Dear Council Colleagues, We received the below invitation to the ICANN Leadership Program (LP) 2026. This is the program we sent Manju Chen, Mark Datysgeld and Jennifer Chung in the past. If you are interested please reach out to them for all the insider details. We are allowed one candidate for the GNSO Council. We will also be alerting incoming Councilors. Given that this single seat open for Council is for a 2-day event, the organizers are also asking us to nominate an alternate, all by 21 November. Remain blessed, Tomslin ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Fernanda Iunes via Gnso-chairs <gnso-chairs@icann.org> Date: Wed, 1 Oct 2025 at 01:36 Subject: [gnso-chairs] Invitation - RSVP - ICANN Leadership Program (LP) 2026 To: gnso-chairs@icann.org <gnso-chairs@icann.org> Cc: Sandra Hoferichter <info@hoferichter.eu>, Ergys Ramaj < ergys.ramaj@icann.org> Dear Nacho and Tomslin, After a one-year hiatus, the ICANN Academy Leadership Program (LP) is back and we are preparing for its 9th edition, scheduled to take place from 5–6 March 2026, two days before the official start of ICANN85 in Mumbai, India. For this program, one seat is reserved for a representative from the GNSO Council. The program is designed for current *and *incoming leaders, helping to increase understanding of the complexity of ICANN and to develop facilitation skills, as well as building a network with other leaders. We are aware that understanding ICANN as an organization, the topics discussed within ICANN, and interaction within other stakeholder groups can be challenging for incoming leaders, but sometimes also for experienced leaders. ICANN and the community are making considerable efforts to help incoming leaders have a good start to their terms and to provide current leaders the opportunity to strengthen their leadership and facilitation skills. Opportunities for Leadership Program participants include the following: - Connect with leaders from the other SOs/ACs and get an insight of the functionality and issues in other groups - Discuss current ICANN topics in-depth - Deepen the understanding of ICANN processes - Develop facilitation and leadership skills, focused personal effectiveness to run meetings and foster processes A preliminary agenda is attached to this email. Kindly note that this is subject to change. Accommodation for participants will be covered between Wednesday and Thursday, 4-5 March 2026, and participants will receive a stipend. Please note that flights will *NOT* be covered under this program, as incoming and current leaders are normally already covered. Please ensure that the leaders that are nominated for your group are being covered by ICANN Travel Support (or by other means) for their flights to Mumbai for ICANN85. We would like to ask you to identify one incoming or current leader from your stakeholder group who is interested and available to participate in this program. We recommend that you also identify an alternate candidate. All candidates should be able to participate in the full program. *Kindly forward us the names and email addresses of the endorsed individuals no later than Friday, 21 November 2025, and ask them to register **here* <https://forms.gle/X2MoCPAT8u4YB2RUA>* by Monday, 24 November 2025.* We hope this program will meet the needs of your community. All participants will be encouraged to openly exchange their views under Chatham House Rules, as this will help facilitate cross-constituency collaboration during their leadership terms. We are happy to answer any questions you may have and look forward to having your group’s participants confirmed. Sandra Hoferichter is also available to visit your group at the upcoming ICANN84 meeting at a time that is convenient for you. She can give a short presentation on the LP and answer any questions. This should take no more than 15 minutes. Please coordinate with Sandra if this is something that would interest you and your group. Kind regards, Sandra Hoferichter, Chair of the ICANN Academy Working Group and Fernanda Iunes, ICANN Capacity Development Manager _______________________________________________ Gnso-chairs mailing list -- gnso-chairs@icann.org To unsubscribe send an email to gnso-chairs-leave@icann.org _______________________________________________ By submitting your personal data, you consent to the processing of your personal data for purposes of subscribing to this mailing list accordance with the ICANN Privacy Policy (https://www.icann.org/privacy/policy) and the website Terms of Service (https://www.icann.org/privacy/tos). You can visit the Mailman link above to change your membership status or configuration, including unsubscribing, setting digest-style delivery or disabling delivery altogether (e.g., for a vacation), and so on.