ICANN 2015 Nominating Committee | Open Leadership Position

Candidates for all ICANN positions should be women and men with a high level of qualifications and experience with an international outlook including some familiarity with the Internet. They should be prepared to contribute to the collective and collaborative bottom-up policy making processes anchored by ICANN's Supporting Organizations, and Advisory Committees and the broader Internet community.

ICANN's Nominating Committee (NomCom) selects candidates to fill various leadership positions that will make a valuable public service contribution towards the continued function and evolution of an essential global resource, the Internet. Those candidates will work with accomplished colleagues from around the globe, address the Internet's intriguing technical coordination issues and related policy development matters within diverse functional, cultural, and geographic dimensions, and gain valuable insights and experience from working across boundaries of knowledge, responsibility and perspective.

About ICANN

To reach another person on the Internet you have to type an address into your computer - a name or a number. That address has to be unique so computers know where to find each other. ICANN coordinates these unique identifiers across the world. Without that coordination there would not be one global Internet. ICANN was formed in 1998. It is a not-for-profit corporation with participants from all over the world dedicated to keeping the Internet secure, stable and interoperable. ICANN promotes competition and develops policy on the Internet's unique identifiers.

ICANN's mission is: to coordinate, at the overall level, the global Internet's systems of unique identifiers, and in particular to ensure the stable and secure operation of the Internet's unique identifier systems. In particular, ICANN:

1. Coordinates the allocation and assignment of the three sets of unique identifiers for the Internet, which are:
1. Domain names (forming a system referred to as "DNS");
2. Internet protocol ("IP") addresses and autonomous system ("AS") numbers; and
3. Protocol port and parameter numbers.
2. Coordinates the operation and evolution of the DNS root name server system
3. Coordinates policy development reasonably and appropriately related to these technical functions.

See https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/bylaws-2012-02-25-en#I  

ICANN is dedicated to preserving the operational stability of the Internet, to promoting competition, to achieving broad representation of global Internet communities, and to developing policy appropriate to its mission through bottom-up consensus-based processes.

Criteria and Time Commitments

The NomCom will use the Criteria for Selection of ICANN Directors contained in Article VI, section 3 of the ICANN Bylaws for the selection of all candidates the NomCom is tasked with selecting. These Criteria are:

1. Accomplished persons of integrity, objectivity, and intelligence, with reputations for sound judgment and open minds, and a demonstrated capacity for thoughtful group decision-making;
2. Persons with an understanding of ICANN's mission and the potential impact of ICANN decisions on the global Internet community, and committed to the success of ICANN;
3. Persons who will produce the broadest cultural and geographic diversity on the Board consistent with meeting the other criteria set forth in this Section;
4. Persons who, in the aggregate, have personal familiarity with the operation of gTLD registries and registrars; with ccTLD registries; with IP address registries; with Internet technical standards and protocols; with policy-development procedures, legal traditions, and the public interest; and with the broad range of business, individual, academic, and non-commercial users of the Internet;
5. Persons who are able to work and communicate in written and spoken English.

Furthermore, the NomCom solicits advice from the Board (https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/nomcom-skills-advice-11oct14-en.pdf), the Supporting Organizations and the Advisory Committees on desirable skill sets for incoming Board members, in light of the challenges ahead and the current composition of the Board. Such advice is used by the NomCom to inform the Committee's search and selection activities.

Given ICANN's Mission and Core Values, selectees engage in discussions on the technical functions coordinated by ICANN and their impact on the global Internet operation, such as its stability and integrity, or the effect on the users of the Internet. Selectees interact in a diverse environment, involving ICANN Board, ICANN Supporting Organizations and Advisory Committees, as well as the broader Internet community, by means of a continuous, transparent and informed dialogue, as it corresponds to the ICANN multi-stakeholder concept.

Selectees will be part of groups that function in a collegial and cooperative manner, but in which individuals must also be prepared for intense debate in which tolerance and reasoning are necessary to accommodate and synthesize conflicting views. Careful consideration of the issues, depth of study of the precedents and environment, and the ability to deal clearly with conflict, including potentially conflicts of interest, are predictors of successful contributions to ICANN.

