Hi, as you may have seen, as part of their CEO search (https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/ceo-search-2023-en), the ICANN Board is scheduling a number of Listening Sessions. One of these sessions is tomorrow: ICANN has asked that the IETF and ISOC summarize feedback from our membership, but the given timeline was insufficient to hold an IETF community consultation to gather and compile feedback. We explained this to ICANN and instead offered feedback from the IESG and IAB only. In the interest of transparency, I am including below a writeup of the IESG and IAB feedback I intend to convey tomorrow. Note that the Listening Session is public and anyone from the IETF community is invited to listen in. The conferencing link is https://icann.zoom.us/j/97008608248?pwd=SVd1UmFEZUlDQ2JrRUFISEFES2Y2dz09. I apologize for the short notice. Thanks, Lars -- We appreciate the opportunity to provide feedback to the ICANN Board on the qualifications, characteristics, and qualities the Search Committee should take into account in their selection of ICANN’s next CEO. This document summarizes the consensus opinion of the individuals serving on the IETF’s Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG) and Internet Architecture Board (IAB), but may not capture the consensus opinion of the wider IETF community. Due to the requested timeline for providing feedback for the Listening Session, we were unfortunately unable to solicit feedback from the wider IETF community. The ICANN Board should keep this in mind as they take our feedback into account, and we hope the IESG and IAB positions will still be useful input. We will be providing our input during the Listening Call as requested, but we also thought it would be helpful to submit a written summary to the ICANN Board. We also intend to publish this feedback summary for full transparency and to keep the wider IETF community informed. The IETF leadership is optimistic about the future of ICANN and the opportunities ahead as the organization continues to play a critical role administering and coordinating Internet naming and numbering. We recognize that the challenges facing ICANN are significant, but we are confident that with the right leadership, the organization will be well-equipped to address these challenges head-on and continue to serve as the steward of Internet naming and numbering. As ICANN searches for its next CEO, we believe that the ideal candidate will possess a number of important qualifications, characteristics, and qualities. First and foremost, the next CEO of ICANN must be committed to the organization's mission of ensuring the stable and secure operation of the Internet's unique identifier systems. They must have a deep understanding of the technical, policy, and governance issues that ICANN deals with on a daily basis, and be able to work collaboratively with other stakeholders and partners from around the world to advance the organization's goals. The next CEO of ICANN will play a critical role in strengthening partnerships with organizations such as the ccTLDs, the RIRs, the Internet Society, and the IETF. These organizations are all key players in the Internet ecosystem, and working collaboratively with them is essential to ensuring that the Internet remains open, stable, and secure for all users. The next CEO of ICANN must be able to work closely with these organizations to ensure that they have the support they need to fulfill their respective missions. This may involve providing technical assistance, sharing best practices, coordinating on issues related to Internet governance and policy, and ensuring that ICANN's policies and practices dovetail with our shared goals and values. To be successful, it is important that the next CEO is someone with a proven ability to build consensus amongst diverse stakeholders, both inside and outside ICANN. As the main representative of the ICANN community, they need to understand that their authority comes from having built community consensus for major decisions and positions they take; ICANN and the broader Internet community are not top-down organizations. The IETF is among the organizations that the ICANN CEO needs to have an understanding of, which is of course our particular focus. The IETF is responsible for developing and maintaining the technical standards that underpin the Internet, including the technical standards for the naming layer of the Internet. The IETF's work ensures that the technical evolution of the technical standards and best practices for the Internet’s naming layer continue to improve the Internet’s openness, interoperability, privacy and security. The next CEO of ICANN must understand the vital role the IETF plays, the importance of its bottom-up consensus process, and must be committed to supporting the IETF’s mission. In addition, the CEO should have a demonstrated commitment to a single, universally accessible, global DNS with a unique root. They should also understand the scope of the role of the DNS in the Internet today, and should support collaborations within the technical community that strengthen the security and performance of the DNS without unnecessarily expanding the role of the DNS in the Internet infrastructure. In addition to technical expertise, the next CEO of ICANN must also be a skilled communicator and advocate. They must be able to build strong relationships with stakeholders and be able to navigate complex political and evolving regulatory environments with tact and diplomacy. They must be able to effectively articulate ICANN's mission and vision to a wide range of audiences, including policymakers, business leaders, civil society organizations, and the general public. They must be an advocate for the multistakeholder model. Finally, we believe that the next CEO of ICANN must be a strategic thinker who is able to clearly articulate our shared vision for the future of the Internet and our shared process of bottom-up consensus policy development. They must be able to anticipate emerging trends and challenges, and be able to develop innovative solutions that enable ICANN, together with its partner organizations, to navigate an increasingly difficult terrain. They must be able to inspire and motivate staff, stakeholders and partners alike to work towards a common vision of a more open, inclusive, and secure Internet. In conclusion, the IETF leadership is optimistic about the future of ICANN and we look forward to working with the organization's next CEO to advance our shared goals. We hope that the feedback in this document will be useful to the Search Committee in identifying a candidate with a combination of technical expertise, communication skills, and strategic vision. |
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