[Chapter-delegates] PIR Advisory board

[Fred Baker]

On Mar 10, 2006, at 10:43 AM, Patrick Vande Walle wrote:
> I cannot obviously speak for Carlos. However, I note that there are  
> regularly questions and requests for some formal rules to assure  
> geographic diversity within the ISOC board (and in this case within  
> the PIR board).

There are. My question was: Franck opened this question (I guess),  
and I wonder what triggered him to ask.

On your and Carlos' issue, my observation is that the nominating  
committee of the ISOC Board in fact tries annually to make regional  
diversity possible; I note, for example, that the nominees for  
chapters this year are from Kenya and Fiji, and petitions are from  
Catalonia and Belgium. I would describe these as "regionally  
diverse". The principal things that prevent diversity in nominations  
are people's agreement to be nominated and the places from which we  
seem to draw our membership. The diversity of who gets elected is  
governed by the intersection of nomination and voting patterns.

Our organizational candidates this year are from the US, Canada, and  
China. China is notable in this regard, as Dr. Yan is the first  
candidate that we have had from China to my knowledge, and for those  
for whom gender balance is an issue, Dr. Yan is a woman. The word  
"diverse" in these discussions seems to come across with a little  
anti-American bias, so let me point out that if one wants to reflect  
all the parts of the world, North America is one of the parts of the  
world; it should not be surprising to find some candidates from  
there. Our organizational members (http://www.isoc.org/orgs/ 
orgsbyname.shtml) are primarily from North America, Europe,  
Australia, and Japan, so getting organizational member candidates  
from, say, Malawi, is a little tough. To change that, we need  
organizational members from other parts of the world (apart from the  
Dubai Municipality, I don't believe we have any from the Muslim  
countries, for example), ones that agree to serve. This might be a  
place where the chapters can help us.

PIR, as Steve has noted, is a different kettle of fish. PIR is not  
trying to represent all the peoples of the world. Our agreement with  
ICANN on the topic is that PIR, in partnership with Afilias, is  
trying to run a business in a manner that is fiscally sound and  
provides a net cash flow to ISOC that can be used for projects of  
various kinds. The key issues in determining who is going to be a  
board member are therefore related to the ability of the nominee to  
attend frequent face-to-face meetings in random parts of the world,  
their business acumen, and their interest in generating a cash flow  
that can be spent by ISOC on projects. That said, we have indeed  
tried to have diversity in that space as well; we have had PIR board  
members from New Zealand, South Africa, and Australia and various  
European countries in the past, and the current chair is from  
Scandinavia.

For a history of the diversity of ISOC Board nominations, please review
	http://www.isoc.org/members/vote/2005election/profiles/
	http://www.isoc.org/members/vote/2004election/profiles/
	http://www.isoc.org/members/vote/2003election/profiles/
	http://www.isoc.org/members/vote/2002election/profiles/
	http://www.isoc.org/members/vote/2001election/announce.shtml
	http://www.isoc.org/members/vote/2000election/nomcomrepfin.shtml
	http://www.isoc.org/members/vote/99election/report-on-nomination.shtml
and	http://www.isoc.org/members/vote/98election/98candinfo.shtml

You might also find it interesting to poke around the context of  
those to see the diversity of the nominating committees. While it has  
not been possible every year, it is not at all uncommon to find that  
the nominating committee is composed of people from around the world.

I have gone through the documentation of this to push back a little  
on the implication in your comment, one that is a recurring theme in  
your comments in this and other fora. You appear to believe that the  
board and specifically I don't understand that there is a desire for  
regional diversity, or that there are frequent questions on the  
topic. The available objective evidence doesn't support that belief.  
It says that the ISOC Board and its nominating committees have  
historically sought and continue now to seek regional diversity. The  
actual diversity of the ISOC board reflects the distribution of  
ISOC's various kinds of membership, the voting patterns of ISOC's  
members, and the ability/willingness of ISOC members to serve in that  
capacity.