Dries Buytaert

I helped start the Drupal Association in 2006 because we needed a checking account for the $10,000 or so required to produce a Drupal conference and to support our infrastructure. In a short six years, we grew the Drupal Association from a volunteer-run organization to one of the largest Open Source non-profit foundations with an operating budget of $3 million USD and 8 full-time employees. Today, we support over 18,000 developers, 9,000 conference attendees, 2,300 individual donors, 800 organizations, and a web presence that reaches over two million people every month.

A lot of that credit goes to Jacob Redding, who took the position of Executive Director two years ago. Under Jacob's leadership we have broadened our activities, streamlined our operations, and significantly increased our revenues. We have supported the Drupal community in its exponential growth from 70,000 members to over 800,000 and from 700 committers to over 18,000. And we are just getting started.

Today, we are announcing an important leadership transition at the Drupal Association. We're sad to say that Jacob, who has worked tirelessly and effectively to grow the organization to where it is today, has told us he intends to step down later this year. Needless to say, it was a difficult decision for Jacob to leave, but he has agreed to stay on until the right replacement has been found, and plans to stay involved as a member and volunteer after his responsibilities have been transitioned.

This transition doesn't come as a surprise for the Drupal Association's Board of Directors. With Jacob's help, we have been preparing and planning for this transition for a while. The Drupal Association is in a good place; we are better organized than ever before and have more momentum than ever before.

This leaves us with a tremendous opportunity ahead. We are now seeking someone to help lay the foundation for our next stage of growth. Someone to help drive us to become the largest Open Source non-profit organization. This will need to be an experienced executive to take over Jacob's responsibilities and to grow the Drupal Association from a $3M organization to a $10M organization over the next few years so we can better support our massive growth as a community and project.

If you are interested, or if you know someone that is interested in this job, please take a look at the job description. I think this truly represents one of the most exciting opportunities out there for someone with a strong leadership background, and that is interested in fostering enormous growth within a non-profit and collaborating with an extensive and active volunteer network. Together with the Drupal community this person could change the way the world builds websites.