[NCSG-EC] Fwd: Board Seat 14 Nomination Procedures and Timeline

[Johan Helsingius]

FYI...


-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: RE: Board Seat 14 Nomination Procedures and Timeline
Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2023 15:20:48 +0000
From: Lori Schulman <lschulman at inta.org>
To: Johan Helsingius <julf.helsingius at gmail.com>, julf at julf.com 
<julf at Julf.com>
CC: csg-excomm at ICANN.org <csg-excomm at icann.org>

Dear Julf,

Thank you for your patience with my recovery.  It has been a slog and 
with INTA's Annual Meeting in Singapore coming up, I have had to 
prioritize my health and my organization's meeting over anything else.
We appreciate that you have nominated Rafik per the procedures of the 
2018 agreement.  The CSG ExCom reserves our right to interview Rafik as 
we are trying to avoid a "battle of the candidates" at this juncture. 
I had asked a question about NCSG's concerns over Mark's inability to 
"stand up to" Becky.  I had mentioned that we do not feel that this is a 
criterion upon which we agree.  We would like to discuss this with NCSG 
ExCom in further detail as we have not witnessed the incumbent standing 
up to Becky either...at least not in public.  Becky has obvious 
strengths as a Board member but that should not be affecting our 
decisions about who should be representing us.  We had a very productive 
meeting with our Board incumbents last week and expect that all 
representatives have reached a point where they have something to offer. 
   We expect that Mark will fit right in and are sticking with our 
support of his candidacy.

That said, we believe that there is a bigger issue to be solved, that is 
the failure of the 2018 agreement to prevent another stalemate.   The 
way the procedure works, we could become entangled in the "battle of 
candidates" indefinitely.  This wastes a lot of time and effort.
I had drafted some proposed deal points that could potentially break 
stalemates in the future.    I included them in one of our earlier 
messages but have not heard back on any of them.  The CSG has improved 
the draft since that first message and we are finalizing a proposal that 
we hope the NCSG will consider.  The deal benefits both sides of the 
house with each potentially having a candidate in place for 9 years. 
Once we have approved it internally, we will forward for NCSG's review 
and, hopefully, a full NCPH discussion follow.  You can expect this 
proposal shortly.  I will revert back with an exact date.

Granting a 3rd term to a Board Member should be based on extraordinary 
performance.  Our sides of the house have not agreed on what the 
standards of that performance are.  That is a failure of governance and 
should be corrected.  We are aware that the deadline is coming however, 
we would offer that we work out the long term issues while continuing to 
discuss the pros and cons of the current roster of Mark and Matthew. 
If we are truly stalemated, we will interview others, starting with 
Rafik.  At that point, we would offer another candidate too.  Let's use 
that as a last resort.  We would rather miss the deadline and solve our 
longer term issues than rush to reappoint the incumbent.
We are aware that the NomCom may be affected by our decision in terms of 
geographic balance.  We are committed to not impeding the process for 
others.  However, we must make this choice in our own interests at an 
appropriate pace.

With kind regards,

Lori S. Schulman
Senior Director, Internet Policy
International Trademark Association (INTA)
+1-202-704-0408, Skype:  LSSchulman
lschulman at inta.org, www.inta.org


-----Original Message-----
From: Johan Helsingius <julf.helsingius at gmail.com> Sent: Wednesday, 
April 19, 2023 9:33 AM
To: Lori Schulman <lschulman at inta.org>
Subject: Fwd: Board Seat 14 Nomination Procedures and Timeline

Just to be sure, also sent from my gmail address.


-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: Re: Board Seat 14 Nomination Procedures and Timeline
Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2023 15:30:56 +0200
From: Johan Helsingius <julf at Julf.com>
To: Lori Schulman <lschulman at inta.org>
CC: Cole, Mason (Perkins Coie) <MCole at perkinscoie.com>, Tim Smith 
<tim.smith at cipa.com>, csg-excomm at icann.org <csg-excomm at icann.org>, Mohr, 
Susan <Susan.Mohr at lumen.com>, Brian King <brian.king at clarivate.com>, 
philippe.fouquart at orange.com <philippe.fouquart at orange.com>, NCSG EC 
<ncsg-ec at lists.ncsg.is>, ncsg-pc <ncsg-pc at lists.ncsg.is>

Hi Lori,

I hope you are fully recovered - long covid is a real hassle.

Just wanted to check on where we are with board seat 14, as the deadline 
is getting very close. From what I hear there hasn't been any contact 
with Rafik for setting up an interview or asking questions.

As you know, we still think Matthew is the best candidate, and 
considering how close we are to the deadline, I really think 
reappointing him for one more term is best option.

	Julf