DuraSpace Announces new CEO and Chief Strategy Officer

Ithaca, NY  DuraSpace, a not-for-profit organization providing open source software and services, announced on February 3, 2011 that Michele Kimpton will assume the role of Chief Executive Officer, effective March 1, 2011.  Kimpton is currently the Chief Business Officer of DuraSpace, and formerly the Executive Director of the DSpace Foundation. 

Kimpton will succeed current CEO, Sandy Payette, who will be entering a doctoral program at Cornell University to pursue a PhD and research focused on the intersection of technology, society, and policy.  Payette will continue to work with DuraSpace as Strategic Advisor to the Executive Team through June 2011.  Brad McLean will continue in his current role on the Executive Team as Chief Technology Officer.

Payette says, “DuraSpace is in a very exciting position, with vibrant open source communities, new technologies, and strong leadership.   We have planned ahead to ensure a seamless transition and to maintain our strategic focus on communities and new services.   Michele is the perfect person to lead DuraSpace in next phase of our mission-focused work.“

Also effective March 1, 2011, Jonathan Markow will assume the newly created position of Chief Strategy Officer for DuraSpace.   Markow brings years of experience in open source software strategy and community leadership.   Most recently, Markow was the Executive Director of JASIG, a not-for-profit organization devoted to sponsoring and supporting open source software for higher education.

Kimpton was recently featured by the Library of Congress as a “Digital Preservation Pioneer” for her work in developing entrepreneurial, community-driven and culturally sensitive approaches to creating tools and strategies in support of digital archiving (http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/partners/pioneers/detail_kimpton.html). Kimpton’s ability to create nimble technologies and solutions that are “out of the gate” quickly were especially noted.  Kimpton says, “Get a version out into the world as soon as possible and refine it as you go along.” Her strong background in technology development in Asia and Europe will bring innovative open source business practices and technologies to DuraSpace global communities.

About DuraSpace

DuraSpace (http://duraspace.org) is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. DuraSpace software and services are used worldwide as solutions for open access, institutional repositories, digital libraries, digital archives, data curation, virtual research environments, and more.  DuraSpace provides leadership and innovation in the use of open source and cloud-based technologies to serve libraries, universities, research centers, cultural heritage institutions, and other knowledge stewards.  The organization’s open source technology portfolio includes the DSpace open access repository application and the Fedora open repository platform. DuraSpace is also the home of DuraCloud, an emerging cloud-based service that leverages existing cloud infrastructure to enable durability and access to digital content. The DuraSpace team includes recognized leaders and experts in the management of digital information who work with an active and diverse international community committed to the durability of digital resources.

The DuraSpace technology portfolio inherently addresses the issue of durability of digital content.  Our values are expressed in our organizational byline, “open technologies for durable digital content.

This information is online at: http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/duraspace/2010/09/09/now-available-duracloud-open-source-06/.

Carol Minton Morris
DuraSpace
Director of Marketing and Communications
cmmorris@DuraSpace.org
Skype: carolmmorris
607 592-3135
Twitter@DuraSpace
Twitter@DuraCloud
http://DuraSpace.org