Name: Raoul Plommer
    Affiliation: Open Knowledge Finland
    Position applied for: Chairperson
    Why am I running for the position: Above all, I want to finish what we started before I got elected to the EC for the first time in 2017.

    Conflicts of Interest: None.
    Able to work per week: 5-10h.
    Involvement in WG’s and PDPs: NomComRIWG

    Name: Ioana Stupariu

    Region of residence: Europe (currently in Romania/often in Hungary)
    Gender: Female
    Affiliation: President of two NGOs (Lawyr.it Association, which is an NPOC member, and AGORA Debate), Associate Professor at Babes-Bolyai University Law School (Romania), GigaNet Secretary. Also a tech regulation strategist, working with SMEs, owning and managing ReadyTech Consulting (independent consultancy)
    Position applied for: NPOC Vice-Chair

    Statement of interest: available here, also LinkedIn profile [linkedin.com]

    Why you are running for the position?

    My statement will have both a professional, as well a personal part - both of which I see as relevant, as the majority of you do not know me. 

    My experience in IG

    I have been involved in Internet Governance ecosystems since 2017, when I first got introduced to the ICANN environment in an outreach campaign in Central Europe. I had already been aware of DNS policies and interference with human rights and society due to my master and doctoral research (on data regulation and privacy), so this allowed me to quickly become attached to what ICANN is doing. I have then become involved in South Eastern Europe Dialogue on IG (as an Ambassador) and organized an IGF (Hungary), the first of its kind. For those in academia, I am also a GigaNet Secretary since January 2019 (The Global Internet Governance Academic Network).

    Since joining ICANN, I have been 3 times a fellow, twice a coach, and an NPOC mentee, having participated in almost all meetings since joining. I contributed primarily to comments (fellowship, privacy, budget), penned a couple, joined CCWG. I am currently in the NextGen evaluation committee and a CROP coordinator for NPOC. I am also an individual member of Euralo and NCUC, but I decided my main contribution should be towards making NPOC a stronger piece in the ICANN ecosystem, as leader of one of the NGOs I founded. Since joining NPOC as a mentee in 2018, I have followed discussions closely and tried to contribute as much as I could. For instance, throughout last year, I supported Caleb on implementing NPOC communications strategy. At the moment, I am happy to fill in as a Membership chair since earlier this year and be a CROP coordinator since last autumn, both roles allowing me to get a closer look at the intricacies of NPOC.

    Why I am a good fit

    For those that do not know me personally: I am a person of action. I don't speak much and often, and especially not unless I have something constructive to add. As a researcher, I like to be well documented before I issue an opinion, especially on those areas I do not usually deal with. I seek to always carry out my commitments, and make promises only inasmuch I can deliver on them. My time is divided among numerous commitments, so I like to be efficient and I do well with time (and project) management. I appreciate honesty and always seek to be straightforward. 

    I also have a varied experience and background (legal, civil society and academia, specialized in tech regulation), which allows me to better understand different views and positions, as well as to see things in perspective. Though I work with businesses, I ended up caring a lot about NPOC primarily because I care about not-for-profits and civil society, being an advocate for their rights, so much more relevant now, in the context of digitalization. If you wish, take this as a "hobby", what I like to do in my spare time, what motivates me and gives me joy. 

    Why I am running for this role

    I strongly believe in the importance of representation and multi-stakeholderism, not just within ICANN, but in the broader society. I joined NPOC because I felt that not-for-profits' voice was not as strong as it should, within ICANN, and I was confident, due to my background, that I could contribute to changing this:

    • I run two NGOs active in promoting democratic values, so I am well familiar with not-for profits' particular issues. 
    • As a tech strategist and law professor, I can also understand the material (legal, human rights) issues regarding DNS matters. 
    • I am (rather) young, I am a female in a highly male-dominated field, and from an underrepresented geographic area within ICANN, so I am well accustomed to having to work hard to make your voice heard and bring your contribution. 
    • I am also (relatively) new to ICANN, especially compared to many of my peers present here on the ICANN discussion lists. 


    All this gives me a unique understanding of what newcomers face, as I know, as a recent outsider, that it is not easy to get in. It is not easy to fully grasp the often complicated mechanisms within ICANN, and it certainly is not easy to make a real contribution, regardless of how competent or experienced you are outside ICANN. 

