I'm on holiday at the moment but some things are so important that they draw me back temporarily. Red Hat and JBoss before it, has been an active member of the JCP Executive Committee for many years. We've worked with Sun, Oracle, IBM, HP, JUGs and many others to try to ensure that Java the language and Java EE the platform, are open and fully participatory by those who really make our collective thriving ecosystem work. It hasn't always been easy but we're glad to be involved. Whether it's helping to open up the JCP processes, injecting more open source practices, leading JSRs or participating in them, we try to be involved in all aspects of the Java community and standards. This is why being on the JCP Executive Committee is important for Red Hat: we believe that the best way to influence things is from within and being on the Executive Committee gives us that ability.

But an even more important aspect of being on the JCP EC is that everyone gets voted on (or off). As with any election, this is a great way of getting feedback on how well people view you and your approaches. We've been elected on to the EC every time our seat has been up for election, but that does not mean that we take it for granted: far from it in fact! And this time is no different. The elections kicked off recently and myself and Scott Stark represented Red Hat. The results have just been reported and I'm really pleased and proud to report that we've been elected for another two years. As you can see from the results, we got a lot of votes and it pleases me that so many people believe we are doing a good job. I want to thank everyone who voted, whether or not they voted for us (voting is important!); we will ensure that your vote counts.