[ripe-chair-discuss] Chair nomination process

On 12 May 2020, at 22:46, Nick Hilliard wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> Probably like many others, I haven't been following the RIPE Chair 
> nomination process as closely as it has deserved over the last number 
> of months.
>
> At the moment, the lineup looks like this:
>
> - the current RIPE chair is now - with safeguards in place - the RIPE 
> NCC managing director.
>
> - one of the candidates is the previous chair of the RIPE NCC 
> executive board.
>
> - one of the candidates is a current employee of the RIPE NCC.
>
> - the chair of the nom-com is a current employee of the RIPE NCC.
>
> This isn't a statement of lack of confidence in any of the people 
> concerned, either individually or collectively, but it looks troubling 
> from the point of view of governance practices.
>
> In the future, anyone should be able to look back at the nomination 
> process and with full hindsight, feel comfortable that it was sound.  
> I am not completely sure that we are in this position right now.
>
> Nick

Nick,

Let me first respond in my role as chair of the 2020 RIPE Nominating 
Committee. I will later respond as a community member.

The nomination process is soundly executed. As you are aware the RIPE 
Community has spent years to devise this process. The result is the most 
formal process in RIPE to date. It is therefore important that we follow 
it. To address your points:

The current RIPE chair ad-interim had been nominated but has since 
informed the NomCom that he no longer wishes to be considered. So he is 
completely outside the process now.

ripe-727 says: “Any natural person is eligible for selection unless 
they have already been selected twice for the role they are nominated 
for. …”. The NomCom has determined that all the nominees are 
eligible.

ripe-728 defines the selection and the duties of the NomCom Chair.
“The chair of the RIPE NCC Executive Board appoints the Chair, who 
must meet the same requirements for membership in the nominating 
committee as a voting volunteer.”
Prior to accepting the appointment I have received assurances from RIPE 
NCC management that convinced me that I would be able to freely and 
independently execute the duties of that role. In particular “The 
Chair must be thoroughly familiar with the rules and guidance indicated 
throughout this document. The Chair must ensure the nominating committee 
completes its assigned duties in a manner that is consistent with this 
document. … The nominating committee Chair must agree to invest the 
time necessary to ensure that the nominating committee completes its 
assigned duties and to perform in the best interests of the RIPE 
community in that role.”

All the steps in the process have been announced on the ripe mailing 
list in a timely manner. In addition the NomCom have set up a blog 
published background information on RIPE Labs.

If you have any specific doubts about the execution of the RIPE Chair 
selection procedure, please bring them to my attention or the attention 
of the community so that we can address them.

Daniel