    As a Vice-chair, my personal focus would be, on the one hand, on engaging current members, finding out their relevant struggles and how we can better represent them, and on the other, bringing in new members, other not-for-profits that may not even be aware, at this point, of our existence. Moreover, having recently joined the NPOC EC and NCSG EC as a temporary Membership chair, I would continue to support the leadership in identifying and bringing forward our members' concerns to the broader ICANN community and leadership, with more transparency and better representativity. 

    I believe such a position would be a great fit for me, and the one in which I could best serve NPOC, as it would allow me to work together with each of my EC colleagues (Communication, Membership, Policy) on improving NPOC's position, adding my youthful energy and expertise. I think the current EC has done a tremendous job in their mandate, bringing a lot of positive changes, and I would very much like to continue walking on their steps. So I hope you will trust me with your vote for the next year!

    Do you have any conflict(s) of interest? No.

    How many hours per week you are able to dedicate to the position? 6-10h, depending on the need. 

    Are you involved in any working Groups or PDP efforts? Not actively at this point.

    Hi everyone

    I am new to NPOC, but not new to ICANN, or to Policy Development.

    I’m the ViceChair of the ISOC Trinidad and Tobago Chapter, which has been a member of this Constituency for several years. I truly appreciate the trust placed in me by the nomination to stand for election as Policy Chair. I accept the nomination and will do my best to excel in the position, should I be chosen. I understand the importance of the Policy Committee to the NPOC  - this is the reason that we are here, after all. I do not have any conflicts of interest, work for myself, so am flexible with time to devote to the position, and am currently involved in a few At-Large and regional WGs. I haven’t been heavily involved in ICANN policy for a while, but I do keep up and am on a lot of the mailing lists.

     

    I know that many of you don’t know me, so, I’m going to introduce myself with a short bio.

     

    Jacqueline Morris is a University Lecturer, Researcher, Gender and ICT Activist, and Internet Governance volunteer.

    She sits as a Director on the Board of the National ICT Company of Trinidad and Tobago (iGovTT), is Chair of the Human Resources Committee, sits on the Strategic ICT Committee, and has given input to Parliament on ICT related legislation.

    She has been a lecturer at the University of Trinidad and Tobago, in the fields of Education Technology and Instructional Design, at the Centre for Education Programmes. She has also lectured in Process Engineering at UTT, and in Education, Digital Tourism, and Management Information Science at the UWI both at the St. Augustine and Cave Hill campuses. She has also spent many years training adults in ICT and Internet technologies, as well as focusing on increasing the participation of girls and women in technology fields.

    She was a founding member of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Gender Caucus in 2002 and was appointed a member of the United Nations’ Expert Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) in 2004.

    She was an appointed member of ICANN 's Interim At Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) from 2005 to 2007, and was Chair of that committee in 2007.

    Within ICANN, she was the At Large's liaison to the ccNSO at ICANN for 2007-2008, a member of the ALAC BCEC, Associate Chair of the ICANN Nominating Committee (NomCom) in 2010-2011 and the member for At Large, Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) on the ICANN NomCom in 2011-2012. She has also participated in the ICANN ccNSO on behalf of the .tt ccTLD. She has also participated in several Working Groups.

     

    I hope that this gives you some idea of who I am and what I can bring to the position of Policy Chair for NPOC. I’m open to any questions anyone has.

    Regards

    Jacqueline Morris

    Dear NPOC Community,


    It is with great pleasure that I accept the nomination for the position of  Membership Chair. I'm humbled and see this as a call to service once again


    I want to thank Prof. Sam Lafranco for nominating me, to Carlos and Poncelet who seconded and to everyone(I wish I could mention everyone’s name but for space constraint) on the mailing list who endorsed my nomination 

     

    It has been an exciting year serving as your communication chair and I am proud of some of the modest accomplishments made while working with the rest of the EC and the NPOC community.


    I look forward to working with everyone to build on what we started but now as a candidate running for the membership committee to achieve greater heights within the ICANN community.


    Please find below my candidate statement.


    Caleb Ogundele

    Name: Oreoluwa Lesi

    Affiliation: Women's Technology Empowerment Centre – W.TEC

    Position applied for: Communications Chair

    Why you are running for the position?:

    I believe that the work that ICANN does is deeply important and that my prior ICANN and professional experience place me in an excellent position to contribute meaningfully to achieving its goals –especially as the Communications Chair.

