflection point.

During the last two years on the AB, I have used my knowledge and experience to help the team with its fund-raising efforts to launch our new legal entity (LE). To be successful, the W3C Management (W3M) will need to convince funding sources that the organization is willing, ready, and capable of graduating from our current hosts to a well-managed and sustainable independent entity. Along with the W3C’s new CFO and my fellow LE taskforce members, I have gathered financial information from the four different hosts, organized and analyzed it to better understand the W3C’s operations and needs. This is imperative in preparing the W3M for the fund-raising due diligence process. In addition, I have also contributed to crafting and promoting the proposed Sponsorship program as a potential source for the LE. See my video updates to the Advisory Committee (AC):

A successful technical standard is more than just a published specification. Without adoption and commercial deployment, it is just an expensive R&D write-off. I’ve used my experience to help enroll key stakeholders to launch the Web and Network Interest Group and the extension of web capabilities to Smart Cities. See my joint presentation with W3M to the ASEAN CIO Association (ACIOA) entitled “Future of the Web”.

We often refer to ourselves as the W3C community. In reality, like many similar organizations in the world of consortia and standard development organizations, we are comprised of many sub-communities with distinct needs and priorities. This adds complexities when crafting solutions to address issues facing the organization. Serving on the AB requires commitment, significant time and effort. It involves more than attending meetings to offer perfunctory opinions. To be truly productive and contribute meaningfully, an AB member must be willing to roll up his or her sleeves, dig in and work. We need AB members who are experienced and objective in dealing with issues holistically and strategically. This requires the ability and willingness to see the trees without missing the forest. An AB member must be willing to set aside partisan self-interest, and put the interest of the W3C, the membership and the Web ecosystem above all. The W3C and W3M have limited resources. They do not have expertise and experience in many areas. AB members can help by using their influence in mustering additional resources from their respective organizations and from other external partners to augment the W3M’s capabilities. These may include legal, business, and technical resources. See my video update in 2020 AC meeting on the LE Jurisdiction.

A lot of attention has been placed on the spin-off into a legal entity. I would caution everyone that the spin-off should be viewed as a step forward for the W3C, not a destination. We need to take a longer-term perspective on our roles as stewards of web standards and future web capabilities. Not only will we need to continue working to ensure that the new entity is strategically, financially, and operationally sustainable after it becomes an independent and standalone entity, we must be guard against divisions among ourselves and work to build trust within the membership. This is imperative if the W3C is to survive and thrive as a broad-based community organization. As leaders, the Advisory Board must be a steady hand in helping the W3M and membership navigate these changes. My previous AB experience and deep industry background has prepared me for such responsibilities.

If re-elected, I will continue to devote my energy, experience, and ability to gather needed resources to help the organization navigate through the transition and beyond. Thank you for your kind consideration and support.

Léonie Watson (TetraLogical)*

My statement is also available online, with translations in Português Brasileiro, Français, 日本語, 한국어, 中文, Español.

I believe the Web is stronger and better when we work together, and that the W3C is stronger and better when our community works together, and that this has never been more important than it is now.

As the W3C transitions to a new Legal Entity it will undergo fundamental change, and (perhaps uniquely among the Advisory Board (AB)) I have direct and relevant experience of such things.

I joined W3C in 2010 as a self-funded Invited Expert of the Protocols and Formats Working Group, now the Accessible Platform Architectures Working Group. I became Advisory Committee (AC) representative for my first member organisation not long after, and have since been AC representative for two more small member organisations.

I still participate in the Accessible Platform Architectures Working Group, and others like the Accessibility Guidelines Working Group. I was Co-Chair of the Web Platform Working Group from 2015, and I am now Co-Chair of its successor - the Web Applications Working Group.

I was Co-Chair of the Inclusion and Diversity Community Group from its creation, until it merged with the Positive Work Environment Community Group earlier this year and I remain an active contributor to the W3C's diversity and inclusion effort. I have recently become Co-Chair of the Web Incubator Community Group.

I was elected to the AB in 2016 and have remained a serving member ever since. During that time, I've contributed to numerous AB activities, collaborating with AB colleagues - from self-funded Invited Experts to representatives of large corporations - always trying to find solutions that recognise our differences but still achieve our common goals.

In the last 20 years, I've been a director for two companies, both with the same approximate number of people as W3C. One had a team distributed across multiple continents and countries, just like W3C, and one was based in the US, just like the new Legal Entity will be.

Now, as Director of my own company, I've put in place policies and processes, built another distributed team, and without seed funding or investment we're optimistic of an annual revenue of £1 million in our third year of trading. I've also transitioned our capital, employees, clients, contracts, and assets from one Legal Entity to another (because of a deliberate company restructure), just like W3C is doing.

If I have learnt one thing during this time, it's that a clear vision and a strong governance model are essential for an organisation to succeed.

