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--></style></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72" style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>Hello Members,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Thanks Ron and John for providing some clarity.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Our three minute speeches did not provide a lot of time to go into detail, so I will take this opportunity to flesh things out a bit.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I wanted, like John Brown, to address the “qualifications not confirmed “ flag attached to my candidacy by the outside consultancy.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Unlike Mr. Brown, I am not aware of any attempts to verify my qualifications. I didn’t get a request for my passport, none of my colleagues were consulted, etc.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>So it’s hard to say where the confirmation failed exactly, but I have my own guess. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I wouldn’t bother reading this tome unless you want further input on those unconfirmed qualifications.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Hope I get your vote!<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Regards,<br>Mike Burns<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Despite repeated entreaties that I join a board of directors, I have demurred because I had no motivation.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I am nearing the end of my career and I have no need for resume enhancement.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>But I do think I could help the ARIN board and I do want to join the board for this purpose.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I had to create a resume for his position because I never had a resume nor a job interview since I left college in 1985. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>That’s because I started my own business and have acted as president ever since. But I am not the sole owner. In fact we have multiple owners and we operate the business in a manner consistent with a board of directors, even though we haven’t titled it so. In a real sense I have been the chairman of the board for 38 years and in that time you may imagine that just about any topic the ARIN board has to deal with is something I’ve already handled. How to confirm that I have financial, strategic, HR, security, risk, legal experiences with direct responsibility stretching back to the mid-1980s? My company has avoided lawsuits of any kind and has made payroll more that 1500 weeks in a row, never missing one. I think my overall experience with business certainly meets ARIN’s Board requirements.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>But what about dealing with groups? My answer is to point to the work I have done at ARIN in the policymaker community, a group we all are familiar with. I got involved in 2010 and promptly was able to author a very significant policy re-write of the transfer policy. Significant because the implementation of my policy really opened the IPv4 market by allowing inter-regional transfers. At the time APNIC was in severe need while ARIN still had free-pool addresses. In order to get that policy implemented, I had to work as a policy newbie with the community over months of debate and compromise. Likewise I was able to bring the LACNIC community to consensus on a policy I authored there to open the IPv4 market in their region. I have authored other policies, some implemented, some not. But they demonstrate my ability to both lead and work with groups to achieve a goal. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I didn’t get much into my technical background but it is deep. As a small company owner, much of what we’ve done has been accomplished with my own hands. This includes installing networks around the globe, physically. In Laos, Haiti, Ecuador, Costa Rica, and other countries, I built networks by installing satellite earth-stations, stringing copper and fiber, and doing a lot of climbing and installation of wireless gear. In the USA I have installed countless office LANS, hardware-based DSL networks, and more than a thousand outdoor fixed wireless access points. I’ve climbed many towers and ladders. I’ve installed and personally configured everything from dialup to ISDN to frame-relay to T1s to OC3s, routers galore. I don’t have any outside certifications, in fact my efforts started before any such things existed and I never needed them. I think my tinnitus came from spending so much time in loud colocation centers!<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>So I do have deep technical skills that stretch back to 1978 when I learned programming via 300 baud connection to Brookhaven Nation Labs. And yes I am also a programmer. I spent about 15 years providing customized accounting systems to myriad businesses. I created a platform in 2003 that automated hotspot access and credit card charging that enabled me to enter the niche of providing WiFi in RV parks throughout the USA. This required that I learn the various languages and tools involved, which I did, and created a system that has worked for 20 years. I personally wrote the code, installed the servers, and installed the gear required. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I think my technical skillset would be second to none on the board, but what do I know about how businesses run successfully? Of course I can point to my own business, but more to the point, I was a consultant who would computerize businesses and who had to know those businesses intimately to succeed. I interfaced with executive management to strategize as well as middle and lower tier employees whom I trained to use these new systems. I don’t believe any of these businesses was ever contacted to verify my statements, BTW. Beyond that I have a BS degree in business from MIT’s Sloan School, I have acquired and sold a dozen companies, and I am well versed in reading financial statements. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Legally, I have written and reviewed thousands of contracts in my life, usually with significant personal importance owing to my ownership role. I have testified in court as an expert witness as well as a fact witness in the famous case where ARIN recovered hundreds of thousands of addresses from a person who settled the day after my testimony. