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So my belief is that the two organizations will not be equal. But where we should be is quite far from the present situation. The Bylaws say the following regarding the Board<==>GAC relationship: h 

h. The Board shall notify the Chair of the Governmental Advisory Committee in a timely manner of any proposal raising public policy issues on which it or any of ICANN's supporting organizations or advisory committees seeks public comment, and shall take duly into account any timely response to that notification prior to taking action.

 i. The Governmental Advisory Committee may put issues to the Board directly, either by way of comment or prior advice, or by way of specifically recommending action or new policy development or revision to existing policies.

 j. The advice of the Governmental Advisory Committee on public policy matters shall be duly taken into account, both in the formulation and adoption of policies. In the event that the ICANN Board determines to take an action that is not consistent with the Governmental Advisory Committee advice, it shall so inform the Committee and state the reasons why it decided not to follow that advice. The Governmental Advisory Committee and the ICANN Board will then try, in good faith and in a timely and efficient manner, to find a mutually acceptable solution.

 k. If no such solution can be found, the ICANN Board will state in its final decision the reasons why the Governmental Advisory Committee advice was not followed, and such statement will be without prejudice to the rights or obligations of Governmental Advisory Committee members with regard to public policy issues falling within their responsibilities.

The comparable section for the ALAC is:

a. The role of the At-Large Advisory Committee (“ALAC”) shall be to consider and provide advice on the activities of ICANN, insofar as they relate to the interests of individual Internet users.

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We are doing a far better job of acting as a Board Advisory Committee now than we were even a year ago. But it is essential that we work to ensure that the focus and quality of our “advice” is of such a high quality that it will be obvious to Board members that we deserve more formal acknowledgement of this enshrined in the Bylaws.

2. How do you plan to balance your commitment to doing what you believe is best for ICANN as a California corporation with your role as a representative of the members of the At-Large?  How do you propose handling it

We are doing a far better job of acting as a Board Advisory Committee now than we were even a year ago. But it is essential that we work to ensure that the focus and quality of our “advice” is of such a high quality that it will be obvious to Board members that we deserve more formal acknowledgement of this enshrined in the Bylaws.

2. How do you plan to balance your commitment to doing what you believe is best for ICANN as a California corporation with your role as a representative of the members of the At-Large?  How do you propose handling it when your vote runs counter to the advice of the ALAC and At-Large.

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This question cannot be answered as it stands, because it is in error. The Bylaws explicitly state (bold emphasis mine):

Directors shall serve as individuals who have the duty to act in what they reasonably believe are the best interests of ICANN and not as representatives of the entity that selected them, their employers, or any other organizations or constituencies.

A Board must balance many viewpoints and needs, and I would be surprised if there were not occasional situations where the interests of users are overpowered by some other more compelling need. That is why one has advocates of specific needs in the organization – they can each represent their position but ultimately, a decision must be made and not everyone will be happy.

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Answers from Candidates (in order of the candidates' surname)

Sebastien Bachollet

Candidate has not yet submitted answersSee APRALO question N° 1.

Pierre Dandjinou

I have no plan as such to deal with the ‘culture of Secrecy’ in ICANN. But I do hope I  could work toward more transparency and accountability as I think this is key to maintaining that multistakeholder structure of the ICANN. The board should be in a position to design new mechanisms for promoting more accountability and transparency. The ATRT has listed a few recommendations to that effect and I believe the mechanisms will be worked out. One idea should be that the Board members be more specialized in key areas that are crucial to accountability, transparency and the overall corporate governance. Another means will be to increase independent reviews and audits.

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Answers from Candidates (in order of the candidates' surname)

Sebastien Bachollet

Candidate has not yet submitted answersFull.

Pierre Dandjinou

The Board should not deal with the day to day activities of the staff. However, it will demand regular reporting from the Executive Director, and appoint Board members to special task force to provide any oversight deemed necessary.

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Answers from Candidates (in order of the candidates' surname)

Sebastien Bachollet

Candidate has not yet submitted answers.

