<div dir="ltr">I agree with Jason and Rob, simply expanding the number of board seats without some mechanism to ensure that the new seats actually expand diversity is not helpful, and I can not support such a change. I will note it is theoretically possible that, the membership will fill the new Board seats with a more diverse set of board members, but it is equally, if not more, likely that they will not, and the board will look much as it does today but slightly larger. A slightly larger board that has more diversity is a fair trade-off and I support such a change if it includes a mechanism to ensure that the new seats actually expand diversity.<div><div><br></div><div>I don't think a regional representation system would be helpful over all, it wouldn't necessarily help increasing the number of women on the board, and it would formalize a constituency for some board members that isn't the whole membership, and I'm not sure that would be a healthy change either.</div><div><br></div><div>As an alternative, I would propose that the board earmark the additional seat in each class for candidates with particular divers properties that are underrepresented on the board. Currently, I see the most pressing lack of diversity being women in general and anyone from the Caribbean. So I would propose that the extra seat for the 1st and 3rd class of broad members be earmarked for women, and the extra seat in the 2nd class be earmarked for someone from the Caribbean. Overtime if the make up of the board changes the earmarks could be changed to select candidates with other divers properties or if in the future it is felt that sufficient diversity can be maintained without earmarks, the earmarks could be eliminated. </div></div><div><br></div><div>Under this proposal, there would be two(2) general seats with the current qualifications, and one special diversity seat per class with the current qualifications plus additional diversity qualifications specified by the board, maybe with input from the community and/or the nomcom.</div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">Thanks.</div><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">===============================================<br>David Farmer <a href="mailto:Email%3Afarmer@umn.edu" target="_blank">Email:farmer@umn.edu</a><br>Networking & Telecommunication Services<br>Office of Information Technology<br>University of Minnesota <br>2218 University Ave SE Phone: 612-626-0815<br>Minneapolis, MN 55414-3029 Cell: 612-812-9952<br>=============================================== </div>
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