[At-Large] [EURO-Discuss] Questions regarding nomination and board positions

[Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond]

 Hello Manuel,

thank you for your message and for your introduction of the valuable
work you do with Wikimedia-CH.
I thought I'd try to answer a few more of your questions, bearing in
mind the views I express are my personal views.
Staff has already very kindly answered some of your questions, and I
hope you're coping with the reading. If you have any further questions
to ask, please don't hesitate.

Le 23/08/2010 19:52, Manuel Schneider a écrit :
> * what kind of persons are supposed to be nominated / elected into these 
> board positions? Are you looking for experienced ICANN / ALAC members or 
> persons rooted in the community, defending interests of the users, like 
> a counterweight to the commercial background of other board members?

I think that the most desirable characteristic is to have candidates of
good standing who will be able to contribute to the ICANN
multi-stakeholder model. Since we are "At Large", it definitely needs to
be someone deep-rooted in the community. As far as their allegiance is
concerned, an ICANN Board member should act in the best interests of the
Internet community, and therefore not only "At Large".
So is someone experienced in ICANN/ALAC processes preferred over someone
else? Only the Board Candidate Evaluation Committee will be able to
decide on this, but I think that if I was in their place, I would be
reassured with someone who has already shown that they can work hard by
taking part in ICANN/ALAC processes, but not necessarily holding any
official position. Someone who has worked hard on some of the working
group is reassuring. That being said, if the candidate has shown that
they can work hard in similar volunteer positions outside of the
ICANN/ALAC structure, so much the better! At Large needs to grow! We
need more people to get involved! I think it's about track record,
whether inside, or outside ICANN.

> * how is a board mandate handled? Is this a political mandate which 
> requires the feedback to and from the community or is it a personal 
> position where board members represent themselves and are only 
> accountable to their own conviction?

Very good question, and one which comes up every time. :-) On Article
VI, section 7 of the ICANN bylaws:
"Directors shall serve as individuals who have the duty to act in what
they reasonably believe are the best interests of ICANN and not as
representatives of the entity that selected them, their employers, or
any other organizations or constituencies."
Full bylaws re: directors - http://www.icann.org/en/general/bylaws.htm#VI

In practice, I think that At Large would like to elect someone who holds
the same values as the majority of At Large members.

> * how are the selected candidates validated? How are nomination - 
> self-nominations and such by other members - handled? Is there any 
> difference, is there any consideration of RALO recommendations?

This is a recurring question too, and I thought it was best explained in
a graphic:

Candidate SOI ---> BCEC selects it --yes---+--> Candidate on Voting Slate
                          |                ^
                          no               |
                          |                |
                          v                |
                          |                |
                    Support from --yes-->--/
                    RALO petition?
                          |
                          v
                          |
                          no  ---> Candidate not on voting slate


BCEC = Board Candidate Evaluation Committee

In either case, the candidate has to have submitted an SOI to be considered.

As for nominations, EURALO is carrying those out, in my opinion, ahead
of time, in case some of the candidates who have submitted an SOI were
not selected by the BCEC. So the RALO recommendations are only going to
be taken into account in this occasion - and the support of 3 RALOs is
required for a RALO petition, so it should be an exception rather than a
rule.

I hope this helps.

Kindest regards,

Olivier

-- 
Olivier MJ Crépin-Leblond, PhD
http://www.gih.com/ocl.html