Pierre Dandjinou

While I do think current situation is due to historical reasons I strongly believe that ICANN should increase its international status; It has started some points of presence through a few offices outside the US, but there should be ways in which it could retain a formal international status. This possibility was debated within the president strategy committee and some useful recommendations were made. There is a need to revisit them and act upon them.

Alan Greenberg

I do not see the formal status changing in the next few years, but would not object to some change if it made sense. That being said, I think that it is imperative that ICANN view itself as an international organization, and consider the obstacles to it being considered as such by stakeholders throughout the world. Where it is incorporated need not restrict how it acts with respect to most of its interactions.

I don’t have a plan. I hope that one day At-Large / ALAC will have such a plan and will propose it to ICANN community.

But I am sure that there are some steps needed and possible to increase the International status of ICANN. Like increase the physical location (open to the various stakeholders) of ICANN. Currently 3 (MdR, Palo-Alto and Was) in US, 1 in Belgium (Europe) and 1 in Australia.
It is not balanced. http://www.icann.org/en/contact/

Pierre Dandjinou

While I do think current situation is due to historical reasons I strongly believe that ICANN should increase its international status; It has started some points of presence through a few offices outside the US, but there should be ways in which it could retain a formal international status. This possibility was debated within the president strategy committee and some useful recommendations were made. There is a need to revisit them and act upon them.

Alan Greenberg

I do not see the formal status changing in the next few years, but would not object to some change if it made sense. That being said, I think that it is imperative that ICANN view itself as an international organization, and consider the obstacles to it being considered as such by stakeholders throughout the world. Where it is incorporated need not restrict how it acts with respect to most of its interactions.

6. Do you agree with the current salary levels of the senior managers in ICANN.  Do you think the Board should change the levels of compensation to be more in keeping with the non-profit of ICANN.  6. Do you agree with the current salary levels of the senior managers in ICANN.  Do you think the Board should change the levels of compensation to be more in keeping with the non-profit of ICANN.  If so, how do you plan seeing this dealt with?

Answers from Candidates (in order of the candidates' surname)

Sebastien BacholletCandidate

has not yet submitted answers.It is not so much the non-for profit status of ICANN but more the discrepancy between the budget allocated to Stakeholder participation and specifically end-users that we need to change. RALO AG and a triennial Summit is more important than…

Pierre Dandjinou

I must confess I do not have much insights on the level of compensation of the senior managers of ICANN, but I do agree that their compensation should be more in keeping with the non-profit status of ICANN. I will suggest that an evaluation be made and that some benchmark be used to revisit the levels of salaries.

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Answers from Candidates (in order of the candidates' surname)

Sebastien Bachollet

Candidate has not yet submitted answersHope that the gTLDs process will not end-up with just auctions ;) Because then yes excess funds will be available but no project.

Pierre Dandjinou

I have no plan per se, But I will strongly advise that any excess money be used to boost participation to the ICANN processes and the outreach of our current ALS. Also, for the sake of inclusiveness, such excess money could be used to develop more capacities in areas where the Internet revolution is still slow.

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1. Don’t merge the auction funds into general revenue.
2. Do good things with it
3. Since much of the revenue will likely be one-time-only and may not be repeated in later rounds, try to make it last

 Within Within those constraints, I think that we should consider helping advance the Internet in developing countries (perhaps by subsidizing gTLD applications for some classes of applicants), advance the use of IDN, and a variety of education and fellowship opportunities. If the funds were sufficient, I would not object to allocating some to the operating reserve to get it to the desired level and not have it hanging over our heads forever.

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Answers from Candidates (in order of the candidates' surname)

Sebastien Bachollet

Candidate has not yet submitted answers.

Decrease the ICANN fees for those applicants.
My rational is: why ask those applicants to pay the time needed to develop the program?
Did we ask the new Telco to pay upfront the cost of the already landlines install?

