Dear RosEXEC,

We will shortly be holding the RosEXEC elections for 2008 - in fact, we want to start the voting process tomorrow and run it for a week. Following from discussions at PAG, as vice chair in 2008 I now have the role of coordinating the membership subcommittee, so I've been seeking advice from some of you, and have developed a list of nominees. Yesterday I wrote to everyone nominated so far - 16 for US, and 10 for international - asking if they agree to be candidates. So far I have heard back from 10 US (all positive) and 4 international (3 positive, while re-nominated Pere will step aside in 2008). Tomorrow afternoon, we will go ahead with whoever has agreed to be a candidate.

For the International Liaisons, we have some possibilities about how to do this in 2008 and into the future. I suggest that each US community member would get to cast two votes. We seem to have consensus so far that we have 2 slots to fill in 2008, to join Sue and Herman for a total of 4 ILs in 2008. Beyond that, alternatives on the table are:

1. Aim for a total of 6 IL positions, with two more added in 2009 and beyond (with Sue rolling off in 2009 and Herman in 2010). Terms would be three years.

2. Aim for a total of 3 IL positions, but with 4 in 2008-2010. Two added in 2008, but only one thereafter. Terms of three years.

3. Aim for a total of 4 IL positions, with two new positions in 2008, one added in 2009 and in 2010, two in 2011, one in 2012 and 2013, etc. Terms of three years.

4. 4 IL positions with two year terms. Each year we add two people, and two roll off. Both Sue and Herman would roll off in early 2009.

To me, #4 seems the simplest. If you have an opinion, please let me know soon. If I don't hear otherwise, I'll go with #4 for the email I'll be sending out tomorrow afternoon to the GDR mailing list (this is an international list, but in my experience, this is the one that most US people are signed up to rather than the US list, and it doesn't hurt to alert the international community to these elections). The draft of that email is copied below (mostly taken from the one that Jim McFerson prepared for the 2007 elections). Below that is the list of nominees.

Comments welcome.

Cameron

RosEXEC ELECTIONS 2008

The US Rosaceae Genomics, Genetics, and Breeding Executive Committee (RosEXEC) will be electing five new members to replace its five outgoing members. RosEXEC serves as a communication and coordination focal point for the U.S. Rosaceae genomics, genetics, and breeding (GGB) community. We have four objectives:

1. Define research priorities based on input from the industry and the research community

2. Foster scientific interaction and dynamic research teams

3. Promote research priorities

4. Coordinate educational efforts from the research community to the industry and the public

RosEXEC meets in person at annual Plant and Animal Genome conferences and holds quarterly teleconferences. In 2008, Kevin Folta is the outgoing Chair and Gennaro Fazio is the incoming Chair. More information on RosEXEC can be found on the GDR at www.bioinfo.wsu.edu/gdr/community/rosexec/, including a list of all 2007 members (www.bioinfo.wsu.edu/gdr/community/rosexec/membership/index.shtml).

The election process is open to Rosaceae GGB community members currently based in the U.S., regardless of citizenship. Five votes can be cast per person. Please strive to represent the diversity of our community by electing candidates from various crop interests, institutional affiliations, and geographic locations.

Elections will be held electronically via the GDR at

www.bioinfo.wsu.edu/cgi-bin/gdr/gdr_rosexec_membership_2008_vote_form.cg i.

The US RosEXEC Membership Committee has suggested some candidates on the voting form posted on the GDR, but we urge interested community members to nominate other qualified candidates: this can be done via the voting page, or by directly contacting Cameron Peace (cpeace@wsu.edu). Outgoing RosEXEC members (Herb Aldwinckle, Amy Iezzoni, Kim Lewers, and Jim McFerson) are not eligible for re-election until 2009.

New US RosEXEC members will be selected by vote totals and will serve three-year terms.

Please note that you can also nominate and vote on up to two members as International Liaisons for the U.S. RosEXEC. Current members are Sue Gardiner and Herman Silva, with Pere Arus revolving off. We will add two new international liaisons in 2008, who will serve two-year terms.

If you have any problems using the voting page, please email Dorrie Main (dorrie@wsu.edu). The deadline for voting is in one week: 2 Apr 2008, 5pm PST.

Cameron Peace,

on behalf of the RosEXEC Membership Committee

Nominees (those who have thus far accepted to be candidates are in CAPITALS):

USA

Baldo

Angela

BASSIL

Nahla

Bushakra

Jill

BYRNE

David

Curtis

Bob

DARDICK

Chris

Dhingra

Amit

GASIC

Ksenija

LUBY

Jim

OGUNDIWIN

Eben

OLMSTEAD

Jim

SOSINSKI

Bryon

SWANSON

JD

Volk

Gayle

WISNIEWSKI

Michael

Zhu

Yanmin

International

Marisa Badenes

Thomas Debener

Elisabeth Dirlewanger

Toni GRANELL

Francois Laurens

Jasper REES

Dan SARGENT

Riccardo Velasco

Eric van de Weg