# 2018 Election Campaign: Phillip Carter **URL:** \ **Category:** Foundation\ **Tags:** election\ **Created:** [May 10, 2018, 1:02am UTC](https://forums.fsharp.org/t/2018-election-campaign-phillip-carter/106 "2018-05-10T01:02:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cartermp](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.fsharp.org/cartermp/32/73_2.png) [@cartermp](https://forums.fsharp.org/u/cartermp)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2018, 1:02am UTC](https://forums.fsharp.org/t/2018-election-campaign-phillip-carter/106/1 "2018-05-10T01:02:15Z")
**Phillip Carter** Twitter: [@\_cartermp](https://twitter.com/_cartermp) **Who I am** ![57](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/uploads/fsharp/original/1X/0adf55193a89913d3d918c3aa510b990a0c9d175.png) I work for Microsoft on F#. My official title is Program Manager, which is kind of a meaningless term as far as I’m concerned, because I do not manage anything and I am not a programmer (at least not for my day job). My day-to-day work for F# at Microsoft involves: - Owning Microsoft’s tactics and strategy for what we do with the language and the tools we deliver - Owning and writing the official F# documentation - Community outreach and involvement, including speaking at conferences - Occasional bug fixes In other words, I am responsible for the “what” and the “why” for F# as far as Microsoft is concerned. I make a concerted effort to make myself available to all F# developers, befriend people in the community, and try to be as open and transparent in my work as I can. From my point of view, F# is nothing without its community. Outside of the professional realm, I’m a hiking and biking junkie, I listen to [music you won’t usually hear on the radio](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGRCf8fFDQQ&index=2&list=LLSKukIzYW_00I0AlnqrA9Lw&t=0s), I cook food with my wonderful wife all the time, and I’ve recently become obsessed with snowboarding. **Why I’d like to be considered** I want to better represent F# from “Microsoft’s point of view” in the FSSF. I also want to better represent the FSSF at Microsoft. I feel that this is easier to do if I am actively taking part in things the FSSF does rather than merely being a bystander . . . who happens to deliver the very software that everyone in the F# community depends on. I also want to play a more active part in the F# community beyond just being available for people to chat with. The FSSF is doing some amazing things today, such as the diversity and mentorship programs, that I would like to help push even further. I have no idea how that would manifest itself, but I want to be involved in that. ---
**Author:** ![cartermp](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.fsharp.org/cartermp/32/73_2.png) [@cartermp](https://forums.fsharp.org/u/cartermp)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2018, 10:01pm UTC](https://forums.fsharp.org/t/2018-election-campaign-phillip-carter/106/3 "2018-05-16T22:01:07Z")
Good question. Not entirely sure how to answer this. I don’t see any particularly large differences in the short term. However, I do think that being more involved with the FSSF (board meetings, support existing programs, kicking off new ones) will result in a stronger relationship between the FSSF and Microsoft over time. For example, say we wanted to bring some more visibility to the mentorship or diversity programs. I could count my involvement with this as “Microsoft time”, and try to push it not as an FSSF thing, but as a thing that I also work on. Although there are no guarantees, getting more support from the Microsoft side of things is easier when it’s counted as a work project rather than something an independent group related to the product you’re working on does something. In terms of contradictions or conflicts of interest, I can’t think of any. If there is an actual conflict of interest, I’d just leave the board. ---
**Author:** ![reedcopsey](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forums.fsharp.org/reedcopsey/32/9_2.png) [@reedcopsey](https://forums.fsharp.org/u/reedcopsey)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2018, 6:53pm UTC](https://forums.fsharp.org/t/2018-election-campaign-phillip-carter/106/4 "2018-05-29T18:53:39Z")
BTW - I don’t see why there should be any conflict of interest here. Our current Board does include a Microsoft employee (and previous Boards had more than one). There is no legal problem with that.