Dear Katrina and fellow Council members,

Attached please find a paper I’ve been working on for some time now regarding unintended consequences from our upcoming election for Board Seat 11.

I realize that it’s rather dense; I’m afraid even the summary is dense.  The upshot is that we (the ccNSO Community), as well as the ALAC and the GNSO, are in a position to constrain the ability of the NomCom to return either (or both) of their currently appointed Board members (Avri Doria and Sarah Deutsch) in the upcoming election cycle, depending upon what the ccNSO Community does with regards to replacing Chris, and what the ALAC and GNSO do with regards to their upcoming elections.

The issue is that should the ccNSO, ALAC or the GNSO put forward a Board member from the North America Geographic region, then the NomCom will have to drop either Avri or Sarah for consideration for an additional term.  Should the three SO/AC’s put forward two Board members from the North America Geographic region, then the NomCom will have no choice but to drop both Avri and Sarah.

There are thus serious implications here both with respect to losing experience and expertise, and also with respect to gender diversity of the Board.  The paper explores both issues in detail.

The bottom line is that I believe the ccNSO Community has a greater responsibility to the overall Community than to our immediate self-interests, and under no circumstances should anyone from the North America geographic region stand for Seat 11 in the upcoming election.  I would hope that both the ALAC and GNSO come to a similar conclusion.

Best Regards,

/Stephen