---
title: "Knative steering committee"
linkTitle: "Steering committee"
weight: 40
type: "docs"
aliases:
  - /contributing/steering-committee/
---

The Knative Steering Committee (KSC) is
[responsible for the general health of the Knative community](./GOVERNANCE.md).

The governance of Knative is an open, living document, and will continue to
evolve as the community and project change.

- [Charter](#charter)
- [Delegated authority](#delegated-authority)
- [Committee Meetings](#committee-meetings)
- [Committee Members](#committee-members)
- [Emeritus Committee Members](#emeritus-committee-members)
- [Decision process](#decision-process)
- [Getting in touch](#getting-in-touch)
- [Elections](#election-procedure)
  - [Timeline](#timeline)
  - [Election Officer(s)](#election-officers)
  - [Eligibility to Vote](#eligibility-to-vote)
  - [Candidate Eligibility](#candidate-eligibility)
  - [Voting Procedure](#voting-procedure)
  - [Limitations on Company Representation](#limitations-on-company-representation)
- [Vacancies](#vacancies)
- [Transition](#transition)
- [Changes to the charter](#changes-to-the-charter)
- [Authority, Facilitation, and Decision Making in Knative](#authority-facilitation-and-decision-making-in-knative)

## Charter

1. Define, evolve, and promote the vision, values, and mission of the project.
1. Define and evolve project governance structures and policies, including
   project roles and how collaborators become members, approvers, leads, and/or
   administrators. This includes policy for the creation and administration of
   [working groups](./working-groups/WORKING-GROUPS.md) and committees.
1. Steward, control access, delegate access, and establish processes regarding
   all Knative project resources and has the final say in the disposition of
   those resources.
1. Advise the Trademark Committee on usage of the brand and marks in relation to
   promoting the community. This advice is non-binding on the Trademark
   Committee.
1. Define and evolve the scope of the Knative community and extensions, and the
   process for migration of sandbox projects into Knative Extensions.
1. Receive and handle reports about [code of conduct](./CODE-OF-CONDUCT.md)
   violations and maintain confidentiality.
1. Receive security reports; work with the appropriate technical leads to accept
   or reject the report; maintain the private nature of such reports until
   disclosed to the broader community.
1. Act as the final escalation point and decider for any disputes, issues,
   clarifications, or escalations within the project scope.

## Delegated authority

KSC may choose to delegate its authority to other committees as-needed. The
committee currently recognizes this delegated authority for:

- Technical guidance is delegated to the
  [Technical Oversight Committee](./TECH-OVERSIGHT-COMMITTEE.md).

## Committee Meetings

KSC currently meets weekly, or as-needed. Meetings are open to public and held
online.

Given the private nature of some of these discussions (e.g. privacy, private
emails to the committee, code of conduct violations, escalations, disputes
between members, security reports, etc.) some meetings are held in private.

[Meeting notes](https://docs.google.com/document/d/16Rpd2nhmLWrkFJUfpJ31Ox2PpultJ-bYIhqaiWQff_I/edit)
are available to members of the
[knative-dev mailing list](https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/knative-dev)
(note: these are accessible to members of the knative-users list as well).
Public meetings will be recorded and the recordings made available publicly.

Questions and proposals for changes to governance are posted as
[issues in the community repo](https://github.com/knative/community/issues), and
the KSC invites your feedback there. See [Getting in touch](#getting-in-touch)
for other options.

## Committee members

Seats on the Steering Committee are held by an individual, not by their
employer.

The current membership of the committee is currently (listed alphabetically by
first name):

| &nbsp;                                                         | Member                    | Organization | Profile                                              | Term Start | Term End |
| -------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------- | ------------ | ---------------------------------------------------- | ---------- | --------
| <img width="30px" src="https://github.com/thisisnotapril.png"> | April Kyle Nassi          | Google       | [@thisisnotapril](https://github.com/thisisnotapril) | Bootstrap  | 2021     |
| <img width="30px" src="https://github.com/csantanapr.png">     | Carlos Santana            | IBM          | [@csantanapr](https://github.com/csantanapr)         | 2021-12-02 | 2023     |
| <img width="30px" src="https://github.com/lance.png">          | Lance Ball                | Red Hat      | [@lance](https://github.com/lance)                   | 2021-12-02 | 2023     |
| <img width="30px" src="https://github.com/itsmurugappan.png">  | Murugappan Sevugan Chetty | Optum        | [@itsmurugappan](https://github.com/itsmurugappan)   | 2022-02-01 | 2023     |
| <img width="30px" src="https://github.com/pmorie.png">         | Paul Morie                | Independent  | [@pmorie](https://github.com/pmorie)                 | 2020-12-11 | 2022     |
| <img width="30px" src="https://github.com/vaikas.png">         | Ville Aikas               | Chainguard   | [@vaikas](https://github.com/vaikas)                 | 2020-12-11 | 2022     |

