This is a part of the Fedora Linux 44 EPEL Steering Committee Elections Interviews series. Voting is open to all Fedora contributors. The voting period starts Monday, June 1st and closes promptly at 23:59:59 UTC on Friday, June 12th 2026.

Interview with Carl George (carlwgeorge)

What is your name and what is your FAS ID?

• Carl George
• @carlwgeorge
• Fedora wiki page

What is your background in EPEL? What have you worked on and what are you doing now?

I got my start in Fedora and EPEL in 2014. I was working for Rackspace and joined a team whose primary purpose was to maintain IUS, a third-party package repository for RHEL. Part of my work there involved contributing to and maintaining EPEL packages. I left Rackspace in 2019 to join the CentOS team at Red Hat. In 2021, I started a new team at Red Hat to specifically focus on EPEL activities.

During my time on the EPEL team, I’ve lead the design and implementation of EPEL 9 and EPEL 10. These releases each brought significant improvements to packager workflows and user experience, especially the introduction of minor versions in EPEL 10. We’re currently in the early days of planning EPEL 11, with a focus on continued refinement and quality.

Aside from the hands-on technical work of EPEL release engineering and packaging, I routinely attend conferences to deliver presentations about EPEL and staff Fedora/CentOS booths to engage with the EPEL community. I enjoy mentoring new packagers and helping existing Fedora packagers get started with EPEL.

Why are you running for EPEL Steering Committee member?

I have been on the EPEL Steering Committee since 2020. I have enjoyed my six years serving on the committee, and hope to have the opportunity to continue this important work. I am passionate about EPEL and I am committed to continue finding ways to improve the EPEL experience for both packagers and users.

This is a part of the Fedora Linux 44 EPEL Steering Committee Elections Interviews series. Voting is open to all Fedora contributors. The voting period starts Monday, June 1st and closes promptly at 23:59:59 UTC on Friday, June 12th 2026.

Interview with Troy Dawson (tdawson)

What is your name and what is your FAS ID?

Troy Dawson (tdawson)

What is your background in EPEL? What have you worked on and what are you doing now?

I started contributing to EPEL 11 years ago with some nodejs packages for OpenShift. I later added rubygems and golang packages as OpenShift changed languages. Later, RHEL 8 did not have KDE, so I added KDE to epel8, and have been maintaining KDE in epel ever since. I have picked up many other packages during the years, but I think my KDE contributions are what I am most known for.

I’ve been the EPEL Steering Committee chair since 2020, taking over from Stephen Smoogen. A lot of changes have happened since then, most of them for the better. I’m not responsible for all the changes, but it’s been wonderful being part of the committee as these changes have come through.

Why are you running for EPEL Steering Committee member?

EPEL has grown to be part of my professional and personal life. I not only want to contribute to it, but help steer it’s growth and progression. I think as a EPEL Steering Committee member, I can help keep EPEL healthy and thriving.

This is a part of the Fedora Linux 44 Mindshare Elections Interviews series. Voting is open to all Fedora contributors. The voting period starts Monday, June 1st and closes promptly at 23:59:59 UTC on Friday, June 12th 2026.

Interview with Akashdeep Dhar (t0xic0der)

• FAS ID: t0xic0der
• Matrix Rooms: Fedora Council (#council:fedoraproject.org), Fedora Mindshare (#mindshare:fedoraproject.org), Fedora Forgejo (#fedora-forgejo:fedoraproject.org), Fedora Infrastructure (#admin:fedoraproject.org), Fedora Badges (#badges:fedoraproject.org), Fedora Apps (#apps:fedoraproject.org), Fedora Join (#join:fedoraproject.org), Fedora Mentoring (#mentoring:fedoraproject.org)

This is a part of the Fedora Linux 44 Mindshare Elections Interviews series. Voting is open to all Fedora contributors. The voting period starts Monday, June 1st and closes promptly at 23:59:59 UTC on Friday, June 12th 2026.

Interview with Mackenzie Stewart (monkeybean12)

• FAS ID: monkeybean12
• Matrix Rooms: I tend to use these Matrix channels, Fedora, Fedora EPEL Matrix, Announcements, Introductions.

This is a part of the Fedora Linux 44 Mindshare Elections Interviews series. Voting is open to all Fedora contributors. The voting period starts Monday, June 1st and closes promptly at 23:59:59 UTC on Friday, June 12th 2026.

Interview with Mat Holmes (theprogram)

• FAS ID: theprogram
• Matrix Rooms: Join, Fedora, Fedora Social, DEI, Mindshare, Design, Council, CommOps, Server, Docs. I also monitor technical channels, but try not to distract people there too much.

This is a part of the Fedora Linux 44 Mindshare Elections Interviews series. Voting is open to all Fedora contributors. The voting period starts Monday, June 1st and closes promptly at 23:59:59 UTC on Friday, June 12th 2026.

Interview with Samyak Jain (jnsamyak)

• FAS ID: My FAS username is jnsamyak, and most people in the community know me by jnsamyak as well 😀
• Matrix Rooms: #releng:fedoraproject.org #admin:fedoraproject.org #release-day:fedora.im #devel:fedoraproject.org #mindshare:fedoraproject.org #social:fedoraproject.org #design:fedoraproject.org
  Along with many contributor onboarding, event coordination, and Fedora community discussions across Matrix.

Since this is mindshare, Samyak wanted to do something innovative and creative for keeping mindshare spirit alive.

This is a part of the Fedora Linux 44 Council Elections Interviews series. Voting is open to all Fedora contributors. The voting period starts Monday, June 1st and closes promptly at 23:59:59 UTC on Friday, June 12th 2026.

Interview with Miro Hrončok (churchyard)

• FAS ID: churchyard (you may also find me as mhroncok)
• Matrix Rooms: python:fedoraproject.org, devel:fedoraproject.org, council:fedoraproject.org, and many more

This is a part of the Fedora Linux 44 Council Elections Interviews series. Voting is open to all Fedora contributors. The voting period starts Monday, June 1st and closes promptly at 23:59:59 UTC on Friday, June 12th 2026.

Interview with Tomáš Hrčka (humaton, jednorozec)

• FAS ID: humaton, jednorozec
• Matrix Rooms: fedora-forgejo:fedoraproject.org, releng:fedoraproject.org, admin:fedoraproject.org, release-schedule-planner:fedora.im, forgejo-chat:matrix.org

This is a part of the Fedora Linux 44 Council Elections Interviews series. Voting is open to all Fedora contributors. The voting period starts Monday, June 1st and closes promptly at 23:59:59 UTC on Friday, June 12th 2026.

Interview with Fabio Valentini (decathorpe)

• FAS ID: decathorpe
• Matrix Rooms: Too many to list them all: #devel, #rust, #epel, #multimedia, #pride, #python, #quality, #security, … (on the fedoraproject.org homeserver)