On 12 May 2020, at 22:46, Nick Hilliard wrote:
Dear all,
Probably like many others, I haven't been following the RIPE Chair nomination process as closely as it has deserved over the last number of months.
At the moment, the lineup looks like this:
- the current RIPE chair is now - with safeguards in place - the RIPE NCC managing director.
- one of the candidates is the previous chair of the RIPE NCC executive board.
- one of the candidates is a current employee of the RIPE NCC.
- the chair of the nom-com is a current employee of the RIPE NCC.
This isn't a statement of lack of confidence in any of the people concerned, either individually or collectively, but it looks troubling from the point of view of governance practices.
In the future, anyone should be able to look back at the nomination process and with full hindsight, feel comfortable that it was sound. I am not completely sure that we are in this position right now.
Nick
Nick, Let me first respond in my role as chair of the 2020 RIPE Nominating Committee. I will later respond as a community member. The nomination process is soundly executed. As you are aware the RIPE Community has spent years to devise this process. The result is the most formal process in RIPE to date. It is therefore important that we follow it. To address your points: The current RIPE chair ad-interim had been nominated but has since informed the NomCom that he no longer wishes to be considered. So he is completely outside the process now. ripe-727 says: “Any natural person is eligible for selection unless they have already been selected twice for the role they are nominated for. …”. The NomCom has determined that all the nominees are eligible. ripe-728 defines the selection and the duties of the NomCom Chair. “The chair of the RIPE NCC Executive Board appoints the Chair, who must meet the same requirements for membership in the nominating committee as a voting volunteer.” Prior to accepting the appointment I have received assurances from RIPE NCC management that convinced me that I would be able to freely and independently execute the duties of that role. In particular “The Chair must be thoroughly familiar with the rules and guidance indicated throughout this document. The Chair must ensure the nominating committee completes its assigned duties in a manner that is consistent with this document. … The nominating committee Chair must agree to invest the time necessary to ensure that the nominating committee completes its assigned duties and to perform in the best interests of the RIPE community in that role.” All the steps in the process have been announced on the ripe mailing list in a timely manner. In addition the NomCom have set up a blog published background information on RIPE Labs. If you have any specific doubts about the execution of the RIPE Chair selection procedure, please bring them to my attention or the attention of the community so that we can address them. Daniel