11 April 2016

ALAC Nominations Open (from NARALO Operating Principles: At least once a year, on or before the First of July, or whenever a vacancy arises, the NARALO shall issue a call for nominations (including self-nominations) for members of the North American Internet community to serve on the ALAC. The call for nominations shall be open for at least 30 days. New ALAC members will be selected and announced sufficiently in advance of ICANN's annual meeting to allow them to be seated as required by Paragraph 10. Nominations other than self-nominations must be accepted within one week of the close of the nomination period.)

Other positions: The NARALO Operating Principles are less specific but are aligned with the ALAC selection.

9 May 2016

Nominations Close. (On 11 April 2016, NARALO approved by consensus that the requirement for a 30 day call for nominations could be reduced to 29 days.)

9 May 2016

NARALO Monthly Meeting – for positions where all nominees have either accepted or rejected the nomination (if required), the NARALO Chair will attempt to seek consensus on who to select.

16 May 2016

Deadline for Nomination Acceptance. Self-nominations need not be accepted.

18 May - 25 May 2016

For any position(s) where consensus was not reached during the NARALO meeting, an electronic poll of NARALO ALSes and unaffiliated members will be conducted.

Note: The vote procedure will be conducted based on relevant sections outlined in the NARALO Operating Principle. In an event of a tie for the NARALO ALAC Member (2015 AGM - 2017 AGM) selection, Section 19 of the NARALO Operating Principle will be applied

Newly selected ALAC Members and RALO leaders shall be seated at the close of the 2016 AGM on Friday November 4, 2016. The newly selected NomCom Delegate will be seated when the 2016 NomCom convenes.

Loris Taylor (nominated)

Murray McKercher

Eduardo Diaz

Robert Guerra

Darlene Thompson

Evan Leibovitch

Leah Symekher

Thank you for considering my re-nomination as an ALAC Member from NARALO. My overall beliefs are well known. It is extremely important that end - users have a real and strong voice in ICANN. Due to my efforts, both in collaboration with as well as alongside colleagues within North America and around the world, we have made great strides. However, there is more work to be done. The only way to fully accomplish this goal is to ensure that we have strong, active RALOs with willing and capable ALSes, and a strong, active and respected ALAC.

I believe that my efforts can help ensure our success. At my initiative, the ALAC, with the active support of NARALO, is re-evaluating the criteria to become an ALS, and the expectations once an ALS is certified. This should help ensure that we have a vibrant ALS community, and that means the ALSes and not just the ALS representatives. An independent review of At-Large, with a focus on ALSes and RALOs is just about to begin and the internal process to improve ALSes and RALOs should mesh well with that.

As an ALAC member I have more than pulled my weight and contributed to both the administrative work that allows At-Large to function as well as to many policy development activities including the recent efforts associated with the IANA Transition and ICANN Accountability. I am currently an active member of several policy initiatives including RDS (formerly WHOIS) and New gTLD Procedures (for future rounds).

I am strong supporter of NARALO. Over the years, it is a rare monthly meeting that I have missed and I have represented NARALO unaffiliated members for several years. Administratively within the RALO, I drafted the last several revisions to the RALO Operating Procedures.

General Assemblies (GAs) and At-Large Summits are an important component in ensuring that NARALO can empower its ALSes. We hope to very soon have approval for a GA this coming year, and I have just submitted a proposal to the ICANN Board to establish multi-year planning for future GAs and Summits, removing current uncertainly about them being held.

Of particular interest to NARALO is the concept of consumer safeguards. I have been one of the key people (along with Evan Leibovitch) working to ensure that the new gTLDs provide suitable protection to users.

I am currently completing my 2nd year as ALAC Chair. My intent over the last 18 months (and moving forward) has been:

• As noted above, to improve the effectiveness of the At-Large organization and particularly ALS involvement and contributions. One of the key changes has been a change of focus from recruiting more ALSes to also engaging those that we already have. We have also put more focus on overall capacity building and particularly on briefings on subjects of current importance (such as the IANA transition);
• To get more ALAC  and RALO members actively involved in ICANN policy development and other activities;
• To work toward the ALAC Chair position no longer being equivalent to a full-time job, open only to those who are retired or can put the rest of their life on hold;
• To ensure that the ALAC is a critical component of ICANN and is respected;
• To ensure that the independent review of At-Large (which was delayed but is starting soon) results in a plan which will help At-Large and in particular the five RALOs succeed over the coming years.

Good progress has been made, but not nearly as much as I had envisioned, largely due to the (unexpected) overwhelming workload associated with the IANA transition and accountability efforts that has occupied both the ALAC and me.

I would like to continue as Chair to complete this work, but that presumes I am on the ALAC and that in turn presumes that NARALO returns me as their appointed ALAC Member.