    Over the last two years, I have served as NPOC’s Secretariat and have done the following:

    • Coordinated the documenting and monitoring of the EC’s huge workload, helping to keep team members on track with their respective action items

    • Provided administrative support, making available information about NPOC meetings and action plans to the EC and NPOC community on the mailing list and website

    • Maintained detailed and up to date financial records on NPOC’s income and expenditure

    • Communicated NPOC’s mission to potential new members by giving information at the ICANN booths at public meetings. I also co-organised and moderated a panel discussion at the Digital Rights and Inclusion Forum, a leading African internet governance forum in April 2019, which served as an outreach opportunity for NPOC. With fellow NPOC member Caleb Ogundele, another panel was planned at the same conference for 2020.


    Working as Secretariat has provided me with a unique overview of as well as the opportunity to work across the broader NPOC landscape from finance to membership, policy, communications and administration.


    I believe that this experience will strengthen my ability to carry out the Communication Chair’s primary work, which is to coordinate the efficient exchange of information between NPOC, NCSG and the ICANN community. Indeed, part of my work as Secretariat was the regular communication of key information from the EC meetings with the rest of the NPOC community.


    I bring with me deep experience in the nonprofit sector and understand their concerns, especially as it relates to technology and specifically Internet-related issues. I have worked in the nonprofit space for 18 years and lead a nonprofit (the Women’s Technology Empowerment Centre – W.TEC [wtec.org.ng]), which works to build an inclusive technology ecosystem, with more women technology creators, entrepreneurs and leaders. My work centers on increasing digital inclusivity in who can use the Internet safely and effectively to enhance their educational, professional and civic activities.



    This means that I need to stay abreast of the domain name and wider technology policy landscape, especially as related to data security and privacy issues and their intersections with gender. It also means that I have experience communicating often complex concepts to my nonprofit stakeholders.


    In my professional capacity outside of ICANN, I am a Vital Voices Lead Fellow (awarded to emerging and established women leaders across the world) and an Ashoka Fellow [ashoka.org](a network of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs). I speak frequently at Nigerian and international conferences and other fora on the intersection of technology and gender.


    I sit on several boards, including BudgIT, [yourbudgit.com] (a Nigerian-based nonprofit which uses technology to simplify the budget and other public information to stimulate a community of active citizens) and the FAS Foundation (which builds the capacities of Nigerian engineers and supports engineering research).


    Within ICANN, I am also a member of the African Regional At-Large Organisation (AFRALO) and NCSG.


    Here is my SOI: https://community.icann.org/display/gnsosoi/Oreoluwa+Somolu+Lesi+SOI


    Do you have any conflict(s) of interest?:  No


    How many Hours a week you are able to dedicate to the position:

    At least 4 hours (As the Secretariat, some weeks I devoted up to 8 hours or more to NPOC work)


    Are you involved in any working Groups or PDP efforts, if so please state:

    This year, I have been the penholder for 2 public comments drafted on behalf of NCSG: on the ICANN Public Meetings 2024-2028 and Revised Dates in 2022 [icann.org] and on the Africa Regional Plan for Fiscal Years 2021-2025. [icann.org]

    Since late 2019, I have also been one of the 2 NPOC representatives on the NCSG Policy Committee, a role which has afforded me the opportunity to better understand various policy issues, especially with the perspective of how they affect Nonprofits and other Noncommercial actors.

    Over the last two years, I have been an active contributor to the rewriting of the NPOC Charter, working with the rest of the Charter Review team at public meetings and remotely in-between meetings.

    Across the wider ICANN ecosystem, I am a member of AFRALO and currently serve on the AFRALO Operating Principles Review Working Group.

    I am an ICANN66 fellow [icann.org] and accepted as a fellow for ICANN67 [icann.org] (deferred to ICANN69).

    Name: Gloria Patricia Meneses Portilla
    Region of Residence: South America, Temporarily based in Europe (Albania)

    Gender: Female

    Affiliation: Board member at Karisma Foundation and Member of Minka Digital,  volunteer at Mozilla community (2009 - 2013), Free lance backend developer and Big Data

    Position applied for: Secretary

    Why am I running for the position: 

    I have been involved with ICANN community as a fellow since 2014 and again in 2018, when I joined to NPOC and become more active. Currently, I am looking to be more involved in the community,  more active and provide support to the members.

