Please be so kind to find an email with a proposal from Steve Crocker, ICANN Board Chair. As this might affect our Rules of Procedure, I suggest the discussion to start as soon as the public comment period opens. Matt will prepare the usual ALAC comments WIKI page. Kindest regards, Olivier -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Proposed change in seating dates for SO and ALAC appointees to the ICANN board Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2012 17:01:24 -0700 From: Steve Crocker <Steve@*.com> To: Olivier Crepin-LeBlond <ocl@*.com>, Stéphane Van Gelder <stephane.vangelder@*.com>, Lesley Cowley <lesley@*.uk>, Louis Lee <louie@*.net> CC: Olivier, Stéphane, Lesley and Louis, I want to bring to your attention a proposal to change the seating of SO and ALAC appointees to the ICANN board to be deferred until the Annual General Meeting. The purpose is make changes to the board just once a year instead of the present system which usually causes changes twice a year. The departures of SO and ALAC appointees in mid-year sometimes causes difficulty in key leadership positions within the board and adds complication to the membership and functioning of the board committees. As you're probably aware, the reason for the present scheme was to provide the Nomcomm with information about the SO -- and now ALAC -- appointees so the Nomcomm could properly implement the required geographic balance of at least one and no more than five from any region. Our proposed change asks that your organizations continue to select your appointees on the same schedule so the Nomcomm would continue to have that information, but the actual seating of the board members selected from your organizations would be at the same time as the Nomcomm selectees. This will result in five selections each year, two or three from the SOs and ALAC and three or two from the Nomcomm. A proposed change to the bylaws was developed by the Board Governance Committee and sent to the full board for action. Yesterday, the board passed a resolution to post this proposed change and begin the public comment process. The resolution is posted at http://www.icann.org/en/groups/board/documents/resolutions-13sep12-en.htm#1.... and the public comment should open by Monday at the latest. I am sending you this note to make sure you are informed directly and to open the door for direct communication. To see how this change affects the people currently appointed, please see the table below. NomCom Term Begin SO/AC Selection/Seating* AGM 2012 3 (George, Gonzalo, Olga) 2 (Ray, Mike) AGM 2013 3 (Erika, Cherine, Bertrand) 2 (Bruce, Kuo) AGM 2014 2 (Steve, Judith) 3 (Chris, Sébastien, Bill) * The SO/AC Seating identified currently occurs earlier in the same year of the AGM identified. For example, Ray and Mike were re-seated in June 2012. Under the proposed revision, their terms will end with the conclusion of the 2015 AGM instead of a few months earlier. This change is one of a series of improvements in the board's processes that I have been working to improve the board's efficiency and effectiveness. I hope you will find it acceptable. Please feel free to share this note with your constituencies, colleagues, etc., and, of course, please do raise any issues or make any suggestions that come to mind. Thanks, Steve