[NA-Discuss] 2008 ICANN Nominating Committee Announces Selections

[Ross Rader]

On Sep 7, 2008, at 2:44 PM, Dharma Dailey wrote:

> Are there posted criteria for these positions that can be used as a
> guideline so that there isn't as much second guessing after the fact?

It would be *very* helpful to the nominating committee representatives  
if each of the RALO's and in a separate document, the ALAC itself,  
collaborated on a document each year to provide this kind of guidance.

Picking representatives from the candidate pool can be a bit of a  
black art - nomcomm reps are essentially guessing what characteristics  
would be useful for each of the open positions. I tried to inform my  
guesses through discussions with members of the community prior to the  
start of the 2008 nomcomm work, but having a more definitive statement  
would definitely be very helpful. It would also help inform the  
discussions that the RALO nomcomm reps have during the appointment  
process.

Had I known more about the nomcomm process going into it, I would have  
definitely sought more indepth guidance from a broader range of  
perspectives (most of my conversations were with folks working within  
the RALO's, but given that we also need to appoint people to other  
parts of the organization, having discussions about the needs of the  
ccNSO, GNSO and Board in addition to the ALAC would have been  
beneficial.

It would be important that these documents be updated each year, as  
the needs of the committees being appointed to change (i.e. this year,  
the board might need people with a financial background, next year  
they might need someone with intergovernmental affairs experience)

I'd also note that candidates need to fill a variety of requirements,  
geography is just one dimension. With different candidates, these  
requirements are weighted differently based on the rest of their  
skills, the skills of the other candidates and also the skills of  
those already sitting on the various committees. The goal is to pick  
great people that can help move the work forward in a positive  
fashion. I have no doubt that each of our picks this year will do  
their best to live up to this expectation.

/ross