I am very pleased to forward Robert Guerra's candidate statement for one of the two ALAC seats from North America. I understand that Mr. Guerra currently has a paid consulting contract with ICANN, described in his conflict of interest statement below, which Mr. Guerra has asked ICANN's General Counsel to review. From my perspective, however, the disclosure is quite detailed and, both personally and as Interim Chair, I would not see it as impacting his ability to stand for election in any way. Bret Begin forwarded message:
From: Robert Guerra <rguerra@privaterra.ca> Date: June 21, 2007 9:39:00 AM PDT To: Bret Fausett <bfausett@internet.law.pro> Cc: Nick Ashton-Hart <nick.ashton-hart@icann.org> Subject: Candidate Statement – Robert Guerra
################################## NA RALO / At Large Advisory Committee Candidate Statement – Robert Guerra ##################################
(a) Your name: first name, FAMILY NAME (in capital letters)
Robert, GUERRA
(b) Your e-mail address.
rguerra@privaterra.ca
(c) Your telephone number(s) and/or Skype/Yahoo!/Mac or other VOIP or Audio Chat ID.
Tel #: +1 416 893 0377 Skype: robertguerra
(d) Your country of citizenship. If you hold multiple citizenships please state all.
Canada & EU (Spain)
(e) Your city and country of residence and your preferred mailing address.
c/o Sage Charitable Foundation 215 Spadina Avenue, Suite 360 Toronto, Ontario, M5T 2C7 Canada
(f) Education and professional background. Summarize your educational background, such as degrees achieved and the university(s) where you studied, and the three most recent places of employment and positions held.
Professional background:
Medical studies at the University of Navarra (Spain), 1991-1996 BSc. (Hons) degree in Physiology & Pharmacology from the University of Western Ontario (Canada), 1984-1988
Recent Employment:
Founder & Executive Director, Privaterra Project Director, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR) Research Specialist, Mount Sinai Hospital
Bio blurb:
Specialist in Internet Security and Secure communications; Six years experience advising and training Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) on issues such as secure communications, network security and virtual collaboration.
Solid knowledge and research of concepts on Internet Governance, Information Society, Internet Security, Privacy & Data Protection, Cybercrime, Encryption, Human Rights and Free & Open Source Software
Excellent communication skills; experienced multilingual public speaker, Press Interviews, Speaking engagements, TV & Radio.
Team player with a flexible, positive approach to collaboration.
Further details @ http://www.icannwiki.org/Robert_Guerra
(g) Internet Involvement and Interest in ICANN. Help us understand the skills and experience you would bring to the ALAC and how you would help the ALAC achieve its mission.
I am one of the founding directors of the Canadian Council for Internet Governance (CCIG), as well as Privaterra. I currently sit on the board of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR), and was actively involved in the preparatory processes of the UN World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), including as a panelist at the Pan European and Latin American Regional Meeting, an NGO advisor to the Canadian government delegation, and a member of the WSIS civil society bureau.
I also sit on the advisory board of several non-profits, including Taking IT Global and DiploFoundation's Internet Governance and Policy Capacity Building Program.
My proven collaborative approach in engaging civil society actors, government representatives, as well as the private sector I believe give me the skills needed to effectively represent and advocate for user’s issues at highest levels at ICANN. If elected, one of the main areas that I would focus on would to increase trust , dialogue and transparency between ALSs from North america and other ICANN stakeholders.
Key ICANN issues that I would commit to engage in would be ones related to Security and Stability, Multilingual/Internationalized domain names, and as well as governance reforms both inside At- Large as well as ICANN that help improve transparency and openness.
In summary, my general focus would be to bring a much needed approach that focuses on consultation, engagement, outreach and positive constructive change.
(h) Conflicts of Interest. Please refer to the ICANN Conflicts of Interest policy
Leadership positions need to open and transparent, and as a result I am disclosing that I have recently been contracted by ICANN to implement an open source online contact management system for At- Large. The solution, based on the open source Drupal/CiviCRM frameworkwill hopefully allow the regional secretariats as well as At-Large staff better organize and manage contact information. The contact management system will be presented at the upcoming meeting in San Juan. I commit to answer any questions related to the project in as open and transparent a manner as possible.
Should I be appointed as one of the North American representatives to serve on the At-Large committee, I commit to abstain from any discussions and votes related to any current and/or future consulting agreements entered into with ICANN for At-Large.