The NomCom welcomes and encourages Applications from all members of the global Internet community. Although candidates should be able to both work and communicate well in English, there is no requirement that English be the candidate's first language.

The time commitments identified below are a basic requirement and the NomCom anticipates that in most cases people will spend more time rather than less. All selectees should expect to spend an additional significant amount of time when joining ICANN on training and learning about the organization, its mission, history and mode of operation.

ICANN holds three Public Meetings per year. These meetings typically last for one week and are where the ICANN community gathers to discuss and develop policy and conduct ICANN's business. Public Meeting locations take place across ICANN's five geographic regions, for example the first meeting of 2015 will be held in the Asia/Australia/Pacific Islands region (Singapore, Singapore), the second meeting will be held in the Latin America/Caribbean Islands region, and the third meeting in the Europe region (Dublin, Ireland). All NomCom Selectees are expected to travel and participate in ICANN's Public Meetings. Reasonable expenses incurred in attending meetings will be reimbursed in accordance with ICANN's travel policies.

Specific Position and Roles, Eligibility Factors, and Time Commitments

Nominating Committee Position Description - ICANN At Large Advisory Committee

The At Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) is the ICANN body responsible for representing the voice of the end user in policy and operational discussions. For more information on the work of the ALAC, see http://www.atlarge.icann.org/.

To fill a vacancy on the ALAC (from North America region), the NomCom is seeking accomplished persons of integrity, objectivity and intelligence who have:

• a commitment to ICANN's mission and an understanding of the potential impact of ICANN decisions on the global Internet community
• an understanding of the DNS and the impact of ICANN policy on end users
• demonstrated capacity for thoughtful group decision-making and sound judgment
• an interest in bottom-up consensus policy building in a real-life environment
• an ability to chair or otherwise provide leadership and support for a multi-stakeholder group working to reach consensus
• the following knowledge, qualities and experiences are specifically sought:
  • Basic knowledge of the DNS.
  • Experience and skills that bear on gathering, understanding, and communicating the interests of individual users and in group decision-making.
  • Consumer protection and or consumer advocacy experience particularly in communications/telecommunication sector
  • Specific experience and/or expertise in internet-related policy development.
  • Leadership experience in local or regional internet-related or DNS policy experience in gTLD or ccTLD activities including specifically issues relating to Internationalized Domain Names.
  • Ability to bring to the ALAC a National or Sub-Regional Internet user view or perspective not currently represented in the RALO or existing ALS demographic. The aim here is to bring perspectives not otherwise reflected in the existing ALAC membership and is intended to diversify the skill and experience sets of the ALAC.
  • Strong local networks that will positively enhance the current ALAC and Regionally focused strategic and project planning as they relate to the wider ICANN Strategic plan and ALAC Improvement Implementation.
• a willingness to serve as a volunteer, without compensation other than the reimbursement of certain expenses
• an ability to work and communicate in English (although there is no requirement that English be the candidate's first language)

In filling these positions, the NomCom will be seeking to identify ALAC members who reflect the global diversity of the Internet community and the wide range of technical, commercial and civil society activities that are impacted by the DNS.

Time Commitment and Working Practice

The successful candidate will be appointed to ALAC at the conclusion of the 2015 ICANN Annual Meeting, which is currently scheduled for 18 – 22 October 2015, for the remainder of the current term through the end of the 2016 ICANN Annual Meeting.

The basic responsibilities of an ALAC member involve a minimum of 20-26 hours per month on Committee related activities, this includes participating in online (email) discussions, commenting on/contributing to documents/proposed actions (drafted in English), participating in monthly ALAC telephone conferences (in English), held on the 4th Tuesday of the month and meeting with /making presentations to local and regional organizations. ALAC members chairing or participating in working groups, or serving as liaisons to other Advisory Committees or to Supporting Organizations, can expect to spend more than these basic hours per month. ALAC members are expected to make a commitment to attend all Committee meetings and to participate actively in policy-related issues and other working groups. The ALAC operates in a transparent manner and publishes participation statistics on its website. Committee members also will be expected to attend three face-to-face meetings each year held during the ICANN Public Meetings, which generally run about seven days with potentially extensive responsibilities on most days for ALAC members. There may occasionally be additional face-to-face interim meetings or regional meetings.