Meet the 2026 Board Election Candidates

Nominations closed on September 8, and we have our ballot. Two people are running for the two open Cohort A seats: Muuhh Ikeda and Tristan Theroux.

This is the first election under the new bylaws and annual election process we adopted in April, and it fills the seats that Jun Yoshida and Jesse Asklund held. Voting opens today, September 14. If you were a member in good standing by July 16, your ballot link will be sent to the email address associated with your membership in accounts.almalinux.org. If you have any questions about the process, check the 2026 election page in the wiki.

Meet the Candidates

A connection between our members and the board is incredibly important, so we asked both candidates for introductions to share with the community. Learn more about who they are below!

Muuhh Ikeda

Nominated by Cybertrust Japan Co., Ltd., a Platinum sponsor. He’s on LinkedIn.

Ever since being first struck by how using gcc in the 1990s, simply by compiling with an option -O2, could make programs run several times faster than those compiled with commercial compilers, I, Muuhh IKEDA, have been a longtime OSS lover and believer. I later became involved in the development of the Linux kernel, primarily focusing on embedded and IoT applications. I currently serve as an OSS Evangelist and OSPO member at Cybertrust Japan Co., Ltd. I am also an LF Japan Evangelist. In addition to participating in the OSS community myself, I am leading the OpenSSF Japan community and active in efforts to raise the overall level of OSS security in Japan. I received the 2025 OpenSSF Golden Egg Award.

I expect AlmaLinux to be strengthened in areas such as supply chain security and IoT, which are my areas of expertise. AlmaLinux’s neutral and open stance is the very source of OSS’s strength, and I would like to contribute to its further adoption by strengthening collaboration with other OSS projects that share the same fundamental principles.

Tristan Theroux

Nominated by Jonathan Wright, an Individual and Mirror member. He’s on LinkedIn.

9+ years keeping Linux, macOS, and Windows systems reliable and secure. I champion open source and automation first, Linux wherever it fits, macOS where it cannot, and I lead the AlmaLinux Media and Entertainment SIG.

Why Your Vote Still Matters

Your votes still matter (even with only two candidates for two open seats) because we still need 50 percent of the foundation members to vote.

The board draws its authority from the membership of the AlmaLinux OS Foundation, and this election is how that authority gets renewed each year. If we haven’t reached that by October 2, voting will remain open until we do.

The ballot is ranked choice. You order the candidates by preference instead of picking one name, and we count with Meek Single Transferable Vote. Votes carry different weight by membership level, the way they always have: Platinum 50, Gold 15, Ruby 5, Silver 5, and Individual and Mirror members 1 each.

The Rest of the Calendar

Voting happens on AlmaLinux Accounts. Members who were in good standing by July 16, 2026 will get a voting link and credentials via email today.

Questions

The election page has a detailed FAQ, and the Election Committee (Igor Seletskiy, Alex Iribarren, and me) can take anything it doesn’t cover. You can also find us in ~foundation on chat.almalinux.org.

Thanks to Muuhh and Tristan for accepting the nominations to join the board of directors, and thanks to all of you for voting.