Subject: Policy for ISOC staff and board members regarding the IETF Nomcom

From: Gonzalo Camarillo <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2017 22:28:32 +0300

Hi,

earlier this year, before the IETF meeting in Prague, we received some
feedback when a number of ISOC staff members were selected to serve on
the Nomcom. The executive summary is that we have decided that going
forward ISOC staff and ISOC board members will *not* volunteer to
serve on the IETF Nomcom.

If you are interested in the background to this decision, please
continue reading.

Since 2011 various ISOC staff members have volunteered to serve on the
IETF Nomcom. We saw this as a good thing (i.e., community service)
and, despite the fact that the list of voluteers has always been
public, nobody from ISOC or from the IETF community ever considered
this to be a problem. In any case, until this year the dice never
rolled in the direction of ISOC staff.

This year 2 ISOC staff members were randomly selected to serve on the
Nomcom. Additionally, at a later point one additional Nomcom member
listed ISOC as his affiliation. The former happened because a number
of IETFers (including both ISOC and non-ISOC people) ended up on the
volunteers list because they had volunteered to serve in the past,
even if they had not volunteered to serve the last time around. The
latter happened because the individual involved kindly put Internet
Society as his affiliation on his badge because ISOC payed for his
travel in the context of supporting the fellow program.

After the volunteers were announced Dan York noticed that his name was
on the list and, naturally, withdrew. He had not realized he was on
the volunteers list and simply does not have the cycles to serve at
this point in time. As a result, this year there is one ISOC staff
member (Neil Harper) who serves on the Nomcom.

While there has been no formal appeal or complain, the episode did
cause some hallway conversations and reflections leading to the
following principle: as the organizational home and the final appeal
body for the IETF, the appointment of ISOC affiliates in the IETF
governance structure should be done done either on behalf of the
community or as part of an ex-officio role as documented in the
relevant RFC or charter.

For example, the appointment of an ISOC staff or board member as
working group chair by the IESG would be an appointment on behalf of
the community. The appointment of ISOC's CEO to serve on the IAOC is a
chartered role. On the other hand, the appointment by a random process
to serve on the Nomcom does not pass the test above.

To prevent any perception of conflict of interest we have decided that
going forward (i.e., starting with next year's Nomcom cycle) ISOC
staff an board members will not volunteer to serve on the Nomcom. Any
consultants working for ISOC will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis
but, in any case, ISOC will not pay people to participate in the IETF
Nomcom.

Cheers,

Gonzalo Camarillo (for the board)
Chair - ISOC Board of Trustees

Olaf Kolkman (for staff)
Chief Internet Technology Officer - ISOC