Board Proposes Chris Prather (perigrin) for Membership
Mon, 23-Feb-2026 by
D Ruth Holloway
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The Board is proposing Chris Prather (perigrin) for membership on the Board. The Board will vote soon on his appointment.
Below are his answers to the application questions:
# Tell us about your technical and leadership experience.
I've been writing Perl professionally for over two and a half decades and contributing to the community for nearly as long—organizing YAPC conferences and building CPAN modules. My recent work has been on large-scale Perl e-commerce systems—millions of lines of code, hundreds of developers, the kind of codebase that reminds you how much critical infrastructure still runs on Perl. I have also been working to migrate irc.perl.org to modern infrastructure—because our community spaces matter as much as our code. Beyond Perl, I've been a Director of Software, run my own consulting practice for a decade, and founded an afterschool science education company. That range has taught me something relevant here: sustainable communities need both technical excellence and intentional cultivation. You can't just "build it and they will come".
# If appointed, what is one thing you'd work toward?
Improving the Foundation's capacity to lead.
The Foundation is uniquely positioned to help the community navigate hard problems—but influence has to be earned through presence and relationship. I'd like to see us do more to connect the archipelago of Perl and Raku projects, the businesses that rely on them, and the community members that will sustain them into the future. I want us to support businesses that depend on Perl—helping them make the case for continued investment in the Perl ecosystem. I'd like us to think seriously about what it would take to grow the next generation of Perl shops, not just maintain the current crop. More and more of our infrastructure is being supported by fewer and fewer hands—often the same people wearing different hats, organizing each piece in isolation. We need to help provide templates for sustainable projects. That means making it easier for maintainers to find support, share burdens, and bring in new people. Projects should end by choice, not by attrition.
The Foundation is the only organization that has the cachet to connect all the bridges.
# What is your vision for the Foundation?
The Foundation works best as a quiet enabler—handling legal and financial scaffolding so community members can focus on building things. That should continue. But I think we have underutilized soft power. Using it well means doing the community-building work—earning the standing to shape conversations.
I'd like to see us be more intentional about the cultural signals we send. The Foundation's choices—what to fund, who to platform—shape perceptions of what kind of community we're building. We have always been tolerant of the plurality of voices, but sometimes that has gotten overshadowed by some of the more flamboyant voices themselves. We should continue to cultivate community structures that celebrate the voices we want to represent us, not just prune the voices we don't. The Foundation can enable genuine support for needs that Perl-based companies have. We should work to understand and validate those needs, and help the community identify and provide sustainable solutions. By providing templates for organizing projects, finding support, and bringing in new people—the Foundation can better ensure that Perl and Raku are on solid foundations for years to come.
# What is your vision for Perl and Raku?
Both Perl and Raku are living languages with vibrant evolutions underway. They both have the same underlying need: an ecosystem that is culturally and economically sustainable. One where businesses are confident enough to invest, newcomers feel welcomed rather than turned away, and ambitious projects find support. The Foundation can leverage its position to help them achieve that future.
For Perl, it can help the maintainers connect more strongly with the businesses that rely upon their work to get the kind of feedback they need to ensure we're going in the right direction.
For Raku, I'll admit I don't know enough about where the community stands today—and that's exactly the kind of gap it feels like the Foundation should help bridge. I hope to learn more about how we can best support them.
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