Darrell Flewell, Channel Operations Manager for the Linux Foundation, shares his background in this month’s ‘Meet The Community’ post. Darrell, discusses how a year of backpacking in Asia and a career in accounting preceded him finding a home at the Linux Foundation.
As I approach my four year anniversary here at the Linux Foundation it gives me cause to reflect on how much I enjoy my job and my work community. It’s nice to take a moment and appreciate the relationships I have with my colleagues. I see now why I feel so at home in the Linux Foundation environment. My early fascination with technology, computer systems, RAM and dial up modems was a good fit in my work life where I paired technology with the balance of debits and credits in the accounting world. I spent a great deal of my CPA career implementing various financial information systems alongside data analytic applications.
As part of the Training and Certification Group within the LF, I’m constantly on the lookout for opportunities to present our significant and always growing course and certification portfolio to new audiences in all parts of the world, including some developing regions in The Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The Authorized Training Partner program is a key pillar of this outreach in forming relationships with e-learning platform companies, educational associations, and not-for-profit foundations.
While I now reside with my family in Sacramento, California, I was born and raised in rural central Ontario, Canada. I chose to study business and economics at The University of Western Ontario, and received my BA in 1991. I spent my university summers working reforestation contracts (planting trees) in areas of the Northern Ontario wilderness that had been depleted by fire or industry. After graduation I spent a year backpacking in Asia before returning to Toronto to pursue adulthood. I married my wife Wendy in 1997 and have three daughters, Aislyn, Emma and Mackenzie. In 1998 I completed my Certified Management Accountant (CMA) designation. I prefer to be active in my spare time and can be found at my gym, playing ice hockey, golfing or fishing for Salmon in the Sacramento river.
When Darrell took over the ATP channel there were only six partners authorized to host Linux Foundation classes, today there are two in Africa, 17 in the APAC region, 26 in Europe, seven in LatAm, four in the Middle East, and 10 in North America for a total of 66! Darrell’s strong operational and business development skills have helped make open source training available all over the world! This expansion prompted adding regional classes to the site, giving students more opportunity to attend classes locally. The list of current LF partners can be found here.