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>In terms of contributions to ARIN, I have written policy, debated other policy, and made some important impacts via ARIN consultations. Probably the most important were the changes to the RSA that removed ARIN’s ability to revoke addresses based on utilization, and changes to the proposed legacy RSA that would have prevented legacy owners from signing an LRSA on only part of their holdings. The first change was part of my Prop-151 back in 2011 and significantly improved the IPv4 market by reducing the fear that potential sellers had of contacting ARIN to sell their address space. I am one of the first brokers, maybe the very first. I have been dealing professionally with IPv4 since the mid 2000s, when I determined that the market would come. I purchased companies with IPv4 holdings as the only way to engage in the market, and for that reason I was invited to bid in the seminal Nortel auction in late 2010, the first public sale. I brokered two bids. I was able to see over the horizon and took many brickbats and arrows as I hung out my shingle as an IPv4 broker. I feel I also contributed to the changes to the Nominating Committee that removed its ability to exclude candidates, important to resist attempts at board capture.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I have been a registered broker here at ARIN, as well as at RIPE, APNIC, and LACNIC. Of course in that role I deal frequently with all these registries at levels from analyst to CEO. I have developed an excellent understanding of the policy framework as well as the processes of each RIR, and this would be invaluable information for the board. I have personal relationships with some of the folks involved on both sides in the AFRINIC dispute, and my feedback to the ARIN Board would be well-informed. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Personally I have a comfortable, stable life, married for 33 years with grown children. No bankruptcies, disputes, or lawsuits. I have personally been responsible for more IPv4 addresses reaching the hands of those in need than ARIN itself over the last 10 years. I think I am well qualified for this position and I hope you do, too.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b>From:</b> General-members <general-members-bounces@arin.net> <b>On Behalf Of </b>John Curran<br><b>Sent:</b> Thursday, October 24, 2024 3:06 PM<br><b>To:</b> Ron da Silva <ronald.v.dasilva@gmail.com><br><b>Cc:</b> general-members@arin.net<br><b>Subject:</b> [General-members] TIMELY - Use of general-members list for campaigning (Re: election communications challenges)<br><b>Importance:</b> High<o:p></o:p></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Ron - <o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><blockquote style='margin-left:30.0pt;margin-right:0in'><div><p class=MsoNormal>We are working on ARIN Candidate communication guidelines that would cover your questions below - including appropriate use of the general members list in elections, but that’s obviously something the Board needs to consider and finalize and thus would apply to future elections. <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>However, given that we already have some candidates who have send a message to the list, there is a need to immediately clarify the use of this list in the present election. <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>In order to maintain equity and fairness to all candidates, I would ask that each candidate for the ARIN Board of Trustees feel free to send <b>one (1)</b> message to this mailing list seeking the support of the general members (if they so desire) – and otherwise please avoid campaign advocacy on ARIN mailing lists at this time. <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></blockquote><p class=MsoNormal>Thanks! <o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal>/John<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal>John Curran<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>President and CEO<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>American Registry for Internet Numbers<o:p></o:p></p></div></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div><blockquote style='margin-top:5.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt'><div><p class=MsoNormal>On Oct 24, 2024, at 1:56 PM, Ron da Silva via General-members <<a href="mailto:general-members@arin.net">general-members@arin.net</a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div><p class=MsoNormal>All, <o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>I’m just listening to John Sweeting talking at ARIN54 about the purpose of this mailing list as a vehicle for candidates to communicate with members’ voting contacts. But, I think there are some general challenges with this approach. I have a few questions for discussion: <o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>- Are the candidates expected to exclusively advocate here, sharing their comments not only with members of the mailing list but also the other candidates?<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>- Are members of this list only the voting contacts? Or broadly open to any member representative?<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>- It seems like some members appreciate being contacted to offer motivations and asking of support, but others seem to strongly take offense to any contact. If the goal is to communicate with the voting contacts, do voting contacts prefer that to be done only here or also welcome direct communication via POC info? Or both?<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>- POC info very is challenging for communications (even if just admin contacts) as they are not necessarily the voting contact and may or may not appreciate candidates reaching out. (And voting contacts are obfuscated to the general public.)<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>PS: I remember seeing previous candidates sending out support solicitations to this list and were chastised for doing so. Thus, perhaps the hesitation candidates might have using this mailing list for that purpose.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>So, this email is less about asking for your support (which is welcomed of course!) but more about how to make the process as effective as possible.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Thoughts?<o:p></o:p></p><div><div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'>-ron<o:p></o:p></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><p class=MsoNormal>-- <br>General-members mailing list<br><a href="mailto:General-members@arin.net">General-members@arin.net</a><br><a href="https://lists.arin.net/mailman/listinfo/general-members">https://lists.arin.net/mailman/listinfo/general-members</a><o:p></o:p></p></div></blockquote></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></div></div></body></html>