The IAB is tasked to nominate a liaison to represent the IETF on the ICANN
Board of Directors. This is a call for nominations for the liaison. The
nomination period will close on March 8, 2013. The liaison should be in place
before the July 2013 ICANN meeting, and normally serves a two-year term. The
current liaison is Thomas Narten.
As described by the ICANN governance documents, "The mission of ICANN is to
coordinate, at the overall level, the global Internet's systems of unique
identifiers, and in particular to ensure the stable and secure operation of the
Internet's unique identifier systems. The fundamental responsibility of
Directors (as defined below) is to exercise their business judgment to act in
what they reasonably believe to be the best interests of ICANN and in the
global public interest, taking account of the interests of the Internet
community as a whole rather than any individual group or interest. Actions of
the Board reflect the Board's collective action after taking due reflection.
It is the duty of the Board to oversee management's performance to ensure that
ICANN operates in an effective, efficient and ethical manner. The Board will
also be responsible for overseeing the development of ICANN's short, medium and
long-term strategic plans, ensuring that they will result in sustainable
outcomes, and taking account of the critical interdependencies of financial,
human, natural, manufactured, social and intellectual capitals."
The position for an IETF liaison to the board is non-voting.
One of the roles of the liaison is to oversee the operations of the ICANN in
terms of their possible impact or relation to IETF work and the Internet
protocols. Another role of the liaison is to inform ICANN of any IETF matters
relevant to the ICANN. It is expected that the selected person is effective in
communicating between the two organizations, and has a sufficient understanding
of the Internet protocols, DNS, and assigned number management to identify
where potential problems might occur or where coordination is needed. When
needed, the liaison is also expected to be able to find experts on specific
issues on both sides.
The IETF liaison to the board is
* highly regarded in technical, policy, and Internet governance matters.
* constructive in framing new approaches, technically or in terms of
communication.
* willing and able to work well with others.
* expected to have ICANN experience from either inside or outside, and an
understanding of its processes and workings.
* willing and able to commit the time to work in the board, and follow the
related discussions.
* expected to attend and participate in the ICANN meetings as well as any
additional board meetings (although ICANN has traditionally covered board
member travel costs).
* expected to attend and participate in the IETF meetings, particularly
the working group meetings relevant to work at ICANN.
* able to agree with the requirements for the board members, such as
confidentiality and conflict of interest rules, and is unlikely to be in a
position of conflict of interest for typical board discussion topics.
The necessary time commitment varies with the extent of work that the liaison
is interested in taking on within the board, but just the travel and meeting
time alone can be substantial. Typically, there are three ICANN meetings and
three additional board meetings per year.
For context, the governance documents for the ICANN board can be found here:
http://www.icann.org/en/about/governance
These include, for instance, overall governance guidelines, the ICANN bylaws,
conflict of interest policies, and travel support:
http://www.icann.org/en/about/governance/guidelines
http://www.icann.org/en/about/governance/bylaws#VI
http://www.icann.org/en/groups/board/governance/coi
http://www.icann.org/en/news/in-focus/travel-support/revised-procedure-11aug08-en.htm
The current board can be found here:
http://www.icann.org/en/groups/board
The current meeting schedules of the board and ICANN itself are here:
http://www.icann.org/en/groups/board/meetings
http://meetings.icann.org/
If you are interested in this position, or know of someone who may be a good
fit for this position, please send the name and email address to <iab at
iab.org>.
