At-Large RoP ALAC Executive Committee (ExCom) Origins Workspace

The ExComm came into de facto existence as the group of officers who talked to each other, some time after Cheryl was selected as ALAC Chair in late 2007. The mailing list started in May 2008.

Later in 2008 I drafted a series of motions to formalize the existing group, and then expand it to include all five regions (either by skill or luck, the exiting officers, Chair, two Vice Chairs and Raporteur represented four of the five regions).

The motions were approved at the ALAC meeting of 25 November, 2008. The summary minutes can be found at https://community.icann.org/display/atlarge/Summary+Minutes+25+November+2008 . I will reproduce the motions here for clarity.


1st Motion. Presented by A Greenberg, seconded by S Bachollet

Whereas the ALAC has had a de facto an Executive Committee composed of ALAC Officers for the past year;

Whereas, it is at times necessary for the ALAC to take action without sufficient time to formally engage the entire ALAC and hold a vote;

Therefore I move that:

The ALAC create a 4-member Executive Committee composed of the four ALAC Officers. Until such time as a more refined specification be defined, the Executive Committee shall have no powers other than those explicitly granted by the ALAC, save that in urgent situations, the Executive Committee may make decisions on behalf of the ALAC, such decisions communicated to the ALAC prior to or at the time of decision, and to be ratified at the next ALAC meeting.


2nd Motion. Presented by A Greenberg, seconded by A Peake

Whereas last year's de facto Executive Committee included Officers from four or the five ICANN regions;

Whereas this present year's Officers represent four of the five ICANN regions;

Whereas in keeping with ALAC and ICANN principles, it is felt that there is a benefit in all five regions participating in an Executive Committee;

Therefore I move that:

1. The ALAC expand the Executive Committee to five people. The Executive Committee shall be composed of the four ALAC Officers and one additional ALAC member.

2. The ALAC redefine the two positions of Vice-Chair and the position of Rapporteur, and the associated voting processes to ensure that the Chair, the two Vice-Chairs, and the Rapporteur all represent different ICANN regions, the detailed Rules of Procedures to be approved prior to the 2009 Officer elections;

3. Following the election of the four officers, the ALAC shall nominate and elect an ALAC member from the as-yet un-represented ICANN region to the fifth Executive Committee position.

There were 13 ALAC members present at the meeting, but only 11 by the time these motions came to a vote. 9 voted in favour, 2 against, and there were 2 abstentions for both motions (all documented in the Summary Minutes pointed to above).


I have either been part of the ExComm since that time or worked closely with it, and my belief is that it has functioned according to the intent of these principals. I say the intent, because the ExComm has in fact made many decisions on behalf of the ALAC, but virtually all of these were of no strategic import but rather decisions such as whether to pursue statements on an particular ICANN comment period, or on how to organize meetings of briefings. Virtually all of these decision could have been reversed in there had been any interest within the ALAC in doing so, but that very rarely if ever happened, indicating such decisions were being taken with the tacit support of the ALAC.

I would suggest that when we draft the formal language within the RoP, we attempt to have the rules describe what has worked effectively now for nearly 4 years.

Alan