+1 (which equals 2014) :-) On Monday, December 30, 2013, Nigel Hickson wrote:
Good evening
And I will join Wolf and also noting what a pleasure it is working with you; all the best to ALAC (and of course all other parts of ICANNŠ.) in 2014!
Nigel
On 12/30/13 9:10 PM, "Wolf Ludwig" <wolf.ludwig@comunica-ch.net> wrote:
Couldn't express and echo anything better than Carlton did already! Thanks for your marvelous leadership, Olivier, and let's move further with ATLAS II next year!
Curtsey, Wolf
Carlton Samuels wrote Mon, 30 Dec 2013 13:49:
Dear Olivier: It must also be said that the notice now being received by the At-Large in ICANN affairs is decidedly also a testament to the leadership of the ALAC.
I for one would wish to record my own sense of the outstanding role you play in this development as Chair - lead diplomat and delegate in chief to other areas of ICANN. Yours has been an arduous task, one that you have accepted and worked with a diligence that makes some of us concerned for your wellbeing.
Take a bow.
-Carlton
============================== Carlton A Samuels Mobile: 876-818-1799 *Strategy, Planning, Governance, Assessment & Turnaround* =============================
On Mon, Dec 30, 2013 at 11:08 AM, Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond <ocl@gih.com>wrote:
Dear members, staff, and friends,
as we near the end of the calendar year, the traditional holiday season allows us to take a week where we can reflect on this year's past challenges and the ones we have ahead of us.
Looking back at the year, I am really delighted with the advances this community has made. We now have active working groups with a very diverse membership. Some people take part in one or two working groups, or take part in regional activities, and they bring in the valuable diversity of input that is needed in a geographically balanced, bottom-up multi-stakeholder system. Others promote this community by performing outreach in fora outside of ICANN. Others work behind the scenes designing courses and capacity building for newcomers and for those members who are not yet taking an active part in this community. Some are very active in enhancing their RALO's capability at helping their members with understanding and taking part in ICANN processes. Some people are active in GNSO working groups. I could go on for a long time to explain all of the activities of this community. As ALAC Chair, I try to keep aware of all of the work that our members do for this community, but occasionally I am surprised by people who are taking part in an ICANN process but have not directly "advertised it" - such is the humbleness of some people in our community.
When interacting with the Board and in other fora, I often receive congratulations from people who tell me that they are so pleased that At-Large has matured over the years. They are so pleased with the quality of the Statements that we draft and send to them. I tell them that this would not be possible without the great Team that I have on the ALAC and in the RALOs. So I wanted to thank you for the work you are doing as volunteers. It is truly inspirational to a lot of people in ICANN.
Next year is about to arrive and there are a lot more challenges coming up. Our work in Policy Development will continue to grow as we now need to expand our competencies beyond commenting on ICANN processes but also in Internet Governance as a whole and the defense of the multi-stakeholder model as practised in ICANN. I have concerns that a few people have done the majority of the work in "holding the pen" when drafting Statements - so I look forward to new volunteers adding to the list of writers. Remember, you could co-draft Statements and you do not need to be an ALAC member to be a pen-holder. Policy work is very
-- Best regards, Veni Markovski http://www.veni.com https://twitter.com/veni https://www.facebook.com/venimarkovski The opinions expressed above are those of the author, not of any organizations, associated with or related to the author in any given way.