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<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN class=700341023-17122009>Hello
Chuck,</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=700341023-17122009></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN class=700341023-17122009>I
can't speak on behalf of the ICANN Board, but would like to personally add my
support to your note below, and acknowledge the hard work and willingness to
compromise that resulted in the outcome today.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=700341023-17122009></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN class=700341023-17122009>I
would also like to comment that the new gTLD policy itself - was a result of a
similar determined effort by the members of that committee, and is good to see
the GNSO community continue to work together to reach a compromise and advance
the work that started in 1999 (or earlier :-)).</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=700341023-17122009></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=700341023-17122009></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=700341023-17122009>Regards,</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN class=700341023-17122009>Bruce
Tonkin</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=700341023-17122009></SPAN></FONT> </DIV><BR>
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<FONT size=2 face=Tahoma><B>From:</B> owner-council@gnso.icann.org
[mailto:owner-council@gnso.icann.org] <B>On Behalf Of </B>Gomes,
Chuck<BR><B>Sent:</B> Friday, 18 December 2009 9:07 AM<BR><B>To:</B>
secretary@icann.org<BR><B>Cc:</B> GNSO Council<BR><B>Subject:</B> [council]
GNSO Council Approval of STI Review Team Recommendations<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=060531021-17122009>Peter,</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=060531021-17122009></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><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 size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=060531021-17122009></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><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 size=2 face=Arial><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 size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=060531021-17122009></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><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 size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=060531021-17122009></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><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 size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=060531021-17122009></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><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 size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=060531021-17122009></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=060531021-17122009>Sincerely,</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=060531021-17122009></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><SPAN class=060531021-17122009>Chuck
Gomes</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><SPAN class=060531021-17122009>GNSO Council
Chair</SPAN></FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>