Kurt Erik Lindqvist wrote:
The role as RIPE chair is in many ways very similar to the AD / IESG membership positions in the IETF except they are virtually full time. I am not convinced about your idea for a number of reasons. First, I am not sure we need a separate body that work on GDPR etc as we have the NCC staff working on that. Duplicating this doesn’t seem like a good use of funds and resources. Secondly, if we employ a chair it would have to be more static as few people would leave an existing job for a five year contact and I worry that will limit the selection pool. Last, creating a legal entity that represents the RIPE community requires a lot more formalisation of how that legal entity registers members, policy etc. and I am not convinced we want that.
this doesn't solve the problem that anyone who might be interested in performing RIPE Chair duties either needs to do so on zero income or else needs to find an employer who is happy to subsidise this position for several years. This also limits the pool of available candidates. Regarding the comparison between RIPE Chair and IETF AD / IESG, it's viable although busy to have a day job when holding AD / IESG positions, but I get the impression that the RIPE Chair position is more demanding time-wise due to the travel commitments. Nick