CNCF Ombudsperson & Mediator

Hello, I’m Colleen, the Ombudsperson and Wellbeing Counselor for this event. I am here to provide a safe and confidential environment for sharing your concerns about the event, your interactions with other attendees, and Code of Conduct incidents.

I am an independent consultant who specializes in conflict resolution, facilitated dialogue, team building, well-being coaching, and restorative justice practices. I am not an employee of the Linux Foundation (LF) or Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF).

I am here to listen to your concerns and support you. During and after the event, I will be available to discuss:

• Any concerns you have about the event.
• Any Code of Conduct incidents that you have experienced or witnessed.
• Any concerning interactions or conflict you are experiencing with other attendees or event participants.

I can also provide support to those experiencing grief and loss related to tragedies in the world.

Colleen Passard
818-915-2211
colleenpassard1@gmail.com 
Colleenpassard.com

Overview

In general, your conversations with the CNCF Ombudpserson & Mediator will be kept confidential. However, depending on the nature of your concerns, the Ombudsperson may need to share some information with others (e.g., the event staff, security personnel, or the CNCF Code of Conduct Committee) to effectively address your concerns. The information that the Ombudsperson may need to share with others will vary depending on the type of information you share, the situation, and the type of support or resolution you request. Please read below for more specific information.

Feedback about the event

If you have feedback about the event, you can provide it via the event survey that will be sent by email to all attendees after the event, or you can provide it to the Ombudsperson, who will share it with the event organizers and staff to help them improve this event and future events. The Ombudsperson will not reveal that you are the source of that feedback unless you give permission for them to do so.

Your concerns about other attendees

If you have concerns about another event attendee, the Ombudsperson will not speak to that other attendee about your concerns or reveal your identity as the source of the concern, unless you give them permission to do so. However, if you submit a Code of Conduct complaint about another attendee, the Ombudsperson will follow the confidentiality and information sharing policies described below and in the CNCF Code of Conduct Incident Resolution Procedures.

Code of Conduct incidents

If you report a Code of Conduct incident or provide information as a witness, the Ombudsperson may share the information you provide with the following parties to enable them to research, evaluate, and respond to the incident:

• The Linux Foundation events team and/or the CNCF staff
• The CNCF Code of Conduct Committee
• Any professional mediators, investigators, or other consultants that the LF, CNCF, or CNCF Code of Conduct Committee engage to assist them with resolving the incident

The parties listed above and the Ombudsperson may work together as a “Response Team.” The Response Team will not disclose the identity of any reporter or witness to anyone outside of the Response Team without the person’s permission, except in a few very rare situations (see below).

If a staff member or CNCF Code of Conduct Committee member has a conflict of interest (e.g., if they are the accused person, a target of harassment, or close friends with the accused person or target of harassment), that person will not be part of the Response Team for that incident, and that person will not be given access to confidential information about the incident. For more information, see the CNCF Code of Conduct Conflict of Interest Policy.

In some cases, in order to perform a fair and thorough investigation of a reported incident, a Response Team member may need to speak with the accused person about the incident. Although the Response Team will not disclose who reported the incident or who has provided information as a witness, if only one person or a very small number of people were involved in or witnessed the incident, the accused person may be able to guess their identities. If you have concerns about potential retaliation, please see the CNCF No Retaliation Policy.

Information Shared in Special Situations

If a law may have been violated, or if it is necessary to protect you or others from risk of harm, the Response Team may report the incident to law enforcement or a governmental entity. In very rare situations, the Response Team may also need to disclose information about an incident (which might include the reporters’ or witnesses’ identities) to comply with applicable laws, a subpoena, or court order, or to defend against lawsuit.