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
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
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).
