Who are you?
I am Calvin Tsang, Vice President of Open Source Hong Kong (OSHK) and Conference Chair of PyCon Hong Kong 2026. I have contributed to open-source communities since 2013 and have helped organize PyCon Hong Kong since 2015.
My community journey has grown from outreach and participation into nonprofit leadership, conference management, sponsorship, volunteer development, partnerships, and community operations. Through PyCon Hong Kong, OSHK, and the Hong Kong Python community, I have worked to connect developers, students, speakers, volunteers, companies, and open-source contributors.
Communication is also an important part of my community work. I have hosted a local IT podcast for over 20 years, sharing technology discussions and connecting people interested in IT. Professionally, I am a Technology Manager with experience in enterprise technology and technical governance.
Outside technology, CrossFit and regular workouts help me maintain the resilience and endurance needed for long-term community leadership.
My work increasingly extends across Asia-Pacific, and I hope to strengthen connections between regional Python communities and the PSF while contributing to a more connected and sustainable global Python ecosystem.
What would you bring to the PSF Board of Directors?
I would bring more than a decade of experience in open-source community leadership, event organization, and cross-border collaboration, together with trusted relationships across the Asian Python and open-source communities.
Through Open Source Hong Kong (OSHK), I have helped organize more than 100 events covering Python, Open Data, IoT, cloud-native technologies, and other open-source technologies. I have also helped connect Hong Kong with international OSS communities through speakers, partnerships, and continuous knowledge exchange.
I communicate in Chinese, English, and Japanese. In recent years, I have engaged with Python communities in Taiwan, Japan, India, Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia. Through years of participation and collaboration, I have built trusted relationships with organizers and contributors across the region. This network can strengthen communication with local communities, help understand their needs and challenges, and bring regional perspectives to the PSF Board.
As a Technology Manager, my enterprise experience and open-source journey also bring practical perspectives on technology governance, budget planning, and risk management.
I hope to serve as a practical bridge that strengthens communication, understanding, and long-term collaboration between the PSF and Python communities across Asia.
What motivated you to run for the PSF Board of Directors?
I am motivated to run for the PSF Board because, after more than a decade of contributing to local and regional open-source communities, I want to bring that experience to the governance and strategic level at the global scale.
Through PyCon Hong Kong, COSCUP, Python Asia, and my engagement with communities across Asia, I have seen how much different local needs can be. Communities vary in maturity, resources, sponsorship, governance, volunteer capacity, and international visibility.
I decided to stand for the PSF Board because my geographic position, multilingual communication skills, and established regional relationships give me a distinctive ability to connect Python and open-source communities across East and Southeast Asia, a region representing roughly two billion people.
I believe this experience can help the PSF better understand regional realities while contributing to strategic discussions around community sustainability, governance, funding, security, and long-term ecosystem development.
For me, serving on the Board is a natural next step: moving from organizing communities to contributing to the structures and strategic direction that support Python globally.
What problem or challenge do you want to address if you are on the Board?
I want to address the challenge of helping local Python communities become financially and operationally sustainable, rather than depending only on one-time funding.
Different communities face different conditions. Some need support for venues or events, while others need help with sponsorship, volunteer development, governance, or building relationships with local industry. I believe effective support starts with understanding the needs and maturity of each community, then directing resources toward activities that can create sustainable growth.
My experience in nonprofit operations, sponsorship, budgeting, and risk management gives me a practical perspective on this challenge. I have also reviewed the Call for Sponsorship document for another PyCon, sharing fundraising and enterprise-engagement experience to help strengthen its sponsorship approach.
I think of this as going beyond simply providing a fish: we should also help communities develop the skills, relationships, and operating models that allow them to continue growing independently.
I can also contribute through my industrial, career-development, and design experiences to areas such as the Python Job Board and Trademarks Work Group, supporting the wider PSF community ecosystem.
Where do you see the PSF 5 years from now?
In five years, I hope the PSF will play an important role in helping the Python community navigate the opportunities and challenges created by Generative AI.
I see Generative AI as an amplifier of human capability, not a replacement for strong engineering foundations. As it significantly improves development productivity, Python implementations, tools, and libraries may evolve more rapidly. However, as the volume and speed of contributions increase, human review may become a bottleneck. The Python ecosystem should explore appropriate automation to support maintainers with routine review and administrative tasks while keeping important technical and governance decisions under responsible human supervision.
Security will also become increasingly important. More AI-assisted code and packages may increase the workload for vulnerability detection, dependency review, code scanning, and software supply-chain security. The PSF can help strengthen the ecosystem by supporting security tooling, automation, governance practices, and maintainers.
I hope the PSF can help ensure that increased productivity does not come at the cost of quality, security, or trust, while keeping Python relevant, secure, and strongly community-driven throughout the Generative AI era.
What areas of the Python community are you involved with?
I am primarily involved in the Hong Kong Python community, PyCon organization, regional collaboration, project management, career development, and external engagement.
I have supported PyCon Hong Kong since 2015, taking on different responsibilities as the conference has grown. My strengths are in project management and coordination: bringing volunteers together, working with external organizations, developing partnerships, and helping teams turn ideas into deliverables.
I have also supported the PyCon Hong Kong Design Team for several years. At times, I work directly on design-related tasks and help coordinate conference materials. This experience has given me a practical understanding of trademark requirements, brand guidelines, and consistent use of Python and PyCon identities.
In 2025, I helped establish PyLadies Hong Kong. Beyond Hong Kong, I volunteer with the Python Asia Organization and engage with Python communities across Asia.
I also support mentoring within the Python community, helping volunteers and community members develop their skills, take on responsibilities, and grow into future contributors and organizers. I believe mentoring and career development are important for sustaining and growing local Python communities over the long term.
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