Elections were conducted on Day 1 of the twelfth meeting of the GBIF Governing Board, in accordance with the Rules of Procedure. Nominations had been received from the delegations prior to the meeting, and were circulated for consideration by the Board.

Mr. James (Jim) Croft --Australia-- is newly elected as Vice-Chair of the NODES Committee.

The NODES Committee will benefit from Jim's diverse and ample experiences: he has been involved in in the design and development of the Australian node to GBIF, ABIF, participated in various GBIF technical advisory groups and in the ECAT committee, and worked extensively as a botanist in Papua New Guinea. He is currently Deputy Director for Science and Information of the Australian National Botanic Gardens.

GBIF welcomes Jim and wish him the best in his new role.