NomCom ends selection with Africa scoring least in expression of interest

As the Nominating Committee (NomCom) of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) completed its 2009 selection process, the continent of Africa scored the least among others in the expression of interest for ICANN’s board of directors, At-Large Committee (ALAC), Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) and Country Code Names Supporting Organisation (ccNSO) council.

NomCom is charged with recruiting and selecting a portion of ICANN’s community leadership. NomCom works to make sure that overall, ICANN’s leadership is diverse in geography, culture, skills, experience, and perspective.

Out of the five key continents that participated in the selection through statement of interest totaling 86 applicants, Africa came last with 10 candidates, followed by the Latin America/Carribbean with 12 submissions.

The third place went to North America with 17 expressions, while Europe got 23, the Asia-Australia-Pacific scored 24 to top the list of candidates for the committee’s selection.

Equally, this year’s NomCom which opened nomination from December 2, 2008 to April 15, 2009, with 71 of the 2009 candidates being men and 15 were women.

However, ICANN Nominating Committee (NomCom) has completed its selections for nine leadership positions within ICANN, with Tricia Drakes presiding.

She expressed optimism that her team would deliver on their expectations.

“We are delighted to announce this year’s selectees to ICANN’s leadership. They include highly accomplished individuals from Russia, India, Malaysia, Jamaica, Argentina, Chile and the United States. The Committee’s hard work has given us a result that we believe balances continuity and diversity, and includes the selection of the youngest ever member to serve on the ICANN Board. We have added some new faces to the mix, but I hope the community will agree that there is a real depth of experience as well,” she said.

The basic criteria are that nominees are people of integrity, objectivity and judgment, could help group decision-making, could work effectively through English, have an understanding of ICANN’s mission with commitment to its success, by contributing to cultural, professional and geographic expertise, through long hard work volunteerism in the global public trust.

The NomCom evaluated over eighty candidates, many of whom were unusually strong, against key criteria set out in the ICANN Bylaws.

The Committee also wanted to include some of those with skills, expertise and experience in some of the important new areas where ICANN may face challenges throughout the organization over the next few years, including IDNs (internationalized domain names).

Further, the Committee said it took seriously the evolving and increasing importance of independent board directors, and in so doing found itself unable to appoint to the board some very experienced applicants whom it might otherwise have wished to do so.

Those who made NomCom list for the board of directors include Rajasekar Ramaraj, India who is on second term,Gonzalo Navarro, Chile, George Sadowsky, United States, while those selected into the ALAC family comprised of James Seng, Malaysian citizen residing in China, Carlton Samuels, Jamaica, and Mauritius Dave Kissoondoyal. In addition, the GNSO council has Olga Cavalli, Argentina who is on the second term, Andrey Kolesnikov, Russian Federation, whereas the ccNSO Council has J. Beckwith Burr (Becky), United States, also on second term.

The nominees will take up their positions at the end of ICANN’s Annual Meeting in Seoul, Korea on October 30, 2009.

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