Minutes | Board Governance Committee (BGC) Meeting 8 March 2019

BGC Attendees: Becky Burr (Chair), Maarten Botterman, Ron da Silva, Khaled Koubaa, and Matthew Shears

Other Board Member Attendees: Sarah Deutsch and León Sanchez

ICANN Organization Attendees: Susanna Bennett (SVP, Chief Operations Officer), Franco Carrasco (Board Operations Specialist), Samantha Eisner (Deputy General Counsel), John Jeffrey (General Counsel and Secretary), Aaron Jimenez (Board Operations Senior Coordinator), Vinciane Koenigsfeld (Director, Board Operations), Elizabeth Le (Associate General Counsel) and Amy Stathos (Deputy General Counsel)


The following is a summary of discussions, actions taken and actions identified:

  1. Third Accountability and Transparency Review Team (ATRT3) Board Caucus Group – The Committee received on update on the call for volunteers for the ATRT3 Board Caucus Group from Maarten Botterman, who is the Board designee to the ATRT3. Responsibilities for members on the ATRT3 Board Caucus Group include attending meetings, providing feedback and advice to the Board designee to the ATRT3. Nine Board members expressed interest in joining the ATRT3 Board Caucus Group. Following discussion, the BGC agreed to recommend that the Board create an ATRT3 Board Caucus Group comprised of the following Board members: Becky Burr, Avri Doria, Manal Ismail and León Sanchez. Other Board members with interest are invited to participate as observers.

  2. Status Update re Board Skillsets Matrix for Three Year Rolling Plan – The BGC Chair provided an update on the Board skillsets matrix for the three year rolling plan, noting that Ron da Silva and Matthew Shears have expressed interest in working on developing the matrix further. The Chair will meet with the Ron and Matthew during ICANN64 to get a timeline on next steps and report back to the Committee.

    • Action: The BGC Chair to meet with Ron da Silva and Matthew Shears during ICANN64 to develop a timeline regarding next steps and report back to the Committee by the May Board workshop.

  3. Survey for Term Ending Board-Members – The BGC reviewed a draft of the current version of the survey for term-ending Board members, which has been revised in part on comments from the Nominating Committee. The revisions focus on the potential growth and leadership of the Board rather than focusing on a specific work stream or particular role. The BGC discussed and agreed upon a few additional minor changes to the survey. The Chair then requested that ICANN org provide the revised survey to the consulting firm that helped develop the survey for feedback. Following feedback from the consultants, the survey should be distributed to Board members to complete as expeditiously as possible.

    • Action:

      • ICANN org to provide the revised survey to the consulting firm that helped develop the survey for feedback. Following feedback from the consultants, the survey should be distributed to Board members to complete as expeditiously as possible.

  4. Update on Community Satisfaction Survey – The Chair provided an update on the concept of a community satisfaction survey. There is currently an in-depth survey in the community about ICANN's legitimacy underway that is being conducted by several academics. The questionnaires associated with this in-depth survey includes input on the ICANN Board. As part of this process, the academics have spoken very extensively with community members. The results of the survey are expected to be produced soon. The BGC agreed that the community satisfaction survey should be placed on hold until after the results from the in-depth survey on ICANN's legitimacy has been produced so as to enable the Committee to understand the input from the community and what following, if any, could be used as a baseline for a community satisfaction survey, and whether an additional survey is needed.

  5. BGC Charter – The Committee conducted the annual review of its Charter in accordance with its work plan. The BGC discussed and agreed that the Charter should be updated to reflect the BGC's responsibility in making recommendations on the creation and composition of Board working groups and caucuses. The Committee also decided that the Charter should be updated to reflect that the BGC will conduct periodic assessments of Board members' participation in committees, working groups, and caucuses to ensure that the workload is appropriately balanced across the Board. The BGC agreed that in order to conduct the periodic assessments of the workload of Board members, a map the participation of Board members in committees, working groups, and caucuses should be developed and maintained.

    • Actions:

      • ICANN org to revise the Charter to reflect the BGC's discussion.

      • ICANN org to develop list of Board memberships on Board committees, working groups, and caucuses for publication on the ICANN website.

Published on 16 April 2019