Page History

My decision to run for the Secretariat Position is to continue the work that I have been doing as acting secretariat since December 2014 when Garth took a leave of absence and also have been vice chair.  I have much experience in this area and would like to continue to serve NARALO.  As Secretariat, I have been advancing NARALO's positions and outreach both in the technology area and in the accessibility area where I have been championing the need for captions not only for those with hearing loss but also for those with limited bandwidth and who's native language is not English.  Because of my advocacy on this issue and through the work I and Glenn McKnight have done on the Technology Task Force we have made staff at ICANN aware of this need and they are working working hard to meet these goals, first with a new website and also hopefully with captioning. After winning funding for a captioning pilot during the ICANN Special Request Funding we hope to launch a pilot program for captioning in October 2015. I plan on continuing my advocacy and outreach on these efforts to different communities if you elect me as Secretariat. 

Additionally, I am working with Glenn McKnight to create a new template for the RALO monthly reports so that they can be more informative, provide important data for the metrics group, and also give other RALOs a template they can use to write reports. NARALO has its challenges and we need a clear vision and strategy to mobilize more of our membership to get involved with NARALO activities. We need more active volunteers and this will require effort and dedication.

I believe strongly in having an open and transparent process that respects the opinions of all our members. It is only by having an open process that people can have trust that their representative will work for them and for what they believe. I will seek consensus opinion and get more of our ALSes involved in different working groups. I have managed the process of obtaining regional advice for new ALSes. I also have worked with Staff to coordinating coordinate strategic issues and also for special budget proposals. ALAC approved my submission for a special budget request to run a pilot program for captioning and I am hoping that this is approved by the budget committee. 

In closing, I believe I provide leadership, organizational skills, attention to detail and experience that is an essential combination for the Secretariat position. Here is the link to my SOI Judith Hellerstein SOI, which lists the committees and groups I have been active in during my time at ICANN.

I have the pleasure to be part of the NARALO since its inception. I participated in ICANN meetings remotely at the beginning, but when I've been elected chair of ISOC Quebec in 2007, I started to participate in person as my interest for ICANN kept growing. I appreciated my involvement in the NARALO Capacity Building meetings and received a certificate during the 45th ICANN meeting in Toronto in 2012. Since 2009, I focussed on the DotQuebec application that is now in service among many other new TLDs and, as you know, I'm a member of the NomCom team since 2014 and I want to thank you for giving me this opportunity. The NomCom 2015 is now in the evaluation process of the 81 applications received for leadership positions and we now meet remotely on a weekly basis.

I think that my background as a journalist, a communication expert and a manager for the Quebec Government could be useful to keep improving the NARALO communications and outreach within the ICANN community and among the ALs.