We at Umbraco HQ appreciate how wonderfully engaged, active and passionate our community is. But as the community grows, so does the challenge of maintaining and supporting it. The Community Advisory Board was formed in August 2024 with the aim - for the first 12 months - of helping us figure out how best to interact and communicate together in the virtual space: both for existing community members, and for people just discovering Umbraco.
The board will meet online once a month to discuss the direction and purpose of community initiatives managed by HQ. Initiatives such as the Community website, the Our forums, Discord, and social media. The work of the board will be as shared as publicly as possible so that the wider community can monitor and contribute along the way.
Meet the board
We are delighted to introduce you to the members of the board for this first term.
Janae Cram - United States
I'm one of the three founders of Skrift and I have a passion specifically for community initiatives because I think that a healthy community makes for healthy software.
Heather Floyd - United States
My first contact with the Umbraco community 18 years ago was through the (pre-Forum) Yahoo! group. And I know that online channels will be the first contact for many new people as well. I’m looking forward to having a positive impact on that experience, to support current and future community members both.
Joe Glombek - United Kingdom
I'm passionate about open web technologies, discoverability of content and fighting link rot. All of which I believe will prove important for the future of the Community site and replacement for Our. I see great value in technology communities - the Umbraco Community in particular! - and I'd like to continue to do my bit to help the Umbraco Community flourish.
Marc Goodson - United Kingdom
I've had a bit of insight over the last ten years into the forum and the Umbraco community as a whole and I have done lots of thinking, theorising and writing around the phenomena - and it would be really interesting to work out what is needed and to plot a path to getting there, whilst still making sure the legacy and spirit of the Umbraco community's evolution remains intact.
Ravi Motha - United Kingdom
As a long time community member and meetup organiser, I am really looking forward to feeding back to HQ direct from the community to help us make the community better.
Paweł Nienartowicz - Poland
I applied to this board as a voice of the non-developer (business) part of the community. I would like to find a way to help people like me to engage easier with Umbraco and I am super excited about it.
Gemma Rickaby - United Kingdom
I applied to join the Umbraco Community Advisory Board because I am passionate about enhancing the digital user experience, for everyone, across all roles and disciplines. I am particularly excited about the opportunity to collaborate with other Umbraco professionals to shape the future of our community platforms, ensuring they remain innovative, inclusive and user-friendly. I look forward to advocating for a diverse range of users and helping non-developers fully leverage Umbraco’s capabilities and resources.
Melvin van Rookhuizen - Netherlands
I am happy to work on the community so we can bring everyone interested in Umbraco together and add new layers to the existing environment. I hope to get more involvement from non-developers.
Mikkel Secher - Denmark
I'm excited to help make it easier for new people to become a part of the community!
Mike Taylor - United Kingdom
I've been around Umbraco and the community for many years, and back in my developer days I was involved in the production of various Umbraco-based websites (going back to v4!). Now that I'm no longer an active developer – these days I specialise in UX strategy and design of digital products and services – this community advisory board seemed like the ideal way for me to contribute something meaningful back to the product that has given me so much value over the years, and to the unique Umbraco community – some of the nicest people I know!
Lotte Pitcher - HQ Steward
Having been an active contributor to the Umbraco community since 2012, I was delighted to join HQ in the Developer Relations team in 2023. I am so excited about what we can achieve this year with the advice of this board. There’s so much we could do: I can see our greatest challenge will be managing and prioritising all the wonderful ideas and enthusiasm that the above folks will be bringing, and I can’t wait to get started!