[rpd] Board Election 2017: Final Candidate Slate

[Andrew Alston]

My personal opinion,

The current nomination guidelines end up hamstringing us –

To look at this – let us look at what a board is meant to do


a.)     They are meant to ensure that the company is a sustainable on-going concern – translation – that the company is financially stable, can cover its expenses and isn’t going to go broke

b.)     They are meant to set strategic direction and do high level planning

c.)     They are meant to ensure that the companies bylaws are followed, and where applicable, that the companies act is followed – there can be no deviation from that

d.)     Tying back to point (a) they are meant to ensure there isn’t fruitless and wasteful expenditure going on

Basically – to put it simply – a board member is meant to ensure the company is healthy and has sound strategies to ensure that it remains such.  The major difference between a non-profit and a profit seeking organization is that the board strategies need not be designed to produce a “profit” in the latter, since there are no distribution of profits.  On the former, the board has to revert back to point (a) – and that means generating enough financial income to ensure that there is sufficient reserve to cover the company in the event of unexpected expenses etc, while generating enough money to also pay the operational expenses.

Now, when you consider that – Let’s look at what you really need on a board.


a.)     You need financial skills – Yes – the CFO and the management of the company produce the financials – Yes the auditors check those financials that are submitted – but it is the board that have to sign off on those financials and it is the board that is liable in the event of trading which could be considered reckless (spending money where there is a risk that it could lead you to liquidation for example)

b.)     You need legal skills – Yes – you can have legal advisors – but the law is a tricky thing – and the board has to be able to properly interpret the legal advice received and sometimes make decisions on if it should be heeded or discarded (though I would argue the latter would be extremely dangerous)

c.)     You need strategic people – people who understand the market in which we operate and the dynamics behind it

d.)     You need (to a limited degree) technical people – who can understand the technical implications of any decisions made should that arise

e.)     You need people who have experience dealing with regulatory issues – because if we like it or not – that plays a role in what we are doing as an RIR.

By and large though – the people you need are people with real business experience at senior levels who have an understanding of how to balance the functioning of a company.  The vast majority of technical aspects are handled by the staff of the organization – they are not handled at a board level.

Now – on to my original statement in this email about being hamstrung by the nomcom guidelines.  We have a requirement that says that candidates must have participated in X number of meetings in X amount of time.  I would argue that the meetings do not lend themselves to the types of people you want running a company.    The types of people you want running a company have deep business experience and are in C level structures – the nature of AfriNIC meetings is that they are fundamentally technical .  That is not a bad thing and I think that the AfriNIC meetings are great – I just think that the participation requirements limit the TYPE of candidate we so desperately need.

As regards education levels – I’m ambivalent – if I look at many academic systems (Germany, the UK, South Africa, and many other places), there is a thing called recognition of prior learning.  And that recognition of prior learning encompasses experience gained over the years and a variety of other factors.  I believe that there are many successful people who have risen to the top of their respective organizations and to the level where they have sufficient experience that can be proven and demonstrated to perform the function – and any restriction that limits the participation of such people would be counter productive.

I would argue that people who can be clearly shown to have delivered on projects and on promises that they have made in this industry would also be strong candidates – a track record of delivery against what is said is probably for me the most important requirement.  Anyone can right a CV – anyone can claim academic prowess – it’s a far more limited group that can demonstrate actual fundamental delivery and actions taken.  It is out of that limited group, with considering to everything else I have said above, that I believe we need to find our candidates.

Andrew


From: Ish Sookun <ish at lsl.digital>
Organization: LSL Digital
Date: Monday, 22 May 2017 at 14:52
To: "mje at posix.co.za" <mje at posix.co.za>, "rpd at afrinic.net" <rpd at afrinic.net>
Subject: Re: [rpd] Board Election 2017: Final Candidate Slate

Hi Mark,

On 22/05/17 15:39, Mark Elkins wrote:
> When I first became a Board Member of AFRINIC eighth or so years ago,
> there was a young lady from Kenya who also joined. She was fresh out of
> University and, as only two people volunteered for East Africa, and
> there were two places to fill, she got on. Never came to a meeting and
> met her only once at ICANN in Kenya.

That's indicative of a lack of engagement by other community members. I
had a similar experience in Mauritius.

In my opinion a volunteer with little or no experience should be given a
chance if there is no other suitable candidate, like in the case you
mentioned. Age is not always indicative of experience.

How does Afrinic currently address non-participation of board members
(if it's still happening)?

Regards,

Ish Sookun

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