Hi everyone, my name is Pond from Thailand. My Python journey began at university, where data science quickly became one of my favorite subjects. I worked extensively with pandas, scikit-learn, and NumPy, and during my first internship in 2019 I researched the BERT model, a baseline for NLP before the rise of GPT. For my senior project, I applied Python libraries such as TensorFlow, SpaCy, and NLTK to perform sentiment analysis on Twitter data, aiming to help restore tourism in Thailand after COVID-19. On the side, I built a crypto arbitrage bot using the CCXT library to automate cross-exchange token trading.

Professionally, I building Tokenomist, a freemium tokenomics analytics platform serving over 2 million unique users and integrated with leading crypto data tools. Our work with more than 400 projects has focused on promoting trust and transparency in token supply, allocations, and unlock schedules. This experience gave me deep, practical exposure to grant governance for instance how to set criteria for providing grants, review applications, and measure the return on investment for funded initiatives. I have studied how major crypto governance projects like Optimism and Arbitrum structure and report their spending, and I believe these lessons can help the PSF maximize the impact of its own grants program.

I also bring hands-on community experience. I volunteered for PyCon Thailand in 2023 and 2025, working on logistics and the venue team that handling on-site attendee support, local sourcing, partner programs, social events, and volunteer coordination.

If elected, I would focus on four priorities:

1. Strengthening alignment with AI companies that rely heavily on Python. Many AI companies use Python extensively but are unaware of how the community directly supports their success. I propose adding a "Python for AI" conference track and dedicated grants that focus on AI-related libraries, events, and startups building AI-enabled products. This targeted approach would make the value to AI companies tangible and encourage them to sponsor and support the PSF.

2. Revitalizing PyCon US financial sustainability. The conference's shift from profit generator to loss leader threatens the PSF's core funding model. I propose a "PyCon US Revenue Diversification Strategy" including: premium AI/ML workshops with higher margins, corporate training partnerships, hybrid attendance options with tiered pricing, and strategic venue partnerships reducing operational costs. Drawing from my experience scaling Tokenomist's freemium model, I would help implement data-driven pricing optimization and corporate package differentiation that captures more value while maintaining accessibility through financial aid programs.

3. Measuring the impact of funded libraries and events. I would help build a standardized, transparent impact measurement framework and a public Impact Dashboard. This would track metrics such as events funded, attendee demographics, skills gained, and library usage/download growth giving both community and sponsors clear visibility into outcomes.

4. Promoting transparency in grant decision-making. I would work to ensure budget templates and allocation criteria are publicly accessible. Sponsors would receive quarterly breakdowns of how their contributions were used, for example: "$50K from Company X supported 5 events, trained 1,200 students, and improved 2 Python libraries." This level of openness strengthens trust and reinforces the PSF's commitment to accountability.

I believe my blend of technical expertise, governance experience, and community service uniquely positions me to help the PSF address its current challenges particularly the need for sustainable funding, measurable impact, and transparent processes. My focus is on ensuring that every dollar spent drives meaningful outcomes for the global Python community while building a financially resilient foundation that can weather future economic uncertainties.