TetraLogical is founded on four principles: be inclusive, efficient, ethical, and safe. These principles underpin everything we do and every decision we make, because we believe we are stronger and better when we work together to make the web a more inclusive, efficient, ethical, and safe place to be.

If I am re-elected to the Advisory Board, I will continue to:

If you have any questions, please write to me at lwatson@tetralogical.com, or find me on WhatsApp or WeChat at +44.7921168551.

Chris Wilson (Google)*

Google is pleased to nominate Chris Wilson (he/him) for election to the Advisory Board. In his own words:

I have been involved with the W3C community since its inception. I was a founding member of the CSS Working Group, and have chaired and participated in many Working Groups and other efforts throughout a 28-year long career in the Web, from engineering the early NCSA Mosaic browser for Windows through a 15-year career at Microsoft working on Internet Explorer, to my current role as Web Standards Tech Lead on the Google Chrome team. I currently co-chair the Immersive Web Working Group, and the Immersive Web and Web Platform Incubation Community Groups, and am Google’s Advisory Committee representative.

I have been using my current term on the Advisory Board to attempt to radically impact three efforts, all three of which I would like to continue (in no particular order of importance):

In my “day job” role at Google, I guide the intersection of Chromium’s engineering process and web standards. I am continually working to better refine how Chromium engineers work in the Web, and I look forward to working on improving the process of incubation and development at the W3C in the modern era.

In short, the landscape of the web platform has fundamentally changed, and the W3C needs to change too. I would like to continue using my pragmatic bent and practical experience on the Advisory Board to help shepherd this transition to success. Thank you for your support, and please contact me if you have any further questions (cwilso@google.com).

Hongru (Judy) Zhu (Alibaba)*

The statement is available in English, 中文, 日本語, Español, Français.

As the Vice President responsible for standardization in Alibaba Group, Hongru (Judy) Zhu is leading the Standardization Department and responsible for standardization-related activities across Alibaba Group. With 20 years of professional standardization experiences, Hongru (Judy) Zhu has served as a number of leading positions in various national and international standard organizations, such as ISO TC154 Chair, CCSA TC11 vice chair, FIDO Board Member and 3GPP SA3 Vice Chair, etc. Besides the standardization work, Hongru (Judy) Zhu is also a senior security researcher engaged in the industry for many years.

With great passion and strong sense of responsibility, Judy has served as W3C Advisory Board member from 2015 to 2021. During these six years, she has been actively engaging and contributing to the strategic discussion, especially about the Next Big Things, Vision and Mission of W3C, so as to make W3C a better place to lead the Web to its full potential.

Judy believes in the values of diversity and inclusion that can be brought to an international organization. Ever since she joined W3C community, Judy has been devoted to improve the global participation, especially the participation of the under-represented groups in W3C. She works closely with the Internet communities in Asian regions such as China and South East Asia and set up channels to facilitate their participation. One typical example is that, Judy has been actively working with industries in Asia to initiate the standardization of MiniApps from different angles in W3C such as AB Next Big Things, AC Meetings, TPAC Breakout Sessions, MiniApp Ecosystem Community Group, etc and bridge various resources to explore innovations, e.g., supporting the launch of MiniApps Working Group to enhance the interoperability between MiniApps Ecosystem and Web platform, which has great potential to trigger another wave of Web-standard-based innovation.

To contribute to a better Web from more perspectives, Judy has persistently promoted Alibaba’s engagement and contribution in W3C by recognizing the great value of Web standards and encouraging the participation from Alibaba employees, especially in the areas of Web technologies such as CSS, Web Apps, MiniApps, Accessibility, Web of Things, Web Payment, I18N, Web Security and Privacy, Web Authentication, Web Application, etc. Judy also set up Alibaba Standards University which provides lectures and trainings on the latest standard technologies for both Alibaba employees and the industry.

As a persistent, passionate and public-spirited individual, Judy has been a vocal advocate for diversity and globalization in the community by providing creative thinking and constructive ideas. She has always enjoyed talking to people from different cultures and learn from different perspectives in the past two decades of international standards work. And these experiences help her to be able to look and think from many different perspectives, and contribute in a way that can both benefit the local community and the global community.

Hongru (Judy) Zhu has the passion to continuously serve as Advisory Board member. And she has been rigorously and diligently to fulfil the responsibilities as an Advisory Board member. If re-elected as Advisory Board, Judy could have the opportunity to continue her efforts to help W3C to become more diverse, inclusive and globalized, to make the W3C process more effective and efficient, and to increase collaboration between W3C and various industries in the globe.

Hongru (Judy) Zhu has Alibaba’s support from all necessary aspects to accomplish the duties and responsibilities in this area. We appreciate your support in the coming AB election.

If you have any questions, please contact Judy via email <hongru.zhr@alibaba-inc.com>.


Xueyuan Jia, W3C Marketing & Communications