[ALAC] Public Comment on Board Liaison compensation

Wed May 28 16:49:49 UTC 2014

Dear Alan,

What I understood from yesterday’s call is that you make a first draft (on
the wiki) not on your behalf, but on behalf of ALAC, and people comment. If
there is consensus, ALAC will send it as ALAC position. Am I wrong?

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Tijani BEN JEMAA

Executive Director

Mediterranean Federation of Internet Associations (FMAI)

Phone:  + 216 41 649 605

Mobile: + 216 98 330 114

Fax:       + 216 70 853 376

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-----Message d'origine-----
De : alac-bounces at atlarge-lists.icann.org
[mailto:alac-bounces at atlarge-lists.icann.org] De la part de Alan Greenberg
Envoyé : mardi 27 mai 2014 16:59
À : ALAC Working List
Objet : [ALAC] Public Comment on Board Liaison compensation

Regarding: 

https://www.icann.org/public-comments/bylaws-amend-compensation-2014-05-02-e
n

As discussed on the ALAC call today, I will be posting the following 

statement (subject to minor editing) to the ICANN Public Comment.

I encourage anyone who supports this to submit a comment to 

<mailto:comments-bylaws-amend-compensation-02may14 at icann.org>Submit 

Comment to Forum. I also understand that the ALAC is itself may 

submit a statement as well (either support or a separate statement).

------------------

I am a member of the ALAC and the ALAC Liaison to the GNSO, but I am 

making this comment purely in my own capacity.

I believe that, subject to a number of related considerations, it is 

reasonable to compensate Board members, including Liaisons, and the 

level of compensation suggested is reasonable.

I do note that in the name of simplification, the report suggests an 

increase for Board members who are not Board Committee Chairs by as 

much as 29%.

However, the related considerations mentioned above, in my mind, 

cannot be ignored.

- One of the reasons always sited for such compensation is that 

having no compensation limits the available candidates who will make 

themselves available for the ICANN Board. Given that there has never 

been an AC/SO seat vacant due to lack of candidates, there is often 

competition for such seats, and the Nominating Committee regularly 

says that it has had to make very difficult decisions in selecting 

Board members since there was a surplus of eminently qualified 

candidates, in the name of transparency and accountability, it would 

be good to see hard evidence of the rationale.

- The introduction of Board compensation widened the gulf between 

Board members and other volunteers within ICANN. The proposed change 

widens that gulf further. There is no question that many Board 

members work very hard on behalf of ICANN, and that dedication eats 

into their other professional activities and personal life. However, 

the same can be said for many ICANN volunteers. There are many in the 

community who work equally hard and dedicate the same kind of hours 

as Board members. Indeed, it has been claimed that many in the 

community put in far more time and effort than some Board members. I 

believe that this claim is accurate.

SO and AC Chairs have been identified as meeting the above levels of 

commitment, and indeed many or perhaps all do. However, there are 

others who do not receive the existing benefits given to Board 

members and AC/SO Chairs who also dedicate unending hours and effort to
ICANN.

Board and now Liaison compensation without any new consideration of 

the contributions of others denigrates the efforts of the rest of the 

ICANN volunteers. Such acknowledgment for non-Chairs need not be 

financial compensation - there are a host of other benefits that 

Board members get that other volunteers (and Chairs) would really
appreciate.

Although I understand the difficulty of identifying those who put 

Herculean efforts into ICANN from those who are lower level 

contributors, we cannot continue to widen the gulf between the 

privileged few and the rest of volunteers and expect there not to be 

repercussions.

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