Pierre Dandjinou

Yes, I think it is necessary to make serious adjustments to the new gTLD process in order to promote applications from developing economies. The applications fees should be revisited and wavers should raised on specific TLDs (namely the geographic and/or community ones. Plans should also be made available for providing some more capacities to the few registry/registrars from those developing economies.

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Answers from Candidates (in order of the candidates' surname)

Sebastien Bachollet

Candidate has not yet submitted answers.

Pierre Dandjinou

I will trust Wikipedia more accurate that I can be: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_interest

“The public interest refers to the "Public Interest is a complex concept and political economist hardly agree on it. Generally, public interest’ will refer to a sort of common well-being" or "general welfare which then become ." The public interest is central to policy development and policy debates. Public interest also refers to the concept of public goods which should be made affordable and accessible to the public.

Alan Greenberg

I do not believe you can find a precise and definitive definition. I find the introduction to the Wikipedia’s description of  “Public Interest” useful:The public interest refers to the "debates, politics, democracy and the nature of government itself. While nearly everyone claims that aiding the common well-being " or " general welfare ." The public interest is central to policy debates, politics, democracy and the nature of government itself. While nearly everyone claims that aiding the common well-being or general welfare is positive, there is little, if any, consensus on what exactly constitutes the public is positive, there is little, if any, consensus on what exactly constitutes the public interest, or whether the concept itself is a coherent one. In the context of ICANN, I think it perhaps refers to the interests of those who are not represented by those with a direct financial stake in ICANN matters. It can also be a reference to the state of the Internet as a whole, to the extent that we can put metrics on it - for instance, if there were a major Denial-of-Service problem, that would not be in the public interest.

2. What would you say is the relevance of the "public interest" in the ICANN context?

Answers from Candidates (in order of the candidates' surname)

Sebastien Bachollet

Candidate has not yet submitted answers.

Pierre Dandjinou

In the ICANN context, I see Internet itself as a public goods and therefore, ICANN should be promoting public interest from the coordination of internet resources. It is therefore important that the ICANN ecosystem integrates more actions and policy towards promotion of the public interest. Thus, domains name system as well as numbering systems should all be handled to the benefits of all, be they the business, the user at large.

Alan Greenberg

I think my previous answer partially addressed this. ICANN is entrusted with overseeing the Internet Name and Number systems. This is a general resource not just to serve those who can lobby ICANN for what they want but for the rest of the world’s users as well. There used to be an old expression in the United States that goes:What's good for General Motors is good for the country.
Perhaps it was once true in the US that what was good for big business was good for the nation, but it is certainly not true with respect to the Internet and the largest of the corporations that provide much of its infrastructure. ICANN is here to protect and enhance that infrastructure on behalf of everyone, not just the large contractors or businesses.

Ambiguities of the concept

There are different views on how many members of the public must benefit from an action before it can be declared to be in the public interest: at one extreme, an action has to benefit every single member of society in order to be truly in the public interest; at the other extreme, any action can be in the public interest as long as it benefits some of the population and harms none.

Put simply; to be in the public interest a matter might have the potential to adversely affect any person at any time in their life in any situation if a core matter is not put into the public arena or handled in a more reasonable way when the problem clearly becomes evident as symptomatic of an underlying unreasonableness.”

Pierre Dandjinou

Public Interest is a complex concept and political economist hardly agree on it. Generally, public interest’ will refer to a sort of common well-being or general welfare which then become central to policy development and policy debates. Public interest also refers to the concept of public goods which should be made affordable and accessible to the public.

Alan Greenberg

I do not believe you can find a precise and definitive definition. I find the introduction to the Wikipedia’s description of  “Public Interest” useful:

The public interest refers to the "common well-being" or "general welfare." The public interest is central to policy debates, politics, democracy and the nature of government itself. While nearly everyone claims that aiding the common well-being or general welfare is positive, there is little, if any, consensus on what exactly constitutes the public interest, or whether the concept itself is a coherent one.

