# Swarm Council ## Duties The Swarm Council is an elected body of five natural persons who are Members. Its duties are to initiate sensible governance action proposals, ensure that all governance actions ballots are compliant with the purposes of the Swarm Network, administer funding for governance actions, and help prevent use of the Swarm platform for illicit purposes. ## Current members * Richard Steward * Zachary K. Perryman * Alex Cornwell * Felix Carl Wiegandt * John Gallagher * Daniel Faria [![](https://github.com/swarmfund/swarm-network-www/tree/5b22e05998d5339333c46bf266b09372a0960907/Network-Governance/.gitbook/assets/iconfinder_square-linkedin_317725.png)](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexncornwell) The Swarm Council may expand to a maximum of nine Members, with the addition of two new Members upon each expansion. Expansion decisions shall be made by a governance action ballot or by unanimous vote of the Swarm Council. ## Appointment Each Member of the Swarm Council shall be elected via an Approval Ballot. Any Member may nominate another Member to fill a vacant seat on the Swarm Council via a GAB (“Nomination GAB”), subject to the eligibility requirements set forth in the Swarm Network Constitution. Currently, only Members are eligible to serve on the Swarm Council, and must hold at least 50,000 SWM tokens for the duration of their tenure to maintain eligibility. ## Past council members * Aravinda Babu (resigned 5/5/20)[![](https://github.com/swarmfund/swarm-network-www/tree/5b22e05998d5339333c46bf266b09372a0960907/Network-Governance/.gitbook/assets/iconfinder_square-linkedin_317725.png)](https://www.linkedin.com/in/linuxchip/) * Sam Stone (resigned 5/5/20) [![](https://github.com/swarmfund/swarm-network-www/tree/5b22e05998d5339333c46bf266b09372a0960907/Network-Governance/.gitbook/assets/iconfinder_square-linkedin_317725.png)](https://www.linkedin.com/in/stonysam/) * Philipp Pieper (term ended 12/25/19) [![](https://github.com/swarmfund/swarm-network-www/tree/5b22e05998d5339333c46bf266b09372a0960907/Network-Governance/.gitbook/assets/iconfinder_square-linkedin_317725%20\(1\).png)](https://www.linkedin.com/in/philipppieper/) * Timo Lehes (term ended 2/25/20) [![](https://github.com/swarmfund/swarm-network-www/tree/5b22e05998d5339333c46bf266b09372a0960907/Network-Governance/.gitbook/assets/iconfinder_square-linkedin_317725%20\(1\).png)](https://www.linkedin.com/in/timolehes/) --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.swarmnetwork.org/swarm-network/network-governance/the-swarm-network/the-swarm-council.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.