[ARIN-consult] Fwd: [arin-announce] Consultation on Increasing the Size of the ARIN Board of Trustees

Bartlett Morgan bartlett.morgan at gmail.com
Wed Mar 2 17:28:18 EST 2022


Thank you for this.

+1

I am *almost* shocked that this is still a conversation.

On Wed, Mar 2, 2022 at 5:25 PM <bzs at theworld.com> wrote:

>
> I'm sort of amazed that after at least 40+ years of diversity
> discussion and practices (obviously not limited to the networking
> sphere) we go right back to year zero on the issue of whether or not
> including members of varying race, gender, etc introduce diversity and
> are a good thing or not.
>
> One thing is certain, the net/email/lists seem to make people believe
> they are gods and if they wish to advocate whether or not the earth is
> flat well, it's their keyboard to bang on, no need for external
> reference, studies, thoughts from experienced professionals, etc.
>
> Why not type "the value of diversity in governance" and read through
> some of the hits. Or read one or two from respected sources, including
> retrospective findings of studies on the topic such as:
>
>
> https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2020/07/14/maximizing-the-benefits-of-board-diversity-lessons-learned-from-activist-investing/
>
> or
>
>
> https://www.councilofnonprofits.org/tools-resources/diversity-nonprofit-boards
>
> etc.
>
> also maybe enter "diversity and governance" into Amazon's book search
> and consider some titles.
>
>  > On Tue, Mar 1, 2022 at 7:11 PM Mike Burns <mike at iptrading.com> wrote:
>  >
>  >     Hi Ted,
>  >
>  >     I appreciate your general feelings about diversity, but diversity of
>  >     thought is really the significant factor.
>  >     I don't think diversity of race, gender, sexual orientation,
> ethnicity, or
>  >     any of that matters in decisions about the stewardship of numbers.
>  >     But diversity of thought is different and I don't think superficial
>  >     diversity is the desire here, although I concur it may have been in
> the
>  >     past.
>  >
>  >     In addition to diversity of thought, one of the reasons offered for
> this
>  >     change was protection from board capture.
>  >     Although you may be right about difficulties reaching consensual
> decisions
>  >     with larger boards, and those difficulties making larger boards
> appear
>  >     conservative, I find that as organizations grow larger they
> actually grow
>  >     less conservative as a rule. We could argue that point.
>  >
>  >     But the advantages gained by making board capture more difficult
> outweigh
>  >     the disadvantages associated with slower decision-making.
>  >     And advantages of true diversity of thought and relevant experience
> are
>  >     even more important.
>  >
>  >     A board of only six members is very easy to capture and in the
> workings of
>  >     the last NomCom I detected a real danger of that happening at ARIN.
>  >
>  >     I take it at face value that the current and prior boards were
> honestly
>  >     interested in reviewing ARIN governance and that this recommendation
>  >     resonates with more than just a hired consultant but with the board
> members
>  >     who commissioned the review.
>  >
>  >     I am not a fan of ARIN expanding its number stewardship
> responsibilities
>  >     beyond what is minimally necessary. I am not a fan of the board
> making
>  >     charitable donations or spending lots of money on items tangential
> to
>  >     number stewardship but some of the issues mentioned below do
> intersect with
>  >     those responsibilities. Included among these are cybersecurity, risk
>  >     management, and legal issues associated with the registration of
>  >     increasingly valuable resources. These are issues the earliest
> boards may
>  >     not have had to deal with, but these have become important today,
> and
>  >     likely there will be other issues that arise in the future.
>  >
>  >     It makes sense with proliferating duties to have a larger board, and
>  >     additionally the protection afforded against board capture lead me
> to
>  >     support this increase in board size.
>  >
>  >     Regards,
>  >     Mike Burns
>  >
>  >
>  >
>  >
>  >
>  >     ---- On Tue, 01 Mar 2022 16:06:25 -0500 Ted Mittelstaedt <
> tedm at ipinc.net>
>  >     wrote ----
>  >
>  >
>  >         Yes, this sort of thing is all the rage today. It's a big fad.
>  >         Predictably the phrase "Increase diversity of thought on issues
>  >         impacting the community" was included as a poison pill.
>  >
>  >         Anyone arguing against the idea is immediately labeled as being
> against
>  >         the magic "diversity" word and thus a bigot and racist and so
> has lost
>  >         the argument before they even make it.
>  >
>  >         You might consider that a hired consultant who says "thank you
> for that
>  >         fat check you gave me, the reality is you are doing nothing
> wrong and
>  >         don't need any of my suggestions" is going to be viewed as a
> scammer
