<div dir="ltr">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.<br><br>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. <br><br>My $0.02 CAD (or $0.016 USD).<div><br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr">On Tue, Apr 10, 2018 at 10:48 AM Jimmy Hess <<a href="mailto:mysidia@gmail.com">mysidia@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">On Tue, Apr 10, 2018 at 10:21 AM, Adam Brenner <<a href="mailto:adam@solidnetwork.org" target="_blank">adam@solidnetwork.org</a>> wrote:<br>
<br>
> The first and *only* priority from ARIN should be seeking candidates who are<br>
> qualified for the position; diversity should not be in that conversation.<br>
<br>
Agreed. A level of diversity in the demographics of board members<br>
is not necessary, and<br>
representation is not a superficial quality --- a board member from<br>
any region, culture, and<br>
demographic can represent ARIN members who are from any region,<br>
culture, or demographic.<br>
<br>
Qualified board members have the ability to represent the membership<br>
regardless of their<br>
own physical characteristics, or which region the board member<br>
happens to come from through<br>
their own experiences and through discussions with those they<br>
represent at public meetings,<br>
etc.<br>
<br>
Diversity is not a good reason for expanding the board which also<br>
incurs more annual expenses for ARIN<br>
to maintain a larger board, and may have undesirable result of<br>
reducing the effectiveness of<br>
a board which is currently effective, since larger committees have<br>
more difficulties coming into agreement.<br>
<br>
Expanding the size also increases the risk of members voting in a<br>
less-qualified or non-qualified<br>
candidate onto the board, Because there are fewer qualified<br>
candidates than openings available to<br>
nominate, and the voting system will pick up someone with the most<br>
votes, even if that is 1 vote.<br>
<br>
<br>
--<br>
-JH<br>
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</blockquote></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr">Alyssa Moore <br>Policy & Strategy Advisor<br>Cybera</div></div>