---
url: 'https://dri.es/farewell-megan-but-not-goodbye'
title: 'Farewell Megan, but not goodbye'
author:
  name: 'Dries Buytaert'
  url: 'https://dri.es/about'
date: '2018-08-31T16:07:51-04:00'
license: 'https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/'
type: blog
summary: "It's sad to see Megan go, both professionally and personally, but I'm grateful for the impact she has had on the Drupal project."
tags:
  - Drupal
  - 'Drupal Association'
  - 'Leadership updates'
published: true
id: 4492
---

# Farewell Megan, but not goodbye

As you might have read on the Drupal Association blog, [Megan Sanicki, the Executive Director of the Drupal Association, has decided to move on](https://www.drupal.org/association/blog/until-we-meet-again-farewell-from-megan-sanicki).

Megan has been part of the [Drupal Association](https://www.drupal.org/association) for almost 8 years. She began as our very first employee responsible for DrupalCon Chicago sponsorship sales in 2011, and progressed to be our Executive Director, in charge of the Drupal Association.

It's easy to forget how far we've come in those years. When Megan started, the Drupal Association had little to no funding. During her tenure, the Drupal Association grew from one full-time employee to the 17 full-time employees, and from $1.8 million in annual revenues to $4 million today. We have matured into a nonprofit that can support and promote the mission of the [Drupal project](https://www.drupal.org/).

Megan led the way. She helped grow, mature and professionalize every aspect of the [Drupal Association](https://www.drupal.org/association). The last two years in her role as Executive Director she was the glue for our staff and the driving force for expanding the Drupal Association's reach and impact. She understood how important it is to diversify the community, and include more stakeholders such as content creators, marketers, and commercial organizations.

I'm very grateful for all of this and more, including the many less visible contributions that it takes to make a global organization run each day, respond to challenges, and, ultimately, to thrive. Her work impacted everyone involved with Drupal.

It's sad to see Megan go, both professionally and personally. I enjoyed working with Megan from our weekly calls, to our strategy sessions as well as our email and text messages about the latest industry developments, fun stories taking place in our community, and even the occasional frustration. Open source stewardship can be hard and I'm glad we could lean on each other. I'll miss our collaboration and her support but I also understand it is time for Megan to move on. I'm excited to see her continue her open source adventure at Google.

It will be hard to fill Megan's shoes, but we have a really great story to tell. The Drupal community and the Drupal Association are doing well. Drupal continues to be [a role model in the Open Source world](https://dri.es/how-drupal-influences-other-open-source-projects) and [impacts millions of people around the world](https://dri.es/reaching-the-next-billion-with-drupal). I'm confident we can find excellent candidates.

Megan's last day is September 21st. We have activated our succession plan: putting in place a transition team and readying for a formal search for a new Executive Director. An important part of this plan is naming [Tim Lehnen](https://www.drupal.org/u/hestenet) Interim Executive Director, elevating him from Director, Engineering. I'm committed to find a new Executive Director who can take the Drupal Association to the next level. With the help of Tim and the staff, our volunteers, sponsors and the Board of Directors, the [Drupal Association](https://www.drupal.org/association) is in good hands.
