From the 'Thanks Jared!' files:

It looks like current Fedora Project Leader Jared Smith will not be overseeing the Beefy Miracle Fedora 17 release. Smith announced leadership changes at the Fedora project today that will see a new leader in place.

Smith became the Fedora Project Leader in June of 2010 as the successor to Paul Frields (who had held the post since 2008). I've had the good fortune of speaking with Smith for every Fedora release during his tenure and was always impressed with his depth of knowledge and insight into what really matters - both at Fedora and for the Linux world as a whole.

The role of Fedora Project Leader - unlike Debian which is a voting process or Ubuntu which is a dictator for life - is an appointed role from Red Hat. Red Hat has never just drop shipped in its own staff, but has always pulled from the community to staff the position and the same is true this time.

Robyn Bergeron is set to be the new Fedora Project Leader. Bergeron is a name that is familiar to me and many others from the Fedora mailing lists. She will be the first (what took them so long?) female leader of Fedora and from what i've seen over the years - is likely the best person to be leading this project esp for the big marketing bonanza that will be the Beefy Miracle.

I will certainly miss the deep technical conversations about things big and small that I have had with Smith over the last year and half and I wish him well in whatever role he lands next. For Robyn Bergeron -- looking forward to speaking with you soon to discuss the 'miracle'.

Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at InternetNews.com, the news service of the IT Business Edge Network, the network for technology professionals. Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist