Thanks, Andrew, but I  am not supportive of making a statement that our own website does not support. 

I have a suggestion for a statement that takes Andrew's comments but makes it more factual. After all, our justification for the funding that we get to do outreach is because we are not diverse enough -- and we keep acknowledging that. 

I think we are taking too much focus on a single comment from AFNIC, which is after all, limited to French companies. 

Here are the facts  - taken from our website.

-39 of the companies list United States of America, although as they select category 1 to pay dues, they have self declared as global in their reach, so we probably are actually going to have to update our categories, so that there is a clear note that a global company is able to declare the regions it does business in. For instance, we could add a foot note that says: Country of incorporation is shown/Regions covered for category 1 are: [is it all five?]category 2: at least two regions, category three: this is weird, as I do no work in the US, but am an SME, so it looks like my category is only US. Also, Andrew also falls into that category -- and I know your work is both in Latin America and Africa, at least.

-The associations that are members - and we have lost a few really important ones as members, like WITSA -- list their country of incorporation, although they are either 

a) global like ICC or TAGI or regional like ETNO and AIM [ETNO and AIM both have a number of french speaking member companies]

b) or regional -- like ASOCIO or AfiCTA

Of the total number of BC members, 21 are from outside of the US. That includes our Canadian member in that count. 

19 are in the SME category. 8 are in category 2, meaning regional in coverage/focus.

But I think that the message is a little different and has to recognize that we have to be sensitive that the facts are really out there on our website. 

this has happened before  when some challenged the BC about its breadth.... and at that time, Philip and I undertook an analysis of the associations membership, so that we could showcase the breadth of the engagement of companies represented by the association members. 

Also, I don't think that we can claim victory on the diversification that we have as the Outreach Committee, responsibility for... we are still asking for funding from ICANN budget to build geo diversity.

I was a little disappointed that you did not include SME diversity Andrew, as that seems to me to also be a key goal that we have, unless I have forgotten all the past discussions.  and the understanding about how national presence of business is built.  

So, I offer an edit to your proposed language: see attachment. 

Marilyn Cade