Dear GOSH Community,
What follows will serve as the formal 2025 GOSH Community Council Election Report, summarizing the process, deliberation, and outcome of this year’s effort to seat a cohort of incoming Council members.
To start, I would like to reiterate our sincere thanks to everyone who participated in this year’s Council-seating process, whether by putting your name forward, registering to vote, or helping spread the word.
Between June 6 and 20, the nomination window opened for six Council seats. Five eligible candidates stepped forward. Voter registration totaled 16 eligible registrations. Because the field was smaller than the number of open seats, and because the formal election process, as written, is quite resource intensive, the sitting Council chose to pursue an alternative means of filling vacant Council seats.
All eligible candidates were invited to a structured interview with current Council members and Independent Observer Michael Ampah Yeboah (per his availability). This process ensured that qualified candidates equitably representing multiple geographic regions could still be seated in a timely and resource-friendly manner.
Based on these interviews, the Council invited the following candidates to serve two-year terms (2025–2027):
- María Castelló
- Yan Kay Ho
- Oluwadara “Dara” Obademi
Two candidates were unable to complete their interviews due to technical difficulties. At its 6 August meeting, the Council agreed to maintain their prior recommendations, inviting the two candidates affected by technical difficulties to 1) remain actively engaged in working groups and other community activities, and 2) consider future candidacy in upcoming election cycles.
The next steps will be to orient Maria, Yan Kay, and Dara in the coming weeks, and invite them to their first Council meeting on Wednesday, September 17. In the meantime, the Independent Observer may share an observer statement at his discretion.
We are grateful to every candidate who stepped forward, and to the community for its patience and support while we navigated an unusual election year. Congratulations to Maria, Yan, and Dara! We welcome you to the Council, and look forward to working with you.