pyfound.blogspot.com
Kalyan Prasad: 2026 PSF Board Election Candidate Interview
### Who are you?
Hi, I’m Kalyan Prasad. My journey has been unconventional and shaped by persistence, self-learning, and community. I started working at a young age while continuing my studies, including delivering newspapers and milk. I later began my professional career in the financial services industry, working across operations and related roles.
Over time, I became increasingly curious about data and technology and decided to make a career transition. Coming from a non-technical background, I had a lot to learn. Through self-learning, continuous practice, and the support of communities, I moved into data science, later took on data and AI leadership roles, and today work as an AI and Data Science Practice Lead.
Python has been an important part of both my professional and community journey. I became involved with the Python community in 2019, starting as a room monitor at PyConf Hyderabad. Since then, I have grown from being a volunteer to organizing conferences, mentoring others, contributing to program committees and working groups, and taking on community leadership responsibilities.
For me, Python is much more than a programming language. It is a community that has helped me learn, grow, contribute, and build meaningful relationships. That experience continues to shape how I think about technology, opportunity, and community service.
### What would you bring to the PSF Board of Directors?
I would bring the perspective of someone who has worked both inside community organizing and inside professional technology leadership. My Python community involvement began at the volunteer level and grew into organizing responsibilities across programs, sponsorship, logistics, speakers, volunteers, operations, and Code of Conduct work. That experience has helped me understand not only the visible parts of community events, but also the unseen work required to make them sustainable, inclusive, and valuable for participants.
Professionally, I bring more than a decade of experience across operations, data, technology, and AI transformation. In my current role as an AI and Data Science Practice Lead, I work with technical and business stakeholders, mentor teams, and contribute to strategic decisions. I have also worked extensively with startups and growing organizations, where I learned how to build teams, processes, and solutions from the ground up while balancing cost, growth, technology choices, and long-term value.
I believe this mix of experience would help me contribute to PSF Board discussions around sustainability, sponsorship, funding, partnerships, and long-term community growth. My work with sponsorship activities and with the NumFOCUS Small Development Grants Working Group has also given me practical experience in building relationships, reviewing proposals, and thinking carefully about how limited resources can create meaningful impact.
Most importantly, I would bring a willingness to listen. The Python community is large and diverse, and no single person’s experience can represent it fully. I would aim to support thoughtful, inclusive decisions that strengthen the PSF, reduce barriers for community organizers, and help Python continue to grow as a welcoming global community.
### What motivated you to run for the PSF Board of Directors?
A lot of my motivation comes from my own journey in the Python community. I started as a room monitor at PyConf Hyderabad in 2019. At that time, it was simply an opportunity to volunteer and contribute. Over the years, people trusted me with more responsibilities, and I had opportunities to learn different aspects of organizing communities and conferences.
Today, one of the things I value most is seeing newer volunteers take on responsibilities and grow into visible community roles. In HydPy, I have tried to build this practice intentionally by training newer volunteers, giving them ownership, and gradually creating space for them to become the front-facing organizers of the community.
That has made me think a lot about how communities grow. For me, growth is not only about having more attendees or organizing more events. It is also about giving people opportunities to participate, learn, take ownership, and eventually help others.
That is one of the main reasons I decided to run for the PSF Board. The Python community has created opportunities for me to learn, grow, and contribute, and I would like to help create those opportunities for others. I hope to bring what I have learned through local, national, and international community involvement to a broader level and contribute to the PSF’s work in supporting a more sustainable, inclusive, and welcoming global Python community.
### What problem or challenge do you want to address if you are on the board?
One challenge I care deeply about is the long-term sustainability of local and regional Python communities. From my experience organizing communities, I have seen how much work is often carried by a relatively small number of volunteers. When knowledge, relationships, and responsibilities remain with the same people for a long time, communities can become dependent on a few individuals, and it becomes harder to build the next generation of organizers.
At HydPy and PyConf Hyderabad, we have tried to address this by bringing newer volunteers into organizing responsibilities, supporting them as they learn, and gradually giving them ownership. My own journey also started with a very small volunteer role, so I have personally seen how important these opportunities can be.
If I serve on the Board, I would like to explore how the PSF can better support local communities in building stronger teams, sharing knowledge, developing future leaders, and accessing useful resources. This could include better ways to share organizing practices, support volunteer onboarding, connect communities with one another, and help local groups learn from what has worked in different regions.
I do not think there is one solution that will work everywhere. Local communities understand their own circumstances best. But I believe the PSF can play an important role in supporting and connecting them, so that communities become stronger, more sustainable, and less dependent on only a few people over time.
### Where do you see the PSF in 5 years from now?
In five years, I would like to see the PSF even more connected with local and regional Python communities, helping more people find meaningful ways to participate in the wider Python ecosystem. Python has communities around the world, and each one operates in its own context. I believe the PSF can continue helping these communities access resources, learn from one another, and build stronger connections across the ecosystem while allowing local communities to decide what works best for them.
I would also like to see clearer pathways for people who want to contribute. Someone may start by attending a meetup or using Python, then become a volunteer, speaker, mentor, organizer, open-source contributor, or community leader. Making those pathways easier to discover and access would help bring more people into the community and support the next generation of contributors and organizers.
I would also like to see the PSF continue strengthening its long-term strategy around funding, partnerships, and resource allocation. As the Python ecosystem grows, careful prioritization will be important to ensure that limited resources are used where they can create meaningful impact, whether that is supporting maintainers, community programs, local events, grants, infrastructure, or new contributors.
Technology will continue to change, including the growing role of AI, but I hope the PSF continues to stay grounded in its community values. In five years, I would like the PSF to be a stronger global connector: supporting Python’s technical ecosystem, helping communities become more sustainable, and creating opportunities for people from different backgrounds, regions, and levels of experience to participate and grow.
### What areas of the Python community are you involved with?
Most of my involvement in the Python community has been around community organizing, conferences, program activities, mentoring, community safety, and working group participation.
Locally, I am involved with HydPy and PyConf Hyderabad. I started volunteering with PyConf Hyderabad in 2019 and gradually took on different organizing responsibilities, eventually serving as Co-Chair and later Chair. I also served as Co-Chair of PyCon India in 2023, which gave me the opportunity to contribute to a larger national community effort.
Since 2022, I have also been involved in program and review activities for several conferences, including PyCon US, EuroPython, PyCon JP, PyCon APAC, PyData Global, JupyterCon, and SciPy. I have been part of the PyCon JP Program Team for the last three years and have reviewed SciPy scientific paper submissions for three consecutive years.
Beyond conferences, I am a member of the PSF Diversity & Inclusion Working Group and participate in the NumFOCUS Code of Conduct and Small Development Grants Working Groups. These roles have helped me engage with community safety, inclusion, funding, and support for open source projects from different perspectives.
In 2026, I was honored to receive the Python Software Foundation Q2 Community Service Award. I see this recognition not as a destination, but as encouragement to continue serving the community and taking on greater responsibility where my experience can be useful.
Through these experiences, I have learned from communities beyond my own and gained a broader view of both the strengths and challenges across the Python ecosystem. They have helped me understand how important it is to support communities not only through events, but also through thoughtful programs, safer spaces, funding, mentoring, and shared learning.
------
### Note from the election administrators:
Want to learn more about this candidate or ask them a question?
Check out their nomination statement.
Check out their AMA thread on discuss.python.org.
