Review of the Nominating Committee
3 October 2008
ICANN appointed an external consultant, Interisle Consulting Group, to undertake the independent, external review of the NomCom. Interisle delivered their review report in October [PDF, 1,110K] of the same year.
In March 2007 the Board of ICANN approved the composition of a specific NomCom Review WG, which included the following individuals: Alejandro Pisanty (Chair); Peter Dengate-Thrush, Njeri Rionge, Mouhamet Diop, Jonathan Cohen, and Steve Goldstein.
Following public comments, the NomCom Review WG analyzed the recommendations issued by external reviewers and presented a report to the Board Governance Committee (BGC), at that time responsible for the oversight of the Organizational Review function within ICANN. The BGC considered that recommendations from the NomCom review process had to be analysed in coordination with the findings of other reviews that at the time of delivery of the report were ongoing. Consequently, the NomCom review WG report was not published for public comments.
More recently – and towards the conclusion of the review processes of the Board and the At Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) – the Structural Improvements Committee (SIC) – which in the meantime took over the duty of coordinating the Organizational Review processes – engaged in discussions with present and past NomCom Chairs as to analyze the implications arising from the NomCom review process. It emerged that – because the NomCom review was largely based on evidence collected in 2007– the findings and conclusions of the Working Group report needed to be consolidated and updated before publication for public comments.
To this end, the Structural Improvements Committee decided to task a specific NomCom Review Finalization Working Group with the duty to update the conclusions and recommendations of the original NomCom review WG report. The decision of the SIC was ratified by the Board in July 2009 , and the following individuals were designated to form the WG: Thomas Roessler (Chair), Alejandro Pisanty, Jonathan Cohen, and Steve Goldstein. George Sadowsky participated in part of the Working Group’s deliberations as an expert, non-voting advisor.
In order to fulfill its mandate, the WG reviewed relevant documents, and consulted intensively with NomCom Chairs of the period of 2006 to 2009, with supporting staff, and with General Counsel.
The WG issues now its its draft report [PDF, 276K], Français [PDF, 300K], العربية [PDF, 272K], Español [PDF, 276K], Русский [PDF, 296K], 中文 [PDF, 488K], for presentation at the ICANN meeting in Seoul and public comments.
The public consultation will remain open until the 4 November 2009; however, public comments sent during the first two weeks of this period will be particularly appreciated because the WG expects to progress significantly towards the finalization of its report at the ICANN meeting in Seoul.
Background
The NomCom is responsible for the selection of 8 members of ICANN’s Board of Directors; 3 members of the Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO); 3 members of the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO); and 5 members of the Interim At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC). Because the terms of these positions are typically longer than a year, the selection process for them is staggered. As a result, the NomCom that is formed anew each year fills just some of these 19 positions.
Each NomCom is composed of 23 persons as follows: a Chair (non-voting); the previous year’s Chair as an Advisor (non-voting); 3 liaisons (non-voting) from the Root Server System Advisory Committee (RSSAC), the Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC) and the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC); 5 voting delegates selected by the ALAC; 2 voting delegates representing small business users and large business users, respectively; 1 voting delegate each from the Registry Constituency, the Registrars Constituency, the ccNSO, the ISP Constituency, the IP Constituency, the Address Supporting Organization (ASO), an entity representing academic and similar organizations; the Non-Commercial Users Constituency, the IETF and the Technical Liaison Group (TLG). In addition, the Chair may designate a (non-voting) Associate Chair to assist in carrying out the duties of the Chair, which could result in a total of 23 members.
The members of the NomCom must meet several criteria, including being:
- Accomplished persons of integrity, objectivity, and intelligence, with reputations for sound judgment and open minds, and with experience and competence with collegial large group decision-making;
- Persons who are neutral and objective, without any fixed personal commitments to particular individuals, organizations, or commercial objectives in carrying out their responsibilities; and
- Persons with an understanding of ICANN's mission and the potential impact of ICANN's activities on the broader Internet community who are willing to serve as volunteers, without compensation other than the reimbursement of certain expenses.
Pursuant to Article VII (6), ICANN is to provide “administrative and technical support necessary for the Nomination Committee to carry out its responsibilities.”
The NomCom procedures are publicly available at http://nomcom.icann.org/procedures-2007.html#A5.
Links
- NomCom Independent Review's Final Terms of Reference
- NomCom Independent Review's Request for Proposals (RFP)
- NomCom Independent Review Report
- Summary of public comments received
- Draft report of the NomCom review finalization Working Group [PDF, 276K]
- Public comment to the report of the NomCom review finalization Working Group