In the context of ICANN, I think it perhaps refers to the interests of those who are not represented by those with a direct financial stake in ICANN matters. It can also be a reference to the state of the Internet as a whole, to the extent that we can put metrics on it - for instance, if there were a major Denial-of-Service problem, that would not be in the public interest.

2. What would you say is the relevance of the "public interest" in the ICANN context3. What is the relevance of the PI for the candidates and how best it could be pursued by them (once seated on the Board)?

Answers from Candidates (in order of the candidates' surname)

Sebastien Bachollet

Candidate has not yet submitted answers.

Pierre Dandjinou

Public interest for me requests that actions and policies benefit the population at large. Therefore, this calls for more inclusive policies. If elected on the Board, I will certainly aim at promoting the interest of the users at large as this is my sincere belief. I was once a member of the advisory Board of PIR and could appreciate how best to include the users community into policy making. My close to 15 years within the UN also prepared me for an inclination towards the promotion of public interest.

Alan Greenberg

Given the lack of formal definition, and the likely varying perceptions of people, the only solution is to select someone who you believe (or hope) shares a common view with you and that they are then vigilant when the board is faced with decisions.

I strongly believe that one of the reasons that we needed At-Large to have voting privileges is to ensure that during the discussion and vote, there is always SOMEONE on the Board who is considering the impact on the user instead of just that on the various other stakeholders or the corporation itself. That is not to say that all other directors ignore these issues, but it is important to make sure that they are always represented.

Questions to specific candidates prepared by Adam Peake, EURALO ALAC member, on behalf of EURALO:

Pierre, Sebastien:

I understand you are both involved in potential applications for new gTLDs: Pierre, dot AFRICA (perhaps already controversial, with rival applications in play), Sebastien perhaps a few projects. If I am wrong about this, you have no involvement, please accept my apologies.

However, if correct, my concern is whether you will be able to participate fully in discussions about new gTLDs. I think we can be sure issues arising from the new gTLD program will be among the most important ICANN will face over the coming 2-3 years.

If selected as At Large Director will you stop any involvement with new gTLD application?  Or how would you handle the possibility of having to recuse yourself from some or all discussions? Can a Director be involved in both an application and making policy that affects that or all applications?

Answers from Candidates (in order of the candidates' surname)

Sebastien Bachollet

Candidate has not yet submitted answers.

Pierre Dandjinou

Dear Adam, thanks for these questions. I do appreciate. In fact, I am not at all involved in any future application for the new gTLD round. As for DotAfrica, my contribution so far should be put within its context. I happen to be one of the promoters of the African stars (AF*) which is a loose organization which has been promoting African related Internet institutions and associations. My position within the UNDP as a regional Adviser on ICT prompted me to assist those nascent groupings which have now become AFRINIC, AFNOG and AFTLDs. The Africa Union has now appointed a group of Experts to assist it understand the new gTLD process and work out a registry for dot Africa in an open manner. I am one of those experts, and I do not plan at all to apply for the dot Africa registry. Whatever I have been doing was to facilitate a process.

Of course if I were elected on the Board, I will stop any advisory services that could hamper my participation to the Board. As you say, I will easily recuse myself from any on going discussions in Africa as relates to the dot Africa registry.

To be fair: Alan, are you involved with any potential/planned gTLD applications?

A general question, but first for Alan.

The ATRT's proposed recommendations include:

*"ICANN should establish \[by INSERT DATE\] formal mechanisms for  identifying the collective skill-set required by the ICANN Board  including such skills as public policy, finance, strategic planning,  corporate governance, negotiation, and dispute resolution. Emphasis  should be placed upon ensuring the Board has the skills and experience  to effectively provide oversight of ICANN operations consistent with the  global public interest and deliver best practice in corporate  governance."*

1. What skill sets do you feel currently missing from the board and how will your skills fill those gaps?

2. Please describe your experience with the following, as relevant to ICANN's mission "public policy, finance, strategic planning, corporate governance, negotiation, and dispute resolution".

Internet is a "critical resource" and therefore it is of the "Public Interest" that the "Internet Ecosystem" taking care of the resource must be safeguarded and enhanced.

