FIRST made this announcement today.
FIRST President Jon Dudas has decided to resign from his position.
I hope the CD community will join me in thanking Jon for his service to the FIRST community. Jon, we wish you the best in your future endeavors.
-Jack
Thank you Jon for your leadership and wisdom. Wishing you all the best, and keep in touch!
-Nick
This upcoming season will certainly feel different first without Bill Miller, and now Jon Dudas as well. They cannot be thanked enough for their countless contributions to FIRST, and they will be missed by all.
Whether or not Jon is reading this, I would like to thank him for all of the hard work that he has put in in his time as president at FIRST. He did a great job I don’t think we could have asked for anything more from him.
THANK YOU JON!
Wow, first Bill Miller and now Jon Dudas have recently left. That is sad. They both did an excellent job in leading. Both will be missed.
Jon really made a connection with those of us out here where the rubber meets the road.
We will miss you Jon, please don’t be a stranger.
This seems like somewhat of an unusual time for such a change, but I’m sure the 2013 season has been fully planned out for quite some time now and will run as smoothly as usual. Thanks Jon for your great leadership, you’ve helped FIRST change the lives of many.
This is a shame… a darn shame. I’m sad to see him go. I hope Jon is not a stranger as I found him quite an inspirational figure to talk to about topics outside of FIRST as well.
:ahh: This is sad. Jon will be missed incredibly in FIRST. Hopefully he won’t completely leave FIRST, it was always awesome to see (during opening ceremonies) most other speakers in suits or formal wear, but Jon wearing jeans and a baseball T-Shirt.
Thanks for all the time you’ve spent on FIRST, and best of luck in future endeavours!
Very true! Thanks and best wishes Jon.
Wow, Bill and Jon. Great guys; best of luck in your future endeavors, and we will miss you!
Also, best wishes to Bob Tuttle in the interim and to the Board in finding someone to fill such impressive (and cool) shoes.
Thank you Jon, for all that you’ve done to make FRC what it is today. You will be missed. I hope to continue to see you at FIRST events in the future.
Just want to make a small correction : Jon is FIRST’s President. Walt Havenstein, the one who wrote the release, is its Chairman. Might want to change the title of the thread.
Jon has been such an incredible part of making FIRST what it is today.
I will miss his boundless enthusiasm to drive our programs forward.
Whomever takes up this position has big shoes to fill.
Thank you, Jon.
The FIRST community will certainly miss Mister President. Hopefully he will still be somewhat involved and we won’t have to miss him entirely. It was a pleasure to meet him at FIRST HQ this past summer and I am very sad to see him leave.
Whenever I see Under Armour, I will always think of Jon Dudas. Always.
Jon, you will be missed. Thanks for all you’ve done for this community. I hope to see you around at events in the future, and good luck in your future endevours.
-Calvin
Thank you, Jon, for your tireless service in FIRST. You will be missed here!
I can’t be the only one intrigued by the mass of long-term heavy-hitters jumping ship at HQ. Big controversial things afoot?
I’m not trying to say there is necessarily something going on; things change, people change, and decide to move on in life all the time, but its interesting to say the least.
I feel like there’s something HQ is hiding from us (or at least not being totally transparent about). Call me crazy.
Call me maybe? 
While the timing is a bit interesting, I think it would be unfair to ask for detailed information about decisions that are very personal. If something larger is afloat I think we’ll see that on our own in future months and years. As it is, I have the utmost confidence in FIRST and it would take Dean or Woodie severing their ties to shake that.
Certainly, I don’t expect to know everyone’s personal reasons for leaving.
I do, however, believe that HQ should be transparent to us, the volunteers that make this organization great, about nearly everything. I don’t believe that they are nearly as transparent as they should be.
I further believe that we’re nowhere near done with what happened on Einstein yet, either.
<end tangent>
In any case, whatever the reasons are, thanks Jon, for your years of service to us.
Agreed, I hope not - I hope we continue to see changes and improvements.