>  >         at worst, and a stupid waste of money at best. Management
> consultants
>  >         ALWAYS recommend changes. You could hire a consulting firm to
> study
>  >         the most successful and profitable company in the world and
> they would
>  >         find something wrong.
>  >
>  >         Go ahead if you want. It just means that even less will get done
>  >         since in general the more members on any sort of governing
> committee or
>  >         team, the more conservative it is, and the harder it is to
> arrive at
>  >         a consensus.
>  >
>  >         https://hbr.org/2009/05/why-teams-dont-work
>  >
>  >         In another decade the next consultant will recommend shrinking
> the
>  >         board
>  >         so it really doesn't matter what you do now.
>  >
>  >         Ted Mittelstaedt
>  >
>  >         -------- Forwarded Message --------
>  >         Subject: [arin-announce] Consultation on Increasing the Size of
> the
>  >         ARIN
>  >         Board of Trustees
>  >         Date: Tue, 01 Mar 2022 13:54:35 -0500
>  >         From: ARIN <info at arin.net>
>  >         To: arin-announce at arin.net <arin-announce at arin.net>
>  >
>  >         The Board of Trustees maintains authority over the scope,
> mission, and
>  >         along with the President and Chief Executive Officer
> establishes ARIN’s
>  >         strategic direction and fiscal oversight. The Board also has
> oversight
>  >         authority of the nomination, appointment, and election of
> individuals
>  >         to
>  >         Board committees and similar roles.
>  >         Over the past two years, as part of its fiduciary duties, the
> ARIN
>  >         Board
>  >         of Trustees (“Board”) has undertaken a review of ARIN’s
> governance
>  >         structures, including the size of the Board. As part of this
> effort, an
>  >         independent, outside consultant was engaged to review ARIN’s
> governance
>  >         structures and provide recommendations.
>  >         One recommendation from this governance review is to increase
> the size
>  >         of the Board to strengthen its capacity to provide strategic
> and fiscal
>  >         oversight of ARIN. Increasing the Board size will:
>  >         1. Increase the range and depth of overlapping skills and
> governance
>  >         experience on the Board to augment its capability. Specific
> areas for
>  >         strengthening include cybersecurity, risk management, finance,
> legal,
>  >         technology and strategic oversight. This will require more than
> 6
>  >         elected seats at the board table to provide this experience.
>  >
>  >         2. Increase diversity of thought on issues impacting the
> community,
>  >         limit the possibility of board capture, and balance the time
> commitment
>  >         required of our community volunteers.
>  >
>  >         3. Ensure sufficient board capacity to engage in more focused,
>  >         efficient
>  >         governance activities, including participation in these
> additional
>  >         valuable committees (e.g. Governance, Risk & Cybersecurity, and
>  >         Strategy
>  >         & Foresight) to manage the work and oversight duties of the
> Board, and
>  >         to take on work that is requested by, and important to, the
> community
>  >         as
>  >         it evolves.
>  >
>  >         The budgetary impact will not be material, as the only
> increased costs
>  >         would be for travel costs involved in attending in-person Board
>  >         meetings. The number of Board members travelling to any RIR
> meeting
>  >         would not change.
>  >
>  >         Board Proposal
>  >
>  >         ARIN will increase the number of elected voting seats of the
> Board from
>  >         six to nine. The currently available appointed voting seat
> would be
>  >         removed.
>  >
>  >         The additional Board seats would be added in a staggered format
> with
>  >         one
>  >         additional seat for election in each of the upcoming election
> cycles
>  >         starting with the 2022 election period.
>  >         ARIN seeks community feedback on this proposed increase to the
> size of
>  >         the Board. This consultation will remain open for 15 days.
>  >
>  >         Please provide comments to arin-consult at arin.net. You can
> subscribe to
>  >         this mailing list at: http://lists.arin.net/mailman/listinfo/
>  >         arin-consult.
>  >
>  >         Discussion on arin-consult at arin.net will close on 15 March
> 2022.
>  >
>  >         Regards,
>  >
>  >         John Curran
>  >         President and CEO
>  >         American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN)
>  >
>  >
>  >         _______________________________________________
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>  >
>  >
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> --
>         -Barry Shein
>
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-- 
--
Kind regards,
Bartlett D. Morgan
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