## Emeritus Committee Members

To recognize the folks that have served in the SC in the past, below we list the previous members of the SC (sorted by their 'Term End').

| &nbsp;                                                         | Member              | Profile                                      | Term Start | Term End |
| -------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------- | -------------------------------------------- | ---------- | --------
| <img width="30px" src="https://github.com/dewitt.png">         | Dewitt Clinton      | [@dewitt](https://github.com/dewitt)         | Bootstrap  | 2019     |
| <img width="30px" src="https://github.com/mchmarny.png">       | Mark Charmny        | [@mchmarny](https://github.com/mchmarny)     | Bootstrap  | 2019     |
| <img width="30px" src="https://github.com/jdumars.png">        | Jaice Singer DuMars | [@jdumars](https://github.com/jdumars)       | 2019       | 2020     |
| <img width="30px" src="https://github.com/lindydonna.png">     | Donna Malayeri      | [@lindydonna](https://github.com/lindydonna) | 2019       | 2020     |
| <img width="30px" src="https://github.com/rgregg.png">         | Ryan Gregg          | [@rgregg](https://github.com/rgregg)         | Bootstrap  | 2020     |
| <img width="30px" src="https://github.com/isdal.png">          | Tomas Isdal         | [@isdal](https://github.com/isdal)           | Bootstrap  | 2020     |
| <img width="30px" src="https://github.com/anicolao.png">       | Alex Nicolau        | [@anicolao](https://github.com/anicolao)     | 2020       | 2020     |
| <img width="30px" src="https://github.com/ronavn.png">         | Ron Avnur           | [@ronavn](https://github.com/ronavn)         | 2020       | 2020     |
| <img width="30px" src="https://github.com/bsnchan.png">        | Brenda Chan         | [@bsnchan](https://github.com/bsnchan)       | Bootstrap  | 2021     |
| <img width="30px" src="https://github.com/mbehrendt.png">      | Michael Behrendt    | [@mbehrendt](https://github.com/mbehrendt)   | Bootstrap  | 2021     |

## Decision process

The steering committee desires to always reach consensus.

Decisions requiring a vote include: issuing written policy, amending existing
written policy, creating, removing, or modifying a working group, all spending,
hiring, and contracting, official responses to publicly raised issues, or any
other decisions that at least half the members present decide require a vote

Decisions are made in meetings when a quorum of the members are present and may
pass with at least half the members of the committee supporting it.

Quorum is considered reached when at least half of the members are present.

## Getting in touch

There are two ways to raise issues to the steering committee for decision:

1. Emailing the steering committee at
   [steering@knative.team](mailto:steering@knative.team).
   This is a private discussion list to which all members of the committee have
   access.
2. Open an issue on a knative repository and indicate that you would like
   attention from the steering committee.

## Composition

The steering committee has 5 seats. Of these five seats, four (4) are
Contributing seats, open to any project contributor, and one (1) seat is held
by a KSC appointed End-User seat. End-User seat, is open to active end-user
community members whose company is listed in the [ADOPTERS](./ADOPTERS.md) file.

Steering Committee contributing members serve for 2-year terms, staggered in
order to preserve continuity. End-User member serves for 1-year term. Every year
two contributor seats are elected.

## Election Procedure

### Timeline

Steering Committee elections are held annually. Six weeks or more before the
election, the Steering Committee will appoint Election Officer(s) (see below).
Four weeks or more before the election, the Election Officer(s) will issue a
call for nominations, publish the list of voters, and open the call for
exceptions. One week before the election the call for nominations and exceptions
will be closed. The election will be open for voting not less than two weeks and
not more than four. The results of the election will be announced within one
week of closing the election. New Steering Committee members will take office on
December 1 of each year.

### Election Officer(s)

Six weeks or more before the election, the Steering Committee will appoint
between one and three Election Officer(s) to administer the election. Elections
Officers will be Knative community members in good standing who are eligible to
vote, are not running for Steering in that election, who are not currently part
of the Steering Committee and can make a public promise of impartiality. They
will be responsible for:

- Making all announcements associated with the election
- Preparing and distributing electronic ballots
- Judging exception requests
- Assisting candidates in preparing and sharing statements
- Tallying voting results according to the rules in this charter

### Eligibility to Vote

Anyone who has at least 50 contributions in the last 12 months is eligible to
vote in the Steering election. Contributions are defined as opening PRs,
reviewing and commenting on PRs, opening and commenting on issues, writing
design docs, commenting on design docs, helping people on slack, participating
in working groups, and other efforts that help advance Knative the project.

