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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=060531021-17122009>Peter,</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=060531021-17122009></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=060531021-17122009>I know that Staff
has already informed the Board that the GNSO Council approved a motion earlier
today to forward the STI Review Team Recommendations to the Board, but I
wanted to follow-up with some personal observations.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=060531021-17122009></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=060531021-17122009>Over the last 10
years the DNSO/GNSO has often been criticized for its inability to get things
done and those criticisms are accepted. The very nature of a
global, bottom-up policy development process requires great time and
effort and developing processes for making it successful have been an
ongoing challenge, one that is continuing now and will into the future. At
the same time, I personally believe that we have seen progressive
improvements over</SPAN></FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=060531021-17122009> the last several years and those improvements laid the
foundation for the accomplishments of the STI Review Team.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=060531021-17122009></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=060531021-17122009>I want to make sure
that the Board and the broader ICANN community appreciate the significance of
the STI Review Team work. They were given a very difficult task with a
nearly impossible deadline. Were it not for the scheduling of the GNSO Council
meeting, the deadline would have been met. As it stands, the Council
missed the deadline by only three days. </SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=060531021-17122009></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=060531021-17122009>I cannot take any
credit for this accomplishment. The full credit goes to each member of the
STI Review Team and the Staff members who supported them. As you know, I
have been around since the beginning of ICANN. I have never been so
impressed with the cooperative spirit of everyone on a team. At the
beginning, I don't think there were many who thought it was possible to reach
any sort of reasonable agreement and especially in such a short timeframe.
But, without exception, every individual and the groups they
represented constructively worked together to produce the product you
received. There are still points of disagreement that will be further
vetted in the coming days and weeks, but the overall package of recommendations
is one that the Council unanimously supported.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=060531021-17122009></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=060531021-17122009>I know full
Board will join me in acknowledging this accomplishment and thanking all
those who made it happen. I am not going to call out names because that
would require naming everyone on the team. It was a classic example of
teamwork.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=060531021-17122009></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=060531021-17122009>Sincerely,</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=060531021-17122009></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=060531021-17122009>Chuck
Gomes</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=060531021-17122009>GNSO Council
Chair</SPAN></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>