Léonie Watson nomination statement

I believe the Web is stronger and better when we work together, and that the W3C is stronger and better when our community works together, and that this has never been more important than it is now.

As the W3C transitions to a new Legal Entity it will undergo fundamental change, and (perhaps uniquely among the Advisory Board (AB)) I have direct and relevant experience of such things.

I joined W3C in 2010 as a self-funded Invited Expert of the Protocols and Formats Working Group, now the Accessible Platform Architectures Working Group. I became Advisory Committee (AC) representative for my first member organisation not long after, and have since been AC representative for two more small member organisations.

I still participate in the Accessible Platform Architectures Working Group, and others like the Accessibility Guidelines Working Group. I was Co-Chair of the Web Platform Working Group from 2015, and I am now Co-Chair of its successor - the Web Applications Working Group.

I was Co-Chair of the Inclusion and Diversity Community Group from its creation, until it merged with the Positive Work Environment Community Group earlier this year and I remain an active contributor to the W3C's diversity and inclusion effort. I have recently become Co-Chair of the Web Incubator Community Group.

I was elected to the AB in 2016 and have remained a serving member ever since. During that time, I've contributed to numerous AB activities, collaborating with AB colleagues - from self-funded Invited Experts to representatives of large corporations - always trying to find solutions that recognise our differences but still achieve our common goals.

In the last 20 years, I've been a director for two companies, both with the same approximate number of people as W3C. One had a team distributed across multiple continents and countries, just like W3C, and one was based in the US, just like the new Legal Entity will be.

Now, as Director of my own company, I've put in place policies and processes, built another distributed team, and without seed funding or investment we're optimistic of an annual revenue of £1 million in our third year of trading. I've also transitioned our capital, employees, clients, contracts, and assets from one Legal Entity to another (because of a deliberate company restructure), just like W3C is doing.

If I have learnt one thing during this time, it's that a clear vision and a strong governance model are essential for an organisation to succeed.

TetraLogical is founded on four principles: be inclusive, efficient, ethical, and safe. These principles underpin everything we do and every decision we make, because we believe we are stronger and better when we work together to make the web a more inclusive, efficient, ethical, and safe place to be.

If I am re-elected to the Advisory Board, I will continue to:

• Represent the interests of the many small and medium sized organisations participating at W3C
• Encourage even more diversity and inclusion at W3C
• Use my organisational experience to make sure the W3C has a robust governance model as it transitions into the new Legal Entity, and my commercial experience to help guide it through that transition
• Collaborate with the rest of the Advisory Board to realise a vision for a W3C that is inclusive, efficient, ethical, and safe

If you have any questions, please write to me at lwatson@tetralogical.com, or find me on WhatsApp or WeChat at +44.7921168551.