    As I mentioned above, I have been involved with Karisma Foundation in Colombia, which is a civic non profit organization that promotes human right in digital environments and recently involved with Minka Digital, a new born civic organization. For a long period of time, I was very active at Mozilla community leading the local community in Colombia and as a representative for Latin America.  Mozilla and Karisma showed me a wider view of Internet, in fact, due to them, I got involved in Internet Governance, attending different IGF events in my country, Latin America and Globally.

    Conflicts of Interest: None.
    Able to work per week: 4-7h.
    Involvement in WG’s and PDPs: No

    Best regards,

    --

    Gloria Patricia Meneses Portilla

    Name: Emmanuel Vitus

    Biography & CV: LinkedIn [linkedin.com] 

    Affiliation: Afrotribune

    Position applied for: Secretariat

    Why I applied for this position:

    As you are all aware, the secretariat is an administrative position, and as a communication expert with years of experience I see myself as having new and fresh ideas that can be very useful for the EC and the community. I would like to improve on what we ought to be doing and what we have done in NPOC especially at the EC level.

    My years in communication and policy development will be a great asset to work for you and advise the leadership.

    My focus, when elected, is to work closely with the EC, especially the membership committee to increase capacity building webinars for members, policy engagement, strengthen them and notify them of possible funding or support opportunity to also participate on site at such meetings through the use of CROP or remotely. Also, I want the secretariat to be a great liaison between the EC and the community members.

    This I believe will help them participate more actively without feeling left out when it comes to decision-makings and documenting policy thoughts without the necessary incentives and motivation. 

    It is my belief that there is a better option in diversity and youthfulness which stands as a major rally point for my supercharged energy to do and perform better to fill the big shoes left by Oreoluwa. 

    With your voices behind me, I can use the knowledge I have gained in working with CSOs to best represent and implement your ideas. So, if you like what I hope to achieve, I would be most appreciative of your support

    Together, we must get engaged, to ensure that this community remain open, pluralistic and democratic.

    Do you have any conflict(s) of interest?: No 

    How many hours per week you are able to dedicate to the position?

    5 - 10 hours or more as the demand for responsibility brings.

    Are you involved in any working Groups or PDP efforts, if so please state?

     Over the last year, I have been an active contributor to the policies been discussed at the level of NCSG and NCUC ICANN public meetings and remotely in-between. I have participated actively at my regional RALO in the At-large structure and leading the creation of ICANNWIKI French to increase participation of the francophone community.

     Internet Governance involvement

    Chairperson of Togo Internet Governance Forum (2016-2019)

    Faculty Member, West Africa School of Internet Governance (2019)

    Faculty Member, Benin School of Internet Governance (2019)

    UNESCO Freedom of Expression Experts committee (2016-2018)

    Africa School of Internet Governance selection committee (2019)

    Focal Point and Resource Person for Africa Union PRIDA project (2019-2020)

    Internet Governance related Publication

    Co-authored IGF Academy Transfer Guide. A handbook to foster Internet Governance Initiatives in the Global South, 2016

    Co-authored Digital Rights in Africa Report 2019 & 2020

    Co-authored Global Information Society Watch, Country report, Togo, 2017

    Co-authored Global Information Society Watch, Country report, Ghana, 2018

    Co-authored A4AI's Affordability Report (Country reports: Ghana & Ivory Coast, 2017)

    ICANN's Africa DNS Market Study (Country reports: of Ghana, Mali, 2017)

    Fake news: the strategic fight in Africa vs government censorship (Article, 2018)

    Data protection: Africa vs EU GDPR, (Policy Brief, 2018).

    Migrating to IPv6: Why Africa must accelerate the migration process (Articles, 2017)

    Reporter's Guide to Election Coverage in Togo (Thomson Reuters Foundation, 2019)

    Policy reviews and recommendations

    -  Review and Recommendations for Senegalese Communications bill (Paradigm Initiative, 2019)

    - Review and Recommendations for Togo Electronic communication and Cybersecurity bills (Paradigm Initiative, 2019)

    Review and Recommendations for Benin Communications bill (Paradigm Initiative, 2019)



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