Dear Anne and Justine, all, I’m responding on Elisa’s behalf, who is out of the office. Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts. We would like to note that under “Preferred Skills and Experience,” we indicate that candidates should “[p]referably [have] familiarity with Internet governance and the DNS ecosystem and ICANN.” However, we believe that removing “[c]onsiderable experience in the Internet Community” as a requirement may encourage other strong candidates to apply. As such, we will remove it from the “Selection Criteria” of the EOI. However, please rest assured that this characteristic will be given the appropriate weight as we carefully consider all factors together during the selection process. I would also like to inform you of an issue with the email address for the EOI that we were made aware of in the last couple of days. This issue appears to have blocked some senders, meaning that there were more attempts to respond to the EOI than we were previously aware of. We have since corrected this issue and reached out to those impacted. The updated EOI will be posted shortly and the IRT promptly informed. Best, Jared -- Jared Erwin Senior Director, New gTLD Program Global Domains & Strategy (GDS) Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) jared.erwin@icann.org<mailto:jared.erwin@icann.org> From: Anne ICANN via SubPro-IRT <subpro-irt@icann.org> Reply-To: Anne ICANN <anneicanngnso@gmail.com> Date: Friday, May 8, 2026 at 22:08 To: Justine Chew <justine.chew.icann@gmail.com> Cc: Next Round Policy Implementation via SubPro-IRT <subpro-irt@icann.org> Subject: [SubPro-IRT] Re: Expression of Interest for Independent Objectors That would be best. Anne Anne Aikman-Scalese GNSO Councilor NomCom Non-Voting 2022-2026 anneicanngnso@gmail.com<mailto:anneicanngnso@gmail.com> On Fri, May 8, 2026 at 3:03 PM Justine Chew <justine.chew.icann@gmail.com<mailto:justine.chew.icann@gmail.com>> wrote: Hi Anne, I think we can come to a fairly simple conclusion then. Which is for Elisa to do 2(a) but not 2(b). Kind regards, Justine --------- On Sat, 9 May 2026, 02:57 Anne ICANN, <anneicanngnso@gmail.com<mailto:anneicanngnso@gmail.com>> wrote: Sorry Justine but I don't agree that knowledge and experience of the ICANN gTLD program should simply be a "preferred" characteristic. This is a complex environment. Having no experience in this realm will lead to mistakes on the part of the IO. Changing the requirement to allow firms to participate is actually all we will really need to get this going. Anne Anne Aikman-Scalese GNSO Councilor NomCom Non-Voting 2022-2026 anneicanngnso@gmail.com<mailto:anneicanngnso@gmail.com> On Thu, May 7, 2026 at 9:11 PM Justine Chew <justine.chew.icann@gmail.com<mailto:justine.chew.icann@gmail.com>> wrote: Anne - I fear your suggestion of "considerable familiarity with the ICANN new gTLD Program" is also subjective and may further limit the pool of eligible candidates. Elisa - looking at Section 3 of the Expression of Interest<https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/2026-round-independent-objectors...> (EOI), could we perhaps qualify “[c]onsiderable experience and respect in the Internet community” as a preferred but not decisive selection criterion? Kind regards, Justine On Fri, 8 May 2026 at 04:31, Anne ICANN via SubPro-IRT <subpro-irt@icann.org<mailto:subpro-irt@icann.org>> wrote: Thanks Elisa - not sure we should eliminate the requirement for considerable experience in the Internet Community. Considerable respect can be very subjective but it's hard to see how an IO could do this job effectively without any ICANN experience. Couldn't we specify "considerable familiarity with the ICANN new gTLD Program" or something like that? Anne Anne Aikman-Scalese GNSO Councilor NomCom Non-Voting 2022-2026 anneicanngnso@gmail.com<mailto:anneicanngnso@gmail.com> On Thu, May 7, 2026 at 11:20 AM Elisa Busetto via SubPro-IRT <subpro-irt@icann.org<mailto:subpro-irt@icann.org>> wrote: Dear All, On 9 March, we launched<https://www.icann.org/en/announcements/details/call-for-expressions-of-inter...> an Expression of Interest<https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/2026-round-independent-objectors...> (EOI) to identify three individuals to serve as Independent Objectors (IOs) for the 2026 Round. The original deadline of 20 April was subsequently extended<https://www.icann.org/en/announcements/details/icann-extends-deadline-for-ex...> to 11 May. ICANN has undertaken several outreach efforts to promote the EOI, including a paid social media campaign and targeted communications to key groups. Despite these efforts, uptake has been a challenge. For context, the approach for IOs was discussed with the IRT during Meeting #173 [icann-community.atlassian.net]<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/icann-community.atlassian.net/wiki/x/EoD-...>, following which ICANN shared the details of its planned approach in this email [lists.icann.org]<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/lists.icann.org/hyperkitty/list/subpro-ir...>. Ensuring that the three IOs are identified, contracted, and trained is a prerequisite for String Confirmation Day to happen, which is when the objections filing window will open. As you are probably aware, we currently project String Confirmation Day to be around the end of October, although the exact timing will depend on several factors, including the number of applications received. While ICANN has built additional time into the timeline for procuring IOs, similar to other Requests for Interest and Proposal, we are addressing the uptake challenge in the near term to avoid any impact on the overall Program timeline. In this context, we will make the following adjustments to the EOI: 1. Further extend the submission deadline to 1 June. 2. Expand the pool of potential candidates by: * Allowing firms, in addition to individuals, to serve as IOs. While we recognize the potential conflicts of interest concerns this may raise, we believe these will be mitigated by having three IOs; where one individual or firm is conflicted, another IO could review the relevant applications. * Removing the selection criterion requiring “[c]onsiderable experience and respect in the Internet community”. Best regards, Elisa _______________________________________________ SubPro-IRT mailing list -- subpro-irt@icann.org<mailto:subpro-irt@icann.org> To unsubscribe send an email to subpro-irt-leave@icann.org<mailto:subpro-irt-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. _______________________________________________ SubPro-IRT mailing list -- subpro-irt@icann.org<mailto:subpro-irt@icann.org> To unsubscribe send an email to subpro-irt-leave@icann.org<mailto:subpro-irt-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.