The Bx Steering Committee, a strictly rotating subset of the Bx Advisory Board, is the formal decision making body for the Bx series of events. The SC makes final decisions on such matters as where to apply for colocation, who to appoint as PC chairs, etc., taking into account advice and suggestions from members of the Advisory Board.
Current members
James McKinna (chair of Bx20)
Leen Lambers (chair of Bx20)
Meng Wang (chair of Bx20)
James Cheney (chair of Bx19)
Hsiang-Shang (Josh) Ko (chair of Bx19)
Kazutaka Matsuda (chair of Bx18)
Jens Weber (chair of Bx18)
Romina Eramo (chair of Bx17)
Mike Johnson (chair of Bx17)
Anthony Anjorin (chair of SC until 2019)
Chair: Romina Eramo (romina dot eramo at univaq dot it)
Past members
Anthony Anjorin (chair of Bx16)
Jeremy Gibbons (chair of Bx16)
Alcino Cunha (chair of Bx15)
Ekkart Kindler (chair of Bx15)
Soichiro Hidaka (chair of Bx14)
James Terwilliger (chair of Bx14 and Bx13)
Perdita Stevens (chair of Bx13, founding Bx SC chair)
Frank Hermann (chair of Bx12)
Janis Voigtländer (chair of Bx12)
History and governance
Initially, the Bx SC was coextensive with the Bx Advisory Board.
In steady state, the Bx Steering Committee shall have eight members, being the PC chairs of the forthcoming and most recent past Bx workshops (that is, conference-type workshops, not Dagstuhl-type workshops, because the latter typically have a larger group of organisers and a different role; in particular, we do not think that having been an organiser of a Dagstuhl-type event should rule someone out from being chosen as PC chair of a conference-type workshop in future). In steady state, each time a new pair of PC chairs is selected, they join the SC and the longest-standing pair of members retire (but, of course, remain on the Advisory Board).
The originally planned transition arrangements were: until we chose the next pair of PC chairs for the next formal Bx event (expected to be in late 2012), the Steering Committee should stay coextensive with the Advisory Board. The four past Bx PC chairs (Frank Hermann, Janis Voigtländer, Perdita Stevens, James Terwilliger) would organise the selection process, but the decision would be made by the SC. Once those chairs had been chosen, the roles of Advisory Board and Steering Committee should separate: the SC, initially comprising just 6 people, should be formed of the new chairs plus the four past chairs. If the new PC chairs were not already on the Advisory Board, they would of course be added to that too. These transition arrangements were modified in the light of events: the next event was chosen later than expected, and then we needed chairs suitable for proposing, and then chairing, the event at a database conference, and mutually agreed that Soichiro Hidaka and James Terwilliger should take these roles.
We hope in this way to balance the need to hear a wide range of views and retain as much collective memory as possible, with the need to have a group small enough for effective and timely decision making.
