[ARIN-consult] Consultation on Expanding the Size of the ARIN Board of Trustees

[Alyssa Moore]

Much of this conversation has veered into the weeds of diversity in terms
of things like gender and region, while it seems to me the proposal before
us has to do with increasing the diversity of professional backgrounds and
organizational representation.

There's a provision in the bylaws for appointing one seat per year. Rather
than adding traditional elected seats, perhaps that number could be
increased and constraints around appointments relaxed. This way the Board
could use it, when necessary (and perhaps it will be necessary most
years) to fill any vacuums they've identified. In an ideal democracy the
community would simply elect a group with a perfectly balanced skill-set
for known and unknown challenges they may face, but I don't think any of us
live in that world.

My $0.02 CAD (or $0.016 USD).


On Tue, Apr 10, 2018 at 10:48 AM Jimmy Hess <mysidia at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Tue, Apr 10, 2018 at 10:21 AM, Adam Brenner <adam at solidnetwork.org>
> wrote:
>
> > The first and *only* priority from ARIN should be seeking candidates who
> are
> > qualified for the position; diversity should not be in that conversation.
>
> Agreed.     A level of diversity in the demographics of board members
> is not necessary,  and
> representation is not a superficial quality ---  a board member from
> any region, culture, and
> demographic can represent  ARIN members who are from any region,
> culture, or demographic.
>
> Qualified board members have the ability to represent  the membership
> regardless of their
> own physical characteristics,  or  which region the board member
> happens to come from   through
> their own  experiences and  through discussions  with those they
> represent at public meetings,
> etc.
>
> Diversity is not a good reason for expanding the board  which also
> incurs more annual expenses for ARIN
> to maintain a larger board,  and  may  have undesirable result of
> reducing  the effectiveness of
> a board which is currently effective,   since larger committees have
> more difficulties coming into agreement.
>
> Expanding the size also increases the  risk of members voting in a
> less-qualified or non-qualified
> candidate  onto the board,   Because there are fewer qualified
> candidates than openings available to
> nominate,  and the voting system will pick up someone with the most
> votes,  even if that is 1 vote.
>
>
> --
> -JH
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-- 
Alyssa Moore
Policy & Strategy Advisor
Cybera
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