ICANN81, which took place 9–14 November in Istanbul and online, marked the conclusion of ICANN’s annual three-meeting cycle. This meeting provided an opportunity to take stock of the past year, while looking ahead to the next.
For the ICANN Board, the Annual General Meeting is when we sunset one Board and seat the new one. At ICANN81, the Board was pleased to welcome new Directors Miriam Sapiro and Amitabh Singhal, and new Internet Engineering Task Force Liaison David Lawrence. In addition, the Board held elections and appointed the membership and leadership of the Board Committees. I am honored to continue to serve as Board Chair, alongside the newly elected Vice Chair Chris Chapman.
The Board is grateful to outgoing members Harald Alvestrand, Edmon Chung, and Danko Jevtović for their service, and we wish them well in their future endeavors with ICANN and beyond.
Before ICANN81, the Board held a three-day workshop. Here are several key areas in which the Board advanced its work during the workshop and ICANN81:
New CEO: The incoming ICANN President and CEO, Kurt Erik "Kurtis" Lindqvist, attended the Board Workshop as an observer and introduced himself to the ICANN community at the ICANN81 Welcome Ceremony. The Board looks forward to working with Kurtis when he officially joins ICANN on 9 December.
Next Round: At the Board Meeting on 14 November, the Board took action on key issues related to the New Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLD) Program: Next Round. The Board approved a resolution to prohibit all forms of private resolution of contention sets in the next round, including prohibiting the formation of joint ventures among applicants after the submission of their applications. The Board also adopted the Generic Names Supporting Organization Council’s recommendation to prohibit the delegation of gTLD strings that are singulars and plurals of the same word.
Grant Program: The Board approved the proposed Fundamental Bylaws Amendment that would exclude the use of ICANN’s accountability mechanisms to challenge decisions on individual applications in the ICANN Grant Program. The next step in the Fundamental Bylaws Amendment Process is for the Empowered Community to consider whether to approve the proposed change, and as part of this process the Empowered Community held an Approval Action Community Forum at ICANN81. The Empowered Community plays an important role in safeguarding ICANN’s Bylaws, and the evolution of this proposed amendment illustrates the power of ICANN’s multistakeholder model.
RDRS: At the halfway point of the two-year pilot program, the Board discussed the Registration Data Request Service usage metrics and costs. The Board expressed interest in developing the RDRS as a possible permanent solution for requesting access to nonpublic gTLD registration data. We look forward to continuing to discuss the next steps in this regard with the community in the coming months.
Internet Governance: The Board received an update on the U.N. Global Digital Compact (GDC) deliberations and the expected discussions around next year’s 20-year review of the World Summit on the Information Society outcomes (WSIS+20). We are pleased that the final text of the GDC recognizes the multistakeholder model of Internet governance, with the technical community as a distinct component, and expresses support for the Internet Governance Forum (IGF). The Board looks forward to the WSIS+20 negotiations, which we hope will result in further recognition of the importance of multistakeholder Internet governance, the technical community, and the IGF.
Strategic Plan: The Board reviewed and discussed the feedback received on the draft Strategic Plan for fiscal years 2026–30 (FY26–30). We thoroughly reviewed and considered all submissions to the Public Comment proceeding, to ensure that the ICANN community’s input was taken into account. The Board will review the revised draft at our January 2025 workshop, and the proposed final draft will be published in advance of Board adoption. The Board expects to consider adopting the final FY26–30 Strategic Plan in March 2025.
Finance: The Board received a report from the Audit Committee on the recently published audited financials. We also received an update on the financial forecast for FY2025 and the cost-reduction plan.
Risk Assessment: The Board approved a Revised ICANN Risk Appetite Statement and directed the ICANN organization to publish a summary of it.
The Board workshop included two informational sessions that were open to the public – one on the Commercial Stakeholder Group and Noncommercial Stakeholder Group, and one on the Security and Stability Advisory Committee. If you missed either session, the recordings are available on the Board Activities and Meetings webpage.
Thank you to everyone who contributed to another highly successful and fruitful ICANN Public Meeting, and I look forward to continuing our work together in the new year.