[This dashboard](https://knative.teststats.cncf.io/d/9/developer-activity-counts-by-repository-group-table?orgId=1&var-period_name=Last%20year)
shows only GitHub based contributions and does not capture all the contributions
we value. We expect this metric not to capture everyone who should be eligible
to vote. If a community member has had significant contributions over the past
year but is not captured in the
[stats.knative.dev dashboard](https://knative.teststats.cncf.io/d/9/developer-activity-counts-by-repository-group-table?orgId=1&var-period_name=Last%20year),
they will be able to submit an exception form to the Elections Officer(s) who
will then review and determine whether this member should be eligible to vote.
All exceptions, and the reasons for them, will be recorded in a log that will be
available to Steering and the TOC.

The electoral roll of all eligible voters will be captured at
knative/community/steering-elections/$YEAR/voters.md and the voters’ guide will
be captured at knative/community/steering-elections/$YEAR/README.md,
similar to the
[kubernetes election process](https://github.com/kubernetes/steering/blob/master/elections.md)
and identical to the TOC election process.

We are committed to an inclusive process and will adapt future eligibility
requirements based on community feedback.

### Candidate Eligibility

Community members must be eligible to vote in order to stand for election (this
includes voters who qualify for an exception). Candidates may self-nominate or
be nominated by another eligible member. There are no term limits for KSC
members. Nothing prevents a qualified member from serving on both the TOC and SC
simultaneously.

To run for a Contributing seat, a candidate must additionally be at least a
project Member as defined in
[ROLES.md](https://github.com/knative/community/blob/main/ROLES.md).

End-user seats for 2021 elections are eligible if their company is listed in the
[ADOPTERS](./ADOPTERS.md) file.

### Voting Procedure

Elections will be held using [Elekto], an online voting tool created by CNCF
intern Manish Sahani. The details for 2021 KSC elections can be found [here]
(./elections/2021-SC/README.md).

### Limitations on Company Representation

No more than two seats may be held by employees of the same organization (or
conglomerate, in the case of companies owning each other). Additionally, each
End-User seat (when available) must belong to an employee from a different
organization. If the results of an election result in greater than two employees
of the same organization, the lowest vote getters from any particular employer
will be removed until representation on the committee is down to two.

If employers change because of job changes, acquisitions, or other events, in a
way that would yield more than 2 seats being held by employees of the same
organization, sufficient members of the committee must resign until only two
employees of the same employer are left. If it is impossible to find sufficient
members to resign, all employees of that organization will be removed and new
special elections held. In the event of a question of company membership (for
example evaluating independence of corporate subsidiaries) a majority of all
non-involved Steering Committee members will decide.

## Vacancies

In the event of a resignation or other loss of an elected SC member, the
candidate with the next most votes from the previous election will be offered
the seat, provided that person otherwise qualifies to join the SC. This process
will continue until the seat is filled.

In case this fails to fill the seat, a special election for that position will
be held as soon as possible, unless the regular SC election is less than 7 weeks
away. Eligible voters from the most recent election will vote in the special
election. Eligibility will not be redetermined at the time of the special
election. Any replacement SC member will serve out the remainder of the term for
the person they are replacing, regardless of the length of that remainder.

## Transition

In order to transition from the original, organization-appointed Steering
Committee structure (the "bootstrap" committee), elections will be phased in
over 14 months.

In October 2020, two positions will be elected, including two Contributing
seats and zero End-User seats (because end-user seat mechanics are still being
worked out). One Google, one IBM/RedHat, and one VMware seat will be retained
from the current Steering Committee.

In October or November 2021, the three remaining "bootstrap SC" seats will be
replaced by elected seats (three Contributing and hopefully one End-User seat).

## Changes to the charter

Changes to the KSC charter may be proposed via a PR on the charter itself.
Amendments are accepted with majority consent of the committee as per the
[decision process](#decision-process) outlined above.

Proposals and amendments to the charter are available for at least a period of
one week for comments and questions before a vote will occur.

## Authority, Facilitation, and Decision Making in Knative

Ideally most decisions will be made at the lowest possible level within the
project: within individual working groups. When this is not possible for
technical decisions, the TOC can help facilitate a conversation to work through
the contended issue. When facilitation by the TOC does not resolve the contended
issue, the Steering Committee can help facilitate. When facilitation by the SC
does not resolve the contention, the SC may have to make a decision.

Note that if the SC is called to resolve contended decisions regularly, it is a
symptom of a larger problem in the community that will need to be addressed.

---

Portions of this document are adapted from the
[Istio Steering Committee](https://github.com/istio/community/blob/master/STEERING-COMMITTEE.md)
documentation, and other portions are copied from the
[Kubernetes Steering Committee](https://github.com/kubernetes/steering/blob/master/elections.md),
both of which are licensed under the Apache License 2.0.

Except as otherwise noted, the content of this page is licensed under the
[Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/),
and code samples are licensed under the
[Apache 2.0 License](https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0).