For ICANN it is very important to keep at the frontispiece the "public interest" and to avoid any capture by the "vested interests".

Pierre Dandjinou

In the ICANN context, I see Internet itself as a public goods and therefore, ICANN should be promoting public interest from the coordination of internet resources. It is therefore important that the ICANN ecosystem integrates more actions and policy towards promotion of the public interest. Thus, domains name system as well as numbering systems should all be handled to the benefits of all, be they the business, the user at large.

Alan Greenberg

I think my previous answer partially addressed this. ICANN is entrusted with overseeing the Internet Name and Number systems. This is a general resource not just to serve those who can lobby ICANN for what they want but for the rest of the world’s users as well. There used to be an old expression in the United States that goes:

What's good for General Motors is good for the country.

Perhaps it was once true in the US that what was good for big business was good for the nation, but it is certainly not true with respect to the Internet and the largest of the corporations that provide much of its infrastructure. ICANN is here to protect and enhance that infrastructure on behalf of everyone, not just the large contractors or businesses.

3. What is the relevance of the PI for the candidates and how best it could be pursued by them (once seated on the Board)?

Answers from Candidates (in order of the candidates' surname)

Sebastien Bachollet

It is importance to look at the wider picture, which is very much what At Large often does and needs to do.

Pierre Dandjinou

Public interest for me requests that actions and policies benefit the population at large. Therefore, this calls for more inclusive policies. If elected on the Board, I will certainly aim at promoting the interest of the users at large as this is my sincere belief. I was once a member of the advisory Board of PIR and could appreciate how best to include the users community into policy making. My close to 15 years within the UN also prepared me for an inclination towards the promotion of public interest.

Alan Greenberg

Given the lack of formal definition, and the likely varying perceptions of people, the only solution is to select someone who you believe (or hope) shares a common view with you and that they are then vigilant when the board is faced with decisions.

I strongly believe that one of the reasons that we needed At-Large to have voting privileges is to ensure that during the discussion and vote, there is always SOMEONE on the Board who is considering the impact on the user instead of just that on the various other stakeholders or the corporation itself. That is not to say that all other directors ignore these issues, but it is important to make sure that they are always represented.

Questions to specific candidates prepared by Adam Peake, EURALO ALAC member, on behalf of EURALO:

Pierre, Sebastien:

I understand you are both involved in potential applications for new gTLDs: Pierre, dot AFRICA (perhaps already controversial, with rival applications in play), Sebastien perhaps a few projects. If I am wrong about this, you have no involvement, please accept my apologies.

However, if correct, my concern is whether you will be able to participate fully in discussions about new gTLDs. I think we can be sure issues arising from the new gTLD program will be among the most important ICANN will face over the coming 2-3 years.

If selected as At Large Director will you stop any involvement with new gTLD application?  Or how would you handle the possibility of having to recuse yourself from some or all discussions? Can a Director be involved in both an application and making policy that affects that or all applications?

Answers from Candidates (in order of the candidates' surname)

Sebastien Bachollet

From my SOI

•       I do not have any current conflicts of interest.  

•       I currently act as Advisor and European Liaison for the .green project (volunteer work without compensation).

•       In the past, I have authored feasibility studies for several new gTLD projects. While I have no current affiliation with any of them, some of these projects may be submitted to ICANN as gTLD applications.

•       I have acted as the working group coordinator for the original feasibility study of the .paris TLD project from 2007 to 2008. This project is now handled by the office of Mr. Jean-Louis Missika, Deputy Mayor of the City of Paris.

I will steer clear of any conflict of interest.

Pierre Dandjinou

Dear Adam, thanks for these questions. I do appreciate. In fact, I am not at all involved in any future application for the new gTLD round. As for DotAfrica, my contribution so far should be put within its context. I happen to be one of the promoters of the African stars (AF*) which is a loose organization which has been promoting African related Internet institutions and associations. My position within the UNDP as a regional Adviser on ICT prompted me to assist those nascent groupings which have now become AFRINIC, AFNOG and AFTLDs. The Africa Union has now appointed a group of Experts to assist it understand the new gTLD process and work out a registry for dot Africa in an open manner. I am one of those experts, and I do not plan at all to apply for the dot Africa registry. Whatever I have been doing was to facilitate a process.

