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2026 Technical Council Election

2026 Technical Council Election

The FOLIO Technical Council's charter is to maintain the community’s technical policies, best practices, infrastructure, and monitor the operational health of the FOLIO project. It will also track and report Technical Debt and facilitate architectural decisions as needed by the community. It operates with close collaboration with the Community and Product Councils. 

Seats on the Technical Council are available to Members of the FOLIO community, in accordance with the FOLIO Governance Model. Member is defined as an individual who is an employee or a sponsored contractor of a Member Organization. Individuals will be elected to seats for two year terms. Shorter terms may be required for the initial transition period or to fill seats that become vacant between elections.

The Technical Council will be seeking nominees who have one or more of the following:

  • Strong collaboration skills, able to drive decisions that champion the interests of the community and project

  • Deep understanding of software development processes and technologies required for a modern services oriented application

  • Familiarity with agile software development methodologies.

  • Knowledge of DevOps and Quality tools and processes

  • Experience with FOLIO’s code-base, technologies and development processes

  • Frequent contributor to FOLIO’s code-base

  • Experience with Folio system operations

  • Experience managing technology, technical debt, and competing priorities

  • Participating in and/or managing open community governance

  • Knowledge of library management systems and library workflows

  • Experience with leading development or other technical teams

See also FOLIO Governance Model Election Process, previous elections and the Technical Council Membership History.

The current members are:

  • @Jenn Colt - Cornell University (Co-chair) Not eligible for re-election

  • @Florian Gleixner - BVB Not eligible for re-election

  • @Ingolf Kuss - HBZ Not eligible for re-election

  • @Julian Ladisch - GBV/VZG Eligible for re-election

  • @Maccabee Levine - Lehigh University (CC liaison) Not eligible for re-election

  • @Kevin Day - Texas A&M University Eligible for re-election

  • @Shelley Doljack - Stanford Libraries

  • @Jeff Gerhard - Library of Congress

  • @Christie Thomas - University of Chicago (PC liaison)

  • @Wayne Schneider - Index Data

  • @Olamide Kolawole - EBSCO Information Services(Co-chair)

There are 6 open seats on the Technical Council for 2-year terms starting July 2026. Technical Council members currently serving a term that ends June 2026 may stand for re-election if they have not occupied a seat for 2 consecutive terms.

Dates

Nominations will be collected until Jun 12, 2026 via the nomination form.

Successful candidates will join the council on July 1, 2026

Nominees

THANK YOU to all of the nominees for their interest in helping FOLIO become its best.

The following individuals have been nominated:

Name

Institution

Candidate Statement

Kevin Day

Texas A&M

I'm currently an active Technical Council member looking for re-election. I have notably taken part in the copyright and licensing sub-committee. I'm the lead full stack developer at Texas A&M Libraries as well as on the Aggies team. I also actively participate in the FOLIO security group.

I look forward to helping the council improve support for Devs and DevOps in the community from documentation and technical guidelines to easier deployments and improved cohesion across the FOLIO ecosystem.

It is my desire to continue supporting the community through my future contributions to the Technical Council.

Julian Ladisch

GBV / VZG, Göttingen

I've been a developer in the FOLIO Core Platform development team since 2016 and a member of FOLIO's Security Team since 2020. I contribute GBV's experience with hosting FOLIO for the library network and using it in German. When re-elected, I will continue my efforts in making the work of sysops and developers easier.

Elvis Aravena Beltrán

Bibliotecas Universidad de Concepción

As a computer engineer with a Master's degree in Computer Science and 15 years of experience leading IT teams in the implementation, infrastructure, and administration of automated library systems, I possess extensive knowledge of the business logic of ILS and each of its modules. In Latin America, we were pioneers in adopting Folio for our libraries, and since then, we have actively participated in proposals and collaborated on development logic, for example, in authority modules and advancements in Bibframe adoption for linked data. I am applying for a position on the Technical Council, hoping to serve as a bridge for the Latin American and Caribbean library community in these new developments.

Viktor Gema

EPAM Systems, Inc.

I am a Solution Architect at EPAM with 20 years of IT experience, including 6 years in architecture leadership. Over the last 3 years, I have worked on the EBSCO project across several FOLIO areas, including Eureka, FQM Manager, and Inventory Search. My background spans software development, solution architecture, architecture reviews, and production-focused collaboration with developers, product owners, hosting, and operations teams. I understand FOLIO from implementation, architecture, and operational perspectives, and I would bring practical, cross-functional insight to Technical Council decisions.

Mark Canney

Lehigh University

As the Lending Services Manager at Lehigh University for nearly 15 years, I am deeply committed to open-source, community-based library software. Since our FOLIO implementation in 2020, I have actively contributed to the FOLIO, LDP, ReShare, and VuFind communities, presenting frequently at WolfCon and involved with the RA-SIG, Reporting-SIG, and ReShare SME groups. If selected for the FOLIO Technical Council, I will bring a critical, front-line operational perspective to technical decision-making, ensuring that architectural choices directly serve the practical needs of resource sharing, circulation, and reporting. I would be honored to serve the community in this capacity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elected Members

The following people have been elected to serve 2-year terms from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2028:

  • Viktor Gema - EPAM Systems, Inc.

  • Julian Ladisch - GBV / VZG, Göttingen

  • Elvis Aravena Beltrán - Bibliotecas Universidad de Concepción

  • Mark Canney - Lehigh University

  • Kevin Day - Texas A&M