[council] Letter to community from Fadi Chehadé

Tue Nov 6 22:59:24 UTC 2012

Hello All,

Attached for convenience is the letter from Fadi to the community - published on the ICANN website - with a summary of key goals between now and Beijing. 

Regards,
Bruce Tonkin

5 November 2012

Dear ICANN Community Friends and Colleagues,

Thank you for your warm welcome and expressions of support during my first weeks in this new role. The responsibilities you have entrusted me with are truly awesome. We have much to do together, so let's get to work!

In Toronto, I promised you a summary of my key goals for the trimester ahead until we meet in Beijing. Here it is.

OPERATIONS EXCELLENCE

Operations Excellence is our highest priority. When ICANN fulfills its operational mission with distinction, it will not only strengthen the Domain Name System of which we are stewards, it will also engender trust and confidence, which are crucial to enhancing understanding and support for our role.

The leadership team and I agreed that we have three key goals in this area for the trimester ahead:

(1) Deliver on every aspect of the new gTLD program launch next year, meeting obligations and securing the necessary resources and personnel to lead the transition from what has been a policy-driven effort to implementation of a responsive and reliable operation.   As a first step, we are working to advance the dialogue on implementation of the Trademark Clearing House.   We must also execute the prioritization draw, evaluations, and pre-delegation tests flawlessly.

(2) We will build a new gTLD services department including relationship/contract management, operations services, and support services.  The new department will be structured to implement policies, operationalize its services for scale, and establish a tiered support center for the growing number of brands, registries, and registrars.  Members of this new team will also shadow the policy development process to ensure we are developing 'implementable' policies before they are finalized.  Finally, we will plan to reach consensus on a solid and enforceable Registrar Accreditation Agreement that is fair and balanced.

(3) We will institutionalize management disciplines and implement an automated management system to increase visibility and accountability.  The new system will enhance our metrics for delivery of on-time and on-budget projects.  Once the system is operational, we will proceed to re-organize ICANN staff under the new leadership team using a matrix structure integrating global/regional/local roles to enable the internationalization of ICANN's mission and reduce departmental silos that hinder efficiencies.

INTERNATIONALIZATION

Our team will lead the realization of these key goals during the next trimester:

(1) Following the successful model of the African community - in which a diverse group of stakeholders assessed their strengths and needs and presented a proposed engagement strategy for ICANN - we are starting discussions with stakeholders in Latin America and the Caribbean, India, Brazil, Turkey, and other locations.  In this engagement model, ICANN will seek guidance from a country-level, multi-stakeholder, bottom-up process.  These efforts will be in concert with members of our community and with fellow Internet coordinating organizations.

(2) We will retool and 'localize' our communications efforts to get closer to our stakeholders everywhere.  Following the successful launch of myICANN, we will continue to enhance this important engagement platform with increased functionality and content, specifically adding tools to streamline our collaborative activities with constituencies spread all over the world.

(3) We will evolve ICANN's relationships with governments and IGOs, promulgating to policy makers and negotiators a clear understanding of ICANN's role. Our goal is increased awareness, acceptance and support for ICANN's multistakeholder model.  We will achieve this with a broader engagement team, strategically deployed globally.

EVOLVE THE MULTI STAKEHOLDER MODEL

To evolve the multistakeholder model we need to both prepare for changes resulting from the new gTLD program and also improve the processes by which policy is made. We will also further promote the legitimacy of our model by demonstrating its effectiveness and its transparency.  Our team will focus on these key deliverables:

(1) We will enable more substantive inter-sessional discussions among stakeholders on challenging issues -- with particular focus on the new gTLD program -- and will encourage participants to see issues from the viewpoints of others.  We will encourage consultation, collaboration and even negotiation among stakeholder groups on an ongoing basis, with an aim toward arriving at ICANN public meetings with more consensus.

(2) ICANN's program to improve ethics and transparency is well underway, with the third of three independent/external reviews now completing its work. We will convert the recommendations of the reviews that have not yet been adopted into implementable standards and policies.

(3) We will launch a strategy effort to retool the ICANN SO/AC structures, preparing them to serve the next billion Internet users - most of whom will emerge from outside North America and Europe.

AFFIRMATION OF PURPOSE

We will lead three key initiatives in this area:

(1) We will plan the next Accountability and Transparency Review Team while pro-actively and continuously reviewing the efficacy of changes made as a result of the last ATRT review.

(2) To strengthen our commitment to the public interest, we will launch a community effort addressing the WHOIS debate in a strategic way, to resolve the longstanding open items in this area.

(3) We will plan a community wide effort to formulate an updated ICANN strategy for the next 3 years.

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You heard me speak in Toronto about Malala, the child who was shot and nearly killed by extremists for promoting the education of young girls . We are all relieved that she is now on the road to recovery!

The Internet gave a voice to Malala and brought news of her plight to the world. Together, we are entrusted with this awesome resource. I invite each one of you to join me - along with our superb ICANN staff and board - on the hard but very worthwhile journey to make ICANN a model of efficiency and reliability.

We are off to a new season!

Fadi
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