The openSUSE board has been setup to lead the overall project. The board will: act as a central point of contact, help resolve conflicts, communicate community interests to Novell, facilitate communication with all areas of the community, and facilitate decision making processes where needed.
The board should provide guidance and support existing governance structures, but shouldn’t direct or control development, since community mechanisms exist to accomplish the goals of the project. The board should document decisions and policies.
The initial board has been appointed by Novell — in the future, the board members will be elected by the community and the chair person appointed by Novell. One of the missions of the board is to define a process to elect the next board.
http://news.opensuse.org/?p=498