Dear ISPCP members I've been informed that due to changes within Verizon, Greg Ruth is no longer able to represent the ISPCP on the GNSO Council. The timing is a little unfortunate as Greg's term expired at the next meeting in Seoul anyway. You'll also be aware that the Constituency will be holding elections shortly in order to seat two new representatives on the new reformed GNSO Council. Against that background we need to find a way forward between now and Seoul in order to cover the two scheduled GNSO meetings before then and there are a number of points that require careful consideration; * All of those currently representing the ISPCP on the GNSO council will be standing down at the Seoul meeting and will not be eligible to stand for re-election, that means for the new Council we start with a completely new slate of candidates * If we bring forward that election with the intention of covering Greg's slot between now and Seoul it restricts those who can stand due to the geographic diversity rule e.g it rules out all candidates from Latin America and Europe as both Tony Harris and I are already on the Council. That hardly seems fair. * If we bring forward an election, under the current ISPCP bylaws we cannot conclude that process in time for the next GNSO call, therefore it would only cover the one remaining teleconference/meeting. For the commercial Stakeholder Group that is unacceptable as we would lose 1 vote on all issues. In order to overcome those problems, I would like to propose the following way forward. For the two remaining meetings Greg's place on Council should be taken by Maggie Mansoukia. Most of you know Maggie from her attendance at ICANN meetings over the years and both being employed by Verizon, Greg and Maggie have always worked very closely on ICANN matters. Maggie has also actively engaged in the ISPCP issues across the years (particularly on the WHOIS Task Force where she represented the Constituency for many years) and is therefore well placed to bridge this short gap. Before proposing this solution I did speak with Maggie and I'm pleased to say that she would be willing to undertake this role if it is the will of the Constituency. Therefore could I ask you to respond back if you would support this approach. Please respond within the next 7 days and no response will be counted as 'no objection to the proposed approach'. I'd also like to take this opportunity on behalf of the Constituency to thanks Greg for all his hard work over many years. Regards Tony