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Dear Victor,<br>
<br>
following up on my email below, I had a look at the "Procedures for
Selecting Trustees" on
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.internetsociety.org/about-internet-society/governance-policies/procedures-selecting-trustees/">https://www.internetsociety.org/about-internet-society/governance-policies/procedures-selecting-trustees/</a><br>
<br>
I was flabbergasted about a number of the points in the process. I
already expressed by concern in relation to the strange publication
of results and I guess there must be some obscure historical reasons
why it was designed this way, but the other thing that got me to
have difficulty staying in my seat was the "Challenges" section:<br>
<i><br>
<font color="#0000ff">Any challenge must be addressed to the
President of the Society with a recital of the reasons for the
challenge, and must be received no later than 7 days following
the end of the election. The President, after consultation with
the Chairs of the Nominations and Elections Committees and the
members of the Board of Trustees, shall advise the author of the
challenge of the Board’s decision, which shall be final, within
7 days following the end of the challenge period.</font></i><br>
<br>
Well that's a pretty terrible idea.<br>
<br>
In organizations with elected board members, it is <strong>not
typical</strong> for the <strong>President and CEO</strong> to
directly resolve election issues. Let’s explore why:
<div class="content" tabindex="0" aria-description=""
aria-label="Sent by Copilot: In organizations with elected board members, it is **not typical** for the **President and CEO** to directly resolve election issues. Let's explore why:
1. **Roles and Responsibilities**:
- The **President and CEO** typically focus on strategic leadership, organizational management, and overall decision-making.
- **Election issues** fall within the purview of the **board** and its governance processes.
2. **Board Independence**:
- **Board members** are elected by shareholders or stakeholders to represent their interests.
- To maintain independence and avoid conflicts of interest, the **CEO** should not directly intervene in election matters.
3. **Board Governance**:
- **Election issues** are handled by the **Nominating and Governance Committee** or a similar board committee.
- These committees oversee board nominations, elections, and related processes.
4. **Transparency and Fairness**:
- **Election processes** must be transparent, fair, and free from undue influence.
- Involvement of the **CEO** could raise concerns about bias or favoritism.
5. **Legal and Regulatory Compliance**:
- Organizations must adhere to legal and regulatory requirements regarding board elections.
- The **CEO** should not interfere with these processes to ensure compliance.
In summary, while the **CEO** plays a crucial role in organizational leadership, election issues are best handled by the **board** and its designated committees to maintain transparency and impartiality. 🗳️👥">
<div class="ac-container ac-adaptiveCard" style="">
<div class="ac-textBlock" style="">
<ol>
<li>
<p><strong>Roles and Responsibilities</strong>:</p>
<ul>
<li>The <strong>President and CEO</strong> typically
focus on strategic leadership, organizational
management, and overall decision-making.</li>
<li><strong>Election issues</strong> fall within the
purview of the <strong>board</strong> and its
governance processes.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Board Independence</strong>:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Board members</strong> are elected by
stakeholders to represent their interests.</li>
<li>To maintain independence and avoid conflicts of
interest, the <strong>CEO</strong> should not
directly intervene in election matters.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Board Governance</strong>:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Election issues</strong> are handled by the
<strong>Nominations Committee.</strong><br>
</li>
<li>This committee oversees board nominations,
elections, and related processes so why is it not also
in charge of <b>challenges</b>?.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Transparency and Fairness</strong>:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Election processes</strong> must be
transparent, fair, and free from undue influence.</li>
<li>Involvement of the <strong>CEO</strong> could raise
concerns about bias or favouritism.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Legal and Regulatory Compliance</strong>:</p>
<ul>
<li>Organizations must adhere to legal and regulatory
requirements regarding board elections.</li>
<li>The <strong>CEO</strong> should not interfere with
these processes to ensure compliance.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ol>
<p>In summary, while the <strong>CEO</strong> plays a crucial
role in organizational leadership, election issues are best
handled by the <strong>board</strong> and its designated
committees to maintain transparency and impartiality. <br>
</p>
<p>Let's remember that the Board is the CEO's boss so isn't it
plain obvious that the CEO should not be able to make
decisions pertaining to selection of his/her boss? (*)<br>
</p>
</div>
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}.katex-mathml{
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}</style>I am copying Ms. Ilona Levine, ISOC General Counsel,
as her extensive experience on Compliance would definitely be of
value to this conversation.<br>
<br>
Kindest regards,<br>
<br>
Olivier Crépin-Leblond, PhD<br>
<br>
(*) passing no judgement on the current President and CEO Andrew
Sullivan, this is a wider matter of standard Board governance<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 08/04/2024 21:34, Olivier MJ
Crépin-Leblond via Chapter-delegates wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:94b3a72a-a7e8-4555-9049-5351e71f8709@gih.com">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
Dear Victor,<br>
<br>
thanks for your explanation. With abstentions the vote number
makes sense.<br>
And thanks for explaining the language in the Procedures for
Trustees. <br>
Kindest regards,<br>
<br>
Olivier<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 08/04/2024 20:56, Victor Kuarsingh
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:CAJc3aaM8orPMOQDXGp_n=DOGgZUcGOt7Wa+mLUFoiOGHUsf9=w@mail.gmail.com">
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content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<div dir="ltr">
<div dir="ltr">Olivier,
<div><span style="font-size:11pt"> </span><br>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt">The
language in the Procedures for Trustees, Publication
of the Result, says:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt"><br>
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.666667px"><b>"Publication
of the Result</b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.666667px"><b>Only
the vote counts of the elected candidate Trustee and
the total vote count are to be published, while all
candidates and the Board of Trustees will be
provided with the full list of candidates and the
number of votes that each received."</b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt">Basically,
only the vote count of those elected and the total
vote count get released broadly (full details are
distributed to the candidates and board). I can
confirm that there were abstentions. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">regards,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Victor K</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br>
</p>
</div>
</div>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Mon, Apr 8, 2024 at
2:00 PM Olivier MJ Crépin-Leblond <<a
href="mailto:ocl@gih.com" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">ocl@gih.com</a>>
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote"
style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div> Dear Victor,<br>
<br>
congratulations to Maureen Hilyard on her appointment!<br>
However, please see below:<br>
<br>
<div>On 08/04/2024 18:19, Victor Kuarsingh via
Chapter-delegates wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In the
Chapters election, there were two (2) candidates
for one (1) seat. Having received the most votes,
Maureen Hilyard has been elected to a 3-year term
as a trustee.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Voter
turn-out in the Chapters election was 83.19%. Of
the 113 eligible chapters, 94 voted. In accordance
with the<span> </span><a
href="https://www.internetsociety.org/about-internet-society/governance-policies/procedures-selecting-trustees/"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">Procedures
for Selecting Trustees</a>, Publication of the
Result, Maureen Hilyard received 44 votes.</span></p>
</blockquote>
<br>
Thank you for publishing the results, but I'm afraid
they don't really make much sense.<br>
<br>
With 94 voting chapters and 44 votes going to Maureen
Hilyard, that would mean 50 votes did not go to Maureen
Hilyard, so does that mean that 7 votes or more were
abstentions or invalid ballots?<br>
<br>
Usually vote results are given more clearly (and
transparently) as:<br>
<br>
Candidate A: Nr. Votes - %<br>
Candidate B: Nr. Votes - %<br>
Abstentions: Nr. Votes - %<br>
N/A: Nr. Votes - % (if possible)<br>
<br>
Kindest regards,<br>
<br>
Olivier<br>
<br>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
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</blockquote>
<br>
<br>
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