I am asking for your support in my candidacy for the NARALO ALAC Member (2016-2018).

I am available to discuss any of this further. You can contact me via e-mail at alan.greenberg@mcgill.ca or to chat on Skype at alangreenberg-mtl.

Glenn McKnight

Monique Chartrand

The Internet and its billions of users represent a global community for whom the Net represents more than a communication tool. It is now an indispensable facility, a way of living, a day to day cultural, social, personal or business asset. People now consider the Internet access as a right, like any other utility.

To serve the global interest, ICANN still needs to better understand the public interest to develop a clear concept, to adopt a global strategy and to shape policies that will clarify the actual ambiguity regarding its engagement towards the end users. Beyond the technology, ICANN needs people who are connected with the users, should they be a consumer, an ISP or an independent worker. The Internet is for everyone and ICANN must evolve its governance arrangements accordingly : a worldwide community which comes in multiple subgroups protected by national, supranational entities governed by laws in jurisdictions with which ICANN should build bridges. This is one of the many considerations that I kept in mind during my 2 years term on the NomCom.

I believe that I can bring that perspective as an ALAC appointee. I served 30 years within the Quebec government where I offered expertise in policy making, project planning and management, IT industry support, international affairs, to mention a few. I've been on the board of ISOC Quebec since 2004 and president since 2007 (and yes I've been reelected a week ago). Even though we address issues in a specific geographic region using French, the problems and challenges that we're facing are the same as anywhere else in North America and worldwide. This is why a global governance is critical and it must meet the needs of the diverse community of users.

Besides my ISOC Quebec hat, I'm also serving as president of Connect Quebec, an initiative started in 2007 to improve access to Internet services in the province and increase High Speed Internet availability in rural regions facing a serious expertise deficit, lacking competition, missing basic or high level training for users as well as regional ISPs. Connect Quebec is engaged with regional and municipal stakeholders and governments in solving issues that affect devitalized regions. This is where I meet with people that don't have a say in ICANN, don't have any representation to assert their views. They just don't know how ICANN impacts their life.

When I participated in the inception of the NARALO some 10 years ago, I believed that the ALAC was to become the entity empowered by the ICANN community to achieve this remit, in full collaboration with all AC/SO, and I still do. Just like you, I agree that the IANA transition takes a lot of room and that the issue demands a lot of efforts. I still believe that we must keep the focus on cyber-security, accessibility, privacy. On the other hand, ICANN's accountability and transparency is still challenged by possible conflicts of interest and capture by narrower interests. ALAC must respond.

Loris Taylor (nominated)

Murray McKercher

Eduardo Diaz

Robert Guerra

Monique Chartrand

Darlene Thompson

Louis Houle

Evan Leibovitch

Leah Symekher

It's been six month in the current chairmanship and the main focus has been engagement with the NARALO membership. This has

lead to some organizations opting out and the decertification process is underway. Meanwhile we are working to build the base in the underserved communities and raise the awareness of ICANN and NARALO.

NARALO despite it's size relative to the other RALO's it has been leaders in policy and we need to rebuild the volunteer base in this area through a process of proactive strategies will include policy primers and webinars targetting those individuals with a genuine interest in policy matters

Loris Taylor (nominated)

Joly MacFie

Robert Guerra

Monique Chartrand

Darlene Thompson

Evan Leibovitch

Leah Symekher

Louis Houle

My decision to run for the Secretariat Position is to continue the work that I have been doing since I was elected in 2015.  We began a program this year to reach out to all our ALSes and see what interests they have and how NARALO can advance these interests or better explain ICANN and how they can get engaged. We are planning a series of introductory webinars to respond to people’s interests. I would like to continue all these good projects in 2017 as we just got started in this effort.  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 hard to meet these goals, first with a new website and also hopefully with captioning. I have put in a special budget request to continue this pilot for FY 17 and to expand it to Spanish and French.  I am also working to ensure that ICANN staff are made aware that at they are redesigning sites and adding to programs such as ICANN Learn they need to also look towards captioning all videos, webinars, and learning platform. I plan on continuing my advocacy and outreach on these efforts to different communities if you elect me as Secretariat. 

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. We are looking at redesigning our promotional materials to be more effective in our outreach and are pushing to create a simple catchy mail card instead of a detailed brochure, as these are more effective in catching people’s attention. As most people go to the web for info they are no longer using old forms of outreach and so we need to change the way we do outreach.

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 also have worked with Staff to coordinate strategic issues and also for special budget proposals.

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 hope you will support my candidacy and look forward to your support.

Loris Taylor (nominated)

Murray McKercher

Glenn McKnight

Judith Hellerstein

Monique Chartrand

Darlene Thompson

Robert Guerra

Louis Houle

Evan Leibovitch

Leah Symekher