On Sep 7, 2008, at 2:44 PM, Dharma Dailey wrote:
Are there posted criteria for these positions that can be used as a guideline so that there isn't as much second guessing after the fact?
It would be *very* helpful to the nominating committee representatives if each of the RALO's and in a separate document, the ALAC itself, collaborated on a document each year to provide this kind of guidance. Picking representatives from the candidate pool can be a bit of a black art - nomcomm reps are essentially guessing what characteristics would be useful for each of the open positions. I tried to inform my guesses through discussions with members of the community prior to the start of the 2008 nomcomm work, but having a more definitive statement would definitely be very helpful. It would also help inform the discussions that the RALO nomcomm reps have during the appointment process. Had I known more about the nomcomm process going into it, I would have definitely sought more indepth guidance from a broader range of perspectives (most of my conversations were with folks working within the RALO's, but given that we also need to appoint people to other parts of the organization, having discussions about the needs of the ccNSO, GNSO and Board in addition to the ALAC would have been beneficial. It would be important that these documents be updated each year, as the needs of the committees being appointed to change (i.e. this year, the board might need people with a financial background, next year they might need someone with intergovernmental affairs experience) I'd also note that candidates need to fill a variety of requirements, geography is just one dimension. With different candidates, these requirements are weighted differently based on the rest of their skills, the skills of the other candidates and also the skills of those already sitting on the various committees. The goal is to pick great people that can help move the work forward in a positive fashion. I have no doubt that each of our picks this year will do their best to live up to this expectation. /ross