2026 LFN LGBMCR Election
More information on the LFN Governing Board Member Committers Representative can be found here.
Eligible candidates:
Candidates must be active committers to at least one LFN project.
Candidates can self-nominate, or be nominated by other community members. In the latter case, candidates must accept the nomination before the election is conducted.
Candidates must be an active committer to an LFN project which differs from the LFN project that the currently servicing LGBMCR is an active committer of.
There is a single (1) LGBMCR seat on the Governing Board.
The current LGBMCR is from the Anuket community.
All Self-Nominations will take place from Feb 18, 2026 to Mar 4, 2026 at 5pm PT.
Voting will take place via rank-choice voting at the conclusion of the self-nomination period and will last 2 weeks.
Please copy and complete the template below to self-nominate for the LFN Governing Board Committer Representative.
Name:
<photo>
Representative Group: (Nephio, ODL, ONAP, FD.io, etc)
Short Biography:
Statement of Intent:
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Name: Shankar
Representative Group: L3AF
Short Biography:
Shankar is a Research Engineer at the 6G Mobile Research Lab, Czech Technical University in Prague, specializing in 5G Core, O-RAN, and cloud-native networking technologies. His work focuses on high-performance user plane optimization, particularly through the integration of eBPF into the 5G User Plane Function (UPF). His expertise spans a range of open-source projects, including OpenStack, Magma, OpenAirInterface, OSC, L3AF, Free5GC, Open5GS, Aether/SD-Core, Canonical and KupenStack.
He has conducted extensive end-to-end testing and performance benchmarking of eBPF with UPF across various open-source projects in the O-RAN functional split 7.2x architecture. His work also includes SD-Core deployments in diverse modes such as AF_Packet, SR-IOV + DPDK, and CNDP, along with scaling in the User Plane using Juju Operators in Charmed SD-Core. Notably, his team initiated HEXAeBPF, an open-source project that integrates an in-house developed eBPF-enabled UPF with SD-Core/Aether, demonstrating great advancements in 5G Core performance and scalability.
In 2025, he delivered a talk in Prague on Protocol Migration in Practice: From Classical to Post-Quantum Cryptography with OpenSSL, focusing on practical implementation challenges and real-world deployment considerations.
In 2023, he participated in the LFN Mentorship Program under L3AF, where he successfully implemented eBPF on Windows, broadening its applications in the 5G ecosystem. At DNTF 2023, he showcased the integration of L3AF with the 5G UPF as part of the 5G-SBP, featuring a live demonstration. He also delivered an impactful talk at DNTF in Budapest, Hungary, where he presented a demo video on eUPF integration with Free5GC.
As an active member of the open-source community, he also serves as a Chief Architect for NgKore Foundation Open Source Community. He has organized and participated in numerous events, including OpenInfra Days and Cloud Native Security India, where he delivered insightful talks, presentations, and demos on optimizing the 5G user plane with eBPF, managing eBPF programs with L3AF and O-RAN.
Statement of Intent:
Shankar is committed to strengthening the bridge between the LFN Governing Board and the committer community, ensuring that technical contributors have a strong and active voice in shaping the future of LFN projects. His goal is to establish a structured and transparent feedback loop that enables committers to share insights, raise concerns, and actively participate in strategic discussions at the board level.
With extensive hands-on experience across various open-source 5G Core and O-RAN projects, Shankar understands the challenges and opportunities that committers face in building and maintaining industry-leading solutions. If elected, he will work to enhance collaboration between technical and leadership teams, ensuring that decisions at the board level reflect the technical realities and priorities of the community.
Shankar will advocate for clear communication, process improvements, and increased visibility for the contributions of LFN committers. By leveraging his deep technical expertise and open-source leadership, he aims to foster an inclusive and high-impact environment where committers can drive innovation while aligning with the broader strategic direction of LFN.
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Name:
Representative Group:
Short Biography:
Statement of Intent: