ALT GB Meet your candidates!

ALT Ashutosh Pandey Bangalore, Karnataka Compiler Engineer at AMD, upstreaming to LLVM and GCC. Co-organizes LLVM Social Bangalore — now the largest compiler meetup in the world. Founded Point Blank, a student community that's produced 36 GSoC contributors and 1,100+ pull requests across 178 projects. Also chairs IICT, India's compiler-research workshop. Running on: - Strengthening the Season of Commits programme - Growing student clubs and FOSSHack - Recognizing FOSS contribution beyond just code Roots: LLVM Social Bangalore, Point Blank

ALT Ayush Dutta Kolkata, West Bengal 22-year-old security researcher and developer. Ex-LFX Fellow, Keploy API Fellow, and core organizer of the SRM University-AP FOSS Club. Went from attending campus FOSS events to running every one of them — building accessible security education along the way. Running on: - A real seat at the table for students and early-career FOSS - Pilot campaigns that surface underrated contributors - A security and education lens the GB doesn't currently have Roots: SRM University-AP FOSS Club

ALT Balu Babu Bangalore, Karnataka Runs Absurd Industries, a Bangalore maker community, and open-sourced the keyboard project CoryDora. Been at FOSS United Bangalore since its first meetup. Now runs the community's Open Hardware Dev Room and reviews IndiaFOSS talks. Running on: - Putting community back at the center, over polish - Bringing open hardware and makers further into FOSS - Pushing FOSS into science, art and civic spaces, not just tech Roots: Absurd Industries, FOSS United

ALT Mohit P. Tahiliani Mangalore, Karnataka Associate Professor at NITK Surathkal. Serves on the ns-3 Steering Council and maintains its TCP and traffic-control modules. Eighteen years in FOSS. Founded COSH at NITK, which has produced 100+ GSoC students, and was the founding City Lead of FOSS United Mangalore. Running on: - Turning curious first-timers into sustained contributors - Helping FOSS projects access foundation and industry funding - Mentorship pipelines built on 14 years in academia Roots: COSH NITK, FOSS United Mangalore

ALT Nammahari Chennai, Tamil Nadu Former FOSS United Community Fellow for Tamil Nadu. Runs Mahathaan and helps organize meetups across Chennai, Coimbatore and Madurai. Grew Tamil Nadu from one active FOSS club to six as Fellow, and shipped community tools like podu.pics, kuruk.am and tamilnadu.tech along the way. Running on: - Taking FOSS into Tamil and other regional languages - A playbook other chapters can copy, not just Tamil Nadu's - Auditing and documenting community self-hosted infrastructure Roots: FOSS United Chennai

ALT Nikhil Raj India Computer Science graduate focused on internet infrastructure, networking and internet governance. Newest to the FOSS ecosystem of this group — under a year of active involvement — and running on the perspective that brings, not despite it. Running on: - Bringing an internet-infrastructure and governance lens to the GB - Making FOSS more approachable for students and newcomers - Connecting FOSS to the wider digital-commons conversation Roots: Building connections across the Indian FOSS ecosystem

ALT Nishant Rana Yamunanagar, Haryana Developer and community builder who runs Elite Coders, organizing open-source programs like ECWoC and ECSoC for student contributors. Went from contributor to project manager to mentor — including mentoring 500+ students through GSSOC — before starting his own programs. Running on: - Easier onboarding for first-time contributors - Helping people move from one program to sustained contribution - Reaching communities outside the major tech hubs Roots: Elite Coders