Filiz and all, At 2016-11-17 11:18:28 +0100 Filiz Yilmaz <koalafil@gmail.com> wrote:
I think anyone should be allowed be a candidate if they are willing to serve as a RIPE Chair [Maybe it can be limited to non-RIPE NCC Staff and non-NCC Board at the best. ] This way we keep the candidacy pool rich. But of course experience will be a factor in their selection process as a RIPE Chair. For example former NCC Board members could also make very good RIPE Chairs in principle, who may or may not have been WG Chairs in the past, but will have heaps of experience in consensus building and leadership. [Side note: I would not like to see any current Board member being the RIPE Chair while they keep their Board position. Ideally RIPE Chair should be exclusively from community imo...)
I think this is a specific case of conflicts of interest avoidance, right? In principle, we also need to worry about the general case. For example, what about staff for other RIR? What about government officials? What about ICANN board members? What about IP brokers? And so on. I'm actually not worried about RIPE NCC staff, since that organization seems frankly overly-cautious about staff participation (for full disclosure, I used to work there and was given "the talk" on several occasions because I can't keep my opinions to myself). ;) But of course companies change and with a different regime maybe it would be a potential problem. I also think that RIPE PC and RIPE working group chairs should be excluded, since the RIPE Chair also serves as oversight for both of those bodies. My own preference would be something like: Candidates should be aware and transparent about their conflicts of interest, or potential conflicts of interest. In particular serving RIPE PC members, serving RIPE working group chairs, current RIPE NCC board members, and current RIPE NCC staff may not serve as RIPE Chair. Anyone in one or more of these positions may put themselves forward as candidates, if they will step down from any conflicting position when selected as RIPE Chair.
Having said that utilising the collective knowledge and experience of the WG Chairs Group can be a good idea too.
What about the following, roughly speaking:
- Anybody can be a candidate, with the possible exception of RIPE NCC Staff and Board. Otherwise, they need to leave their positions at the RIPE NCC, if they get selected as the RIPE Chair at the end of the process to avoid conflict of interest or perception of it.
Basically agree, see text above.
- WG Chairs Collective at the time evaluates all candidates and comes up with a list of eligible candidates.
Seems fairly reasonable. While a relatively large group, it is not that unwieldy and saves making an Electoral College - which seems like a bad idea to me at this point in history. ;) It should be clear that the current RIPE Chair - while technically part of the WG Chairs Collective - should not participate in this activity. Presumably discussions are NOT public for the privacy of everyone involved.
- RIPE Community runs an election among these eligible candidates (Like the ones we run for NRO NC reps or RIPE PC...).
Maybe with some tweaks. I'm not 100% happy with the NRO NC election process, although I am of course thrilled with the actual outcome. ;)
- Vice-Chair gets appointed by the elected-RIPE Chair.
Yup! Cheers, -- Shane