# I'm Running for the Python Packaging Council

Python's packaging ecosystem is getting its first elected governance body: the [Python Packaging Council](https://blog.python.org/2026/08/2026-packaging-council-nominees/). Five seats, seventeen nominees, and I'm one of them.

[PEP 772](https://pydevtools.com/handbook/explanation/what-is-pep-772.md) creates the council to fix a structural problem. The [Python Packaging Authority (PyPA)](https://pydevtools.com/handbook/explanation/what-is-pypa.md) has long coordinated packaging tools and standards, but its governance was informal: no elections, no regular meetings, no direct accountability to the community. The Packaging Council formalizes that authority. It will make binding decisions on packaging standards, tools, and implementations under a mandate from the Python Steering Council. One of its first jobs is defining how it works with PyPA.

The other [nominees](https://www.python.org/nominations/elections/2026-python-packaging-council/nominees/):

- [Brett Cannon](https://snarky.ca/) — CPython core dev, [PEP 621](https://pydevtools.com/handbook/explanation/what-is-pep-621-compatibility.md) and [PEP 751](https://pydevtools.com/handbook/explanation/what-is-pep-751.md) author
- [Pradyun Gedam](https://pradyunsg.me/) — [pip](https://pydevtools.com/handbook/reference/pip.md) maintainer, [PEP 772](https://pydevtools.com/handbook/explanation/what-is-pep-772.md) co-author
- [Paul Moore](https://github.com/pfmoore) — [pip](https://pydevtools.com/handbook/reference/pip.md) maintainer, PEP delegate for interoperability standards
- [Donald Stufft](https://github.com/dstufft) — [PyPI](https://pydevtools.com/handbook/explanation/what-is-pypi.md) administrator, author of [twine](https://pydevtools.com/handbook/reference/twine.md)
- [Henry Schreiner](https://iscinumpy.dev/) — [pybind11](https://github.com/pybind/pybind11), [cibuildwheel](https://pydevtools.com/handbook/reference/cibuildwheel.md), [scikit-build](https://pydevtools.com/handbook/reference/scikit-build-core.md)
- [Ralf Gommers](https://rgommers.github.io/) — [NumPy](https://numpy.org/) and [SciPy](https://scipy.org/) maintainer, [WheelNext](https://wheelnext.dev/)
- [Bernat Gabor](https://bernat.tech/) — [virtualenv](https://pydevtools.com/handbook/reference/virtualenv.md), [tox](https://pydevtools.com/handbook/reference/tox.md), [pipx](https://pydevtools.com/handbook/reference/pipx.md)
- [William Woodruff](https://blog.yossarian.net/) — [pip-audit](https://github.com/pypa/pip-audit), PyPI [Trusted Publishing](https://pydevtools.com/handbook/explanation/why-use-trusted-publishing-for-pypi.md)
- [Jonathan Dekhtiar](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jdekhtiar/) — co-created [WheelNext](https://wheelnext.dev/), [PEP 817](https://peps.python.org/pep-0817/) and [PEP 825](https://peps.python.org/pep-0825/) co-author
- [Cary Hawkins](https://github.com/caryhawkins) — [Hatch](https://pydevtools.com/handbook/reference/hatch.md) and Hatchling maintainer
- [Eli Schwartz](https://github.com/eli-schwartz) — [Meson](https://mesonbuild.com/) build system core dev
- [Lucas Colley](https://github.com/lucascolley) — [SciPy](https://scipy.org/) steering council, [Pixi](https://pydevtools.com/handbook/reference/pixi.md) core maintainer
- [Dan Yeaw](https://www.linkedin.com/in/danyeaw/) — leads [Anaconda](https://pydevtools.com/handbook/reference/anaconda.md)'s conda OSS team, built [conda-pypi](https://pydevtools.com/handbook/reference/conda-pypi.md) bridge
- [Axel Obermeier](https://github.com/xhochy) — [conda-forge](https://pydevtools.com/handbook/reference/conda-forge.md) core team
- [Matthias Köppe](https://github.com/mkoeppe) — transformed [SageMath](https://www.sagemath.org/) into 120+ PyPI packages
- [Saurav Singla](https://www.linkedin.com/in/sauravsingla/) — enterprise Python, data science at [NPCI](https://www.npci.org.in/)

If you're a PSF Voting Member, affirm your membership by August 25 to receive a ballot. Voting runs September 1–15 via OpaVote.