Of course if I were elected on the Board, I will stop any advisory services that could hamper my participation to the Board. As you say, I will easily recuse myself from any on going discussions in Africa as relates to the dot Africa registry.

To be fair: Alan, are you involved with any potential/planned gTLD applications?

A general question, but first for Alan.

The ATRT's proposed recommendations include:

"ICANN should establish [by INSERT DATE] formal mechanisms for identifying the collective skill-set required by the ICANN Board including such skills as public policy, finance, strategic planning, corporate governance, negotiation, and dispute resolution. Emphasis should be placed upon ensuring the Board has the skills and experience to effectively provide oversight of ICANN operations consistent with the global public interest and deliver best practice in corporate governance."

1. What skill sets do you feel currently missing from the board and how will your skills fill those gaps?

2. Please describe your experience with the following, as relevant to ICANN's mission "public policy, finance, strategic planning, corporate governance, negotiation, and dispute resolution".

Answers from Candidates (in order of the candidates' surname)

Sebastien Bachollet

More than one skill missing, it is an experience missing.
We have people coming from one silo generally elected by the supporting organizations or with one (or more) competency coming through the NomCom.

Very few have multi-silo experience and specific skill(s).

But more than anything else is the voice of the end users missing. This election will start to resolve that issue.

I think I can help to fill those gaps.

Regarding my experience (I try to put that in my SOI) I can answer the following;
Public policy: I am doing that within ICANN since 10 years. And it is also what I was doing in for not profit organizations in direction of the youth (UCPA) and the CIOs (CIGREF and EuroCio);
Finance: it was one part of my MBA training and I run an important IT project including the responsibility of a budget of US$40 million;
Strategic planning and Corporate governance: As Deputy CIO at SNCF (French Railways) and Deputy CEO at Cigref (CIO organization), I took an important part in the definition and rollout of those two key  processes;
Negotiation: with providers (Air-Inter, SNCF, Cigref), with partners and employees (all the time).

But what I would like to bring to the Board is a mix of skill and knowledge.

Pierre Dandjinou

 I have to admit I do not have a thorough picture of the skills that are currently missing from the Board. I know most directors come from specific areas and therefore , their collective skill should help ICANN deal with its coordination roles. However, one should note that ICANN is not solely about technical coordination. It deals with policy development and as has been seen in the last 5 years, it has to count with other international players and therefore, politics and diplomacy are becoming quite important areas to invest on. Also, the issues of the end users, of the consumer or the registrants’ rights are certainly not yet properly addressed, one might need people with good negociation skills, and who are prone to do an enhanced outreach to the end users.

As a former UN staff, and a regional advisor on governance and IT issues, I had the opportunity to contribute to public policy making; main missions were to advise country programme and policy makers on best practices in integrating ICT in development project and for reinforcing public administration and democratic institutions such as parliaments.

My knowledge in finance is minimal and is basically related to project budget management. I conducted strategic planning missions for a few countries and I am still doing this in my new position as Executive Director of a firm which deals, inter allia with strategies and results oriented management.

As far as corporate governance is concerned, I have contributed to internal working groups within the UN which had corporate governance as one of their areas of work.

While in the course of my activities I have to be involved in negociations with third paties and have generated many MoUs and others instruments. I was not involved in dispute resolutions, but I do know there are mecanisms and tool to deal with these and also, some dose of diplomacy and experience is important here.

Let me also say that in all the necessary skills expected from the board directors, one could spot the ones of integrity, commitment and dedication. These are all values which I have tried to cultivate in the course of my career and my engagement with the community.

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Alan Greenberg

Regarding involvement in potential or planned gTLD applications, I have no such involvement.

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