[ripe-chair-discuss] Chair nomination process

Nick,

in addition to my response as the NomCom chair here is my personal 
response to your thoughts:

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.

That can happen and it is OK to share thoughts about anything. The RIPE 
Chair selection process has been discussed for years and is running for 
more than half a year now. I just wish you had spoken up at a time when 
making changes was possible: either during development of the process or 
at times when execution of the process allowed review or during the 
future review of the first run of the process based on the final report 
of the NomCom.

I have the impression that you mix RIPE NCC corporate governance with 
RIPE community governance. If we were talking about selecting the RIPE 
NCC board I would be the first to agree that RIPE NCC employees need to 
have absolutely no formal part in it. But we are talking about RIPE 
community governance here. They are related but separate.

>
> At the moment, the lineup looks like this:
>
> - the current RIPE chair is now - with safeguards in place - the RIPE 
> NCC managing director.

I cannot see how this is relevant. Hans Petter has no part in the 
selection process of his successor(s).

> - one of the candidates is the previous chair of the RIPE NCC 
> executive board.

Why should we a-priori exclude someone who has served before in a 
different capacity from being considered as RIPE Chair.

> - one of the candidates is a current employee of the RIPE NCC.

Why should we require someone who is nominated to change their 
employment in order to be even considered? Would that be reasonable? 
Isn’t it important to find the best people for the role first, address 
possible conflicts-of interest second and ask them to resolve those only 
after we are sure we wish to select them? I do not expect the NomCom to 
select someone unless it is convinced that the selected candidates 
address issues such as this, including appearances.

> - the chair of the nom-com is a current employee of the RIPE NCC.

This is RIPE community governance. I see no conflict with chairing the 
NomCom. The chair does not vote on candidate selection. I am completely 
free and independent in this role. In fact the RIPE NCC is the perfect 
employer for this because they have complete understanding that it takes 
significant time an energy to do this properly.

>
> 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.

Superficially this is certainly true. But once you look closely I do not 
consider it troubling at all.

>
> 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.

Yes we should feel comfortable that the process is executed soundly. The 
time for evaluation comes when the NomCom has submitted its final 
report. In the meantime let us follow the agreed procedure and by all 
means ensure that it is indeed followed.

Daniel