<div dir="auto">Hello Roberto,<div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Just as you've noted instances where the CEO may be embarrassed if an issue he voted went a different direction, there are instances that I believe the CEO will be glad he contributed his voice through voting. </div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">The CEO's vote is just 1 out of the other votes to be cast hence if his vote made a difference then you know it's a really contentious matter. In an organisation as ICANN it's not good practice to put the face of the organisation (i.e the CEO in an observer role - non voting).</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">That said, most reasonable CEOs don't actively use their voting right towards a direction, they largely abstain but I think the CEO should have the opportunity to exercise his opinion through voting when he considers it necessary.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Regards<br><br><div data-smartmail="gmail_signature" dir="auto">Sent from my mobile<br>Kindly excuse brevity and typos<br>Every word has consequences.<br>Every silence does too!</div></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Wed, 27 Jul 2022, 10:42 Roberto Gaetano via At-Large, <<a href="mailto:at-large@atlarge-lists.icann.org">at-large@atlarge-lists.icann.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
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Karl,
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<div>Following on your “off-topic” (I changed the subject line) I wold like to add a bit of history.</div>
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<div>You wrote:</div>
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<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">A lot of our BWG proposals are still quite relevant, for instance, not putting the President/CEO into a seat on the board of directors ….</font></p>
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<div>When I was chairing the Board Review WG, I argued against having the CEO as a voting member rather than ex-officio observer. Besides any governance model, having to vote on issues that he would have been called to execute could put the CEO in
an embarrassing position: what if he voted against, and the motion passed? This was, IMHO, not just a theoretical exercise, but something that could really happen on politically sensitive issues, like the .xxx delegation (in that case, Paul abstained, and
the application was rejected by one or two votes).</div>
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<div>My approach was considered, but the Chair argued that for the current CEO the provision was built in the contract, and could not be changed, but this would have been taken into account for the next CEO. Then I left the Board, and lost track of
the later events, but it looks that the situation still remains unchanged.</div>
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<div>Cheers,</div>
<div>Roberto</div>
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<div>On 26.07.2022, at 21:39, Karl Auerbach via At-Large <<a href="mailto:at-large@atlarge-lists.icann.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">at-large@atlarge-lists.icann.org</a>> wrote:</div>
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<p>I'm going to be somewhat diverging from the main topic....<br>
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<div>On 7/26/22 8:14 AM, Marita Moll wrote:<br>
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<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">And so it is with ICANN. It exists -- a unique multistakeholder governance system. Lots of things wrong with it. But it exists. So, for those who want to, they can keep working at it, keep looking
for improvement, keep challenging the system.</font></p>
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<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">I've long been in opposition to the "stakeholder" model of governance. I was horrified when I first saw it
</font><font face="Times New
Roman, Times, serif"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">just after Jon Postel died</font>, and became more horrified watching Joe Sims of Jones Day ramming it down our collective throats. In the
Boston Working Group proposal for "NewCo" we tried to mitigate some of the worst aspects.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">See <a href="https://cavebear.com/archive/bwg/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">
https://cavebear.com/archive/bwg/</a> for the Boston Working Group proposals.</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">A lot of our BWG proposals are still quite relevant, for instance, not putting the President/CEO into a seat on the board of directors and moving some ICANN powers into the Articles of Incorporation
and requiring exercise of those powers to be approved by more than merely the board (in those days that larger body could have been "the members" but ICANN sank that ship long ago - but it can be, and ought to be, re-floated.)<br>
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<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">My most recent piece in opposition to stakeholder based systems may be found here:</font></p>
<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Democracy Versus Stakeholderism -
<a href="https://www.cavebear.com/cavebear-blog/stakeholder_sock_puppet/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">
https://www.cavebear.com/cavebear-blog/stakeholder_sock_puppet/</a><br>
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<p><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> --karl--</font></p>
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