Interesting suggestion Stephane. But I guess I got a different vibe from the tweets you mentioned and from other concerns expressed. For example, was Peter aware of the job offer or had he accepted it prior to the vote? If so, did he disclose that prior to voting and/or did it influence his vote? Also, now that he has taken the job, what protections exist to prevent undue influence and/or access to the Board and Staff? I think those questions are at the root of most concerns I have heard expressed, including my own. My belief is that with the new gTLD expansion, this type of so-called revolving door situation will be more frequent, and if not handled well it will erode confidence in ICANN and serve to confirm that it is just an Old Boys Club as so many have accused. Tim

-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: [council] Topic for Senegal Board-GNSO Council Meeting From: Stéphane Van Gelder<stephane.vangelder@indom.com> Date: Thu, July 21, 2011 5:20 am To: "Bruce Tonkin" <Bruce.Tonkin@melbourneit.com.au> Cc: "GNSO Council List" <council@gnso.icann.org>, "John Jeffrey" <john.jeffrey@icann.org>, "Steve Crocker" <steve@shinkuro.com>

Thanks Bruce.

If it can help, this is my personal view on this: http://www.stephanevangelder.com/archives/373-ICANN-needs-an-independent,-pa...

Thanks,

Stéphane

Le 20 juil. 2011 à 14:20, Bruce Tonkin a écrit :

Hello All,

Just to elaborate a little further on current rules, the Board also has a code of conduct and a conflicts policy.

Code of conduct is available at:

http://www.icann.org/en/committees/board-governance/bod-code-of-conduct-21ap...

Code of conduct guidelines at:

http://www.icann.org/en/committees/board-governance/bod-code-of-conduct-guid...   (this was something updated recently to deal with confidentiality guidelines).

The conflicts policy is available at:

http://www.icann.org/en/committees/coi/coi-policy-30jul09-en.htm

As chair of the Board's Governance Committee - we are constantly evolving such documents, and beginning to extend the base documents with operating guidelines.

As a result of this recent case, I welcome suggestions for how any of these documents can be improved.

Each Board director is also required to make an annual statement of interest, which includes the following question:

" An existing or potential ownership, professional or investment interest in, or employment or any other Compensation arrangement with, any entity whose business or operation has been or will be directly affected by a decision or action of ICANN, including by reason of a potential or planned application or possible agreement for operation of a new generic top-level domain (gTLD) or delegation of a country code internationalized domain name (ccIDN);"

We do have processes for dealing with a potential conflict - including an undisclosed conflict by a currently sitting Board member.   We don't have an explicit process for dealing with any cases that come to light after a director leaves the Board.

A short overview of statements of interest is maintained at:

http://www.icann.org/en/board/summary-board-soi-en.htm

and the 24 June version is available at:

http://www.icann.org/en/board/summary-soi-24jun11-en.htm

Regards, Bruce Tonkin