Call for nominations ICANN Board seat 12

Date
09 September 2024

Below you will find all details related to the procedure for nominating and seconding candidates to Board Seat 12, and the next steps. This announcement as well as any other related announcements will be posted here: https://ccnso.icann.org/en/about/nominations.htm

Following the resignation of Katrina Sataki from the ICANN Board effective 23 August 2024, the Empowered Community and ccNSO Council has been formally invited to fill the vacancy:

  1. For the remainder of Katrina's term until the 2024 ICANN Annual General Meeting (AGM) in November.
  2. For a 3-year term beginning at the 2024 ICANN AGM and ending at the 2027 AGM.

The ccNSO Council is required to select a candidate in accordance with the relevant ICANN Bylaws and internal rules of the ccNSO applicable at the time of the call for nominations.

The ccNSO Council will open a call for nominations to fill ICANN Board seat number 12, beginning on Tuesday, 10 September 2024 (00:01 UTC) and ending on Friday, 27 September 2024 (23:59 UTC). The deadline for accepting nominations is Friday, 4 October 2024 (23:59 UTC). The election will take place in February 2025, following the completion of due diligence on the nominee(s) by a professional firm. A virtual question and answer session with the candidate(s) will be held in late January.

How to nominate and second a candidate

Timeline of the nomination and secondment procedure:

START: Tuesday, 10 September 2024 (00:01 UTC)

END: Friday, 27 September 2024 (23:59 UTC).

You are kindly invited to follow these instructions closely. If you have questions, please contact Joke Braeken, the Nomination Process Manager, at joke.braeken@icann.org.

  • Each ccNSO member may nominate one (1) person for a seat to be filled on the ICANN Board. If a ccNSO member nominates a second or further candidate, only the first nomination will be valid and published as such.
  • Each ccNSO member can second one (1) or more persons for a seat to be filled on the ICANN Board
  • Only ccTLD Managers who are a member of the ccNSO as of the publication date of the call for nominations, i.e. on Monday, 9 September 2024, can nominate or second a candidate
  • All nominations must be seconded by another ccNSO member
  • Nominations and secondments should be sent by e-mail to the Nomination Process Manager at the following e-mail address: ccnso-boardnominations@icann.org To ensure adequate archiving, please do not use alternative email addresses. A record of who has nominated and seconded the candidate(s) is publicly available.
  • Templates for nominating and seconding nominations are provided below. Alternative templates should not be used, and nominations or secondings should be sent to ccNSO-boardnominations@icann.org only.

TEMPLATE | NOMINATION TO THE ICANN BOARD
(Please send to ccnso-boardnominations@icann.org)

  1. Your full name:
  2. Your email address:
  3. Your ccTLD:
  4. Full name of the person you nominate to the ICANN Board:
  5. E-mail address of the person you nominate:
  6. Country of citizenship or domicile of the person you nominate:

TEMPLATE | SECONDING A NOMINATION TO THE ICANN BOARD
(Please send to ccnso-boardnominations@icann.org)

  1. Your full name:
  2. Your e-mail address:
  3. Your ccTLD:
  4. Full name of the nominee you would like to second:
  5. E-mail address of the nominee you would like to second:

Consult here the archive for nominations and secondments.

Requirements for suitably qualified candidates

  • Citizenship or domicile

Bylaw Article 7 – Section 7.2 (c) states:

"(c) In carrying out their responsibilities to nominate Directors for Seats 9 through 15 for designation by the EC, the Supporting Organizations and the At-Large Community shall seek to ensure that the Board is composed of Directors who, in the aggregate, display diversity in geography, culture, skills, experience, and perspective, by applying the criteria set forth in Section 7.3, Section 7.4 and Section 7.5. The Supporting Organizations shall ensure that, at any given time, no two Directors nominated by a Supporting Organization are citizens from the same country or of countries located in the same Geographic Region. For purposes of this Section 7.2(c), if any candidate for Director maintains citizenship or Domicile of more than one country, that candidate may be deemed to be from either country and must select in his or her Statement of Interest the country of citizenship or Domicile that he or she wants the Supporting Organization or the At-Large Community, as applicable, to use for nomination purposes. For purposes of this Section 7.2(c), a person can only have one Domicile, which shall be determined by where the candidate has a permanent residence and place of habitation."

Patricio Poblete, occupying Board Seat 11, has his domicile in Chile, Latin America/Caribbean region.

  • Employment by a ccTLD

As per 3.4 of the ccNSO Guideline: ccNSO Nominations process ICANN Board seats 11 and 12 :

" Candidates are not required to be employed by a ccTLD Manager to be eligible for nomination. Still, if there is an employment or other relationship, the candidate should disclose it as part of their Candidate Statement."

Accepting nominations and due diligence verifications

After closure of the nomination period, the Nomination Process Manager will ascertain whether the nominee(s) formally accept their nomination(s), and ask them to complete a nomination form. The deadline to accept nominations is Friday, 4 October 2024 (23:59 UTC). Latest by Tuesday, 8 October 2024 (23:59 UTC), the Nomination Process Manager shall provide a list with the name(s) of the candidate(s) who have accepted their nomination. Also, a record of who has nominated and seconded the candidate(s) is publicly available.

By acceptance of the nomination, a nominee warrants, is aware of, and consents to:

  • The Country of Citizenship or Domicile included in the nomination form;
  • The additional qualifications as per ICANN Bylaws Section 7.4(a), 7.4(b), 7.4(c), 7.4(d)
  • Fully cooperate to undergo a due diligence screening by an external provider, which includes providing necessary consent to ICANN to transmit personal data to the due diligence provider.

Candidates need to be aware that they will be approached by the external due diligence provider to sign a consent form before the actual due diligence will begin. The scope of this background check is described here. In the event a candidate does not provide consent or rescinds the consent to undergo the due diligence process, the Council will be informed, and the candidacy of that person will be ended. After completion of the due diligence process, the Chair of the ccNSO Council will be informed of the outcome and inform the Council (with the exception of potential candidate(s) who are Councillor), i.e., only whether concerns have surfaced, which warrant further consideration and decisions.

Candidate Statements

The Nomination Process Manager will ask candidate(s) to provide a written candidate statement. A Q&A session with the candidate(s) will be held late January. The Q&A session gives the ccNSO members and broader ccTLD community an opportunity to interact with the candidates. In preparation of the Q&A session, the written candidate statements will be posted on the ccNSO website.

Elections

Bylaw Article 10 – Section 10.3 (i) states:

"(i) The ccNSO Council shall nominate individuals to fill Seats 11 and 12 on the Board by written ballot or by action at a meeting; any such nomination must have affirmative votes of a majority of all the members of the ccNSO Council then in office. Notification of the ccNSO Council's nominations shall be given by the ccNSO Council Chair in writing to the EC Administration, with a copy to the Secretary, and the EC shall promptly act on it as provided in Section 7.25."

Even if there is only one candidate that accepted nomination for ICANN Board seat number 12, an election will be held, to allow the ccNSO members to either cast their vote for the candidate, or to select the option "none of the above". The ccNSO Council and ccNSO members have agreed that the ccNSO members shall propose and elect candidates for the two ICANN Board seats allocated to the ccNSO, and that the winner of said election - i.e. the candidate that receives the majority of the votes cast - shall in turn be nominated to the ICANN Board seat by a majority vote of the ccNSO Council. The timeline for the elections is posted in the links-section below: further instructions will be provided by the Nomination Process Manager closer to the start of the elections, in February 2024.

Links