Dear Councilors, Following the affirmative vote to approve the Consent Agenda on the 17 December 2020 meeting, a number of GNSO Council liaisons are now confirmed. However, note that during the meeting, Olga withdrew her name as the GNSO Council liaison to the EPDP Phase 2 and that there is still an outstanding vacancy for the EPDP Phase 2A. In consultation with Council leadership, here is the proposed path forward. EPDP Phase 2: As this PDP has now concluded, there does not appear to be a pressing need to identify a new liaison, though one will be needed once an Implementation Review Team (IRT) is established. However, and without making too many assumptions, there may be reason that the IRT for Phase 2 will be merged or perhaps be a continuation of the existing IRT, which could allow Sebastien to serve as the single Council liaison to the IRT (assuming there is some form of streamlined IRT and Sebastien is willing of course). The Council leadership proposal here is to leave this position vacant, at least for the moment. EPDP Phase 2: There is however a need to identify a liaison here, in a timely fashion, as the EPDP Team has already held its first meeting. To give you a sense of the commitment, liaisons typically take part in leadership planning meetings, share information and updates between the WG and Council, provide guidance regarding WG processes, etc. (see role description here: https://gnso.icann.org/sites/default/files/file/field-file-attach/gnso-liais...). However, I would note that during the EPDP Phase 2, the liaison also served as the vice-chair, and this possibility is I understand under discussion within the EPDP Phase 2A currently. Assuming that ends up being the outcome, the liaison would then be asked to both fulfill the requirements of being a GNSO Council liaison to the WG, as well as that of being a vice-chair, which is primarily chairing WG calls when the Chair is unavailable. That said, the Chair has indicated that he fully anticipates being available for this limited duration effort. The Council leadership proposal here is of course to identify a volunteer to fill this position. Best, Steve Steven Chan Senior Director, GNSO Support Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) 12025 Waterfront Drive, Suite 300 Los Angeles, CA 90094-2536 Email: steve.chan@icann.org Skype: steve.chan55 Mobile: +1.310.339.4410 Find out more about the GNSO by visiting: https://learn.icann.org/ Follow @GNSO on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ICANN_GNSO Transcripts and recordings of GNSO Working Group and Council events are located on the GNSO Master Calendar