[OpenID board] URGENT: New Board members motion

Tue Nov 4 19:45:30 UTC 2008

To be clear, I'm very comfortable adding new corporate members.  I voted
with the consensus on that one.

-DeWitt

On Tue, Nov 4, 2008 at 11:42 AM, Dick Hardt <dick.hardt at gmail.com> wrote:

> I understand the logic of not self-selecting community board seats -- and
> saying we are going to have an election in a few weeks likely will drive
> membership given the recent OpenID awareness.
> I don't understand why you are uncomfortable adding new corporate board
> members. Would you elaborate?
>
> -- Dick
>
> On 4-Nov-08, at 12:21 PM, DeWitt Clinton wrote:
>
> I remain uncomfortable adding any new board members, corporate or
> otherwise, until we hold the election.
>
> Admittedly, back around Feb/March this year I was vocal about wanting us to
> have a larger membership base before holding elections.  A membership drive
> was one way to do that.  Another was my suggestion to drop membership fees.
>
> But now I'm reversing my earlier position.  (Had I known the election would
> be pushed all the way into 2009 waiting for a membership drive, then I
> wouldn't have taken that position to begin with.)
>
> So I recommend we just go ahead and hold the election now.  Worst case, we
> have a board that represents a smaller membership than we'd like.  I'd still
> prefer that over self-selecting new community board members.
>
> -DeWitt
>
> On Tue, Nov 4, 2008 at 10:52 AM, Dick Hardt <dick.hardt at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> It will be a while before we can have a real election.
>> We agreed we would finish our messaging so that we could then market to
>> the membership so that it is clear the value of membership. Then we can have
>> nominations, then we can vote.
>>
>> We are still a little ways from having the messaging done. A marketing
>> drive and nomination process likely will take a couple weeks each at least.
>> We are minimum a couple months from having an election unfortunately.
>>
>> -- Dick
>>
>> On 4-Nov-08, at 11:09 AM, DeWitt Clinton wrote:
>>
>> Rather than do it this way, why don't we simply start an open nomination
>> process (i.e., not nominations made by the board) and schedule a real
>> community election, as voted in by the members?
>>
>> -DeWitt
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Nov 4, 2008 at 10:04 AM, Drummond Reed <
>> drummond.reed at cordance.net> wrote:
>>
>>>  +1 to Snorri's nomination – his work speaks for itself.
>>>
>>>
>>> =Drummond
>>>
>>>   ------------------------------
>>>
>>> *From:* board-bounces at openid.net [mailto:board-bounces at openid.net] *On
>>> Behalf Of *David Recordon
>>> *Sent:* Tuesday, November 04, 2008 9:42 AM
>>> *To:* board at openid.net
>>> *Subject:* Re: [OpenID board] URGENT: New Board members motion
>>>
>>>
>>> If we're in nomination mode, then I'd also like to nominate Snorri to
>>> join as a community board member (if he is willing to accept that
>>> nomination).  Snorri has done amazing community work internationally which
>>> should be directly supported by the Foundation.
>>>
>>>
>>> On Nov 4, 2008, at 11:38 AM, Drummond Reed wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>   +1 to all Brian's points here. I want to clarify again that my
>>> objection last week was not to moving forward on this – I am very supportive
>>> of adding additional corporate board members immediately -- it was only to
>>> the difficulty of closing what turned out to be a contentious issue via an
>>> email vote.
>>>
>>>
>>> I am all for holding a vote this week if we want to call a meeting. Worst
>>> case we could hold the vote at the BOD meeting next Monday afternoon at IIW.
>>> (Have we set an exact time/location for that meeting? Will there be dial-in
>>> so all board members can participate if they are not at IIW in person?)
>>>
>>>
>>> Also, in terms of community board members, I would like to nominate Brian
>>> Kissel to join as a community board member (if he is willing to accept that
>>> nomination). I'd move for that vote to be held at the same time so he could
>>> join the board at the same time as the new corporate board members.
>>>
>>>
>>> =Drummond
>>>
>>>    ------------------------------
>>>
>>> *From:* board-bounces at openid.net [mailto:board-bounces at openid.net<board-bounces at openid.net>
>>> ] *On Behalf Of *Brian Kissel
>>> *Sent:* Monday, November 03, 2008 4:47 PM
>>> *To:* board at openid.net
>>> *Subject:* Re: [OpenID board] URGENT: New Board members motion
>>>
>>>
>>> +1 with Dick on additional corporate members.  I've had conversations
>>> with BBC (Zac Bjelogrlic, Dirk-willem Van.gulik ) and PayPal (Andrew Nash)
>>> and know that both organizations would both like to join.  I don't know who
>>> else in on the list of possible new members, but if we have up to 5
>>> corporate spots to fill and these two firms are willing to make a commitment
>>> of time and dollars, I think we should not delay.
>>>
>>>
>>> BBC has already shown their leadership by hosting the Content Provider
>>> Advisory Committee meeting in NYC several weeks ago.  They've also OpenID
>>> enabled RadioPop and are looking at additional properties to roll out.
>>> They've offered to work with NPR (who was also at the NYC session) to see if
>>> we can get BBC, NPR, PBS, and CBC to collaborate on OpenID enablement
>>> initiatives.  And in any case, we need some large representative RPs on the
>>> BOD.  As I've said before, I think media companies are a next logical
>>> adopter of OpenID, so would welcome BBC's membership.
>>>
>>>
>>> PayPal would also be great because they have a lot of experience in
>>> managing phishing and general security infrastructure and represent the
>>> perspective of merchants and payment infrastructure providers, which we need
>>> represented on the BOD if we want to continue to expand the applicability
>>> and value of OpenID beyond user generated content access.
>>>
>>>
>>> I don't know if these are the companies we're thinking about voting on
>>> near term, but if so, I would strongly endorse their membership.  I also
>>> agree with Dick that getting the funding commitment from these two companies
>>> in uncertain financial times is critical and will actually help with hiring
>>> the new ED and coming up with a reasonable budget for the various
>>> initiatives we'll want to undertake in 2009.  For those that didn't see Nat
>>> Sakimura's announcement about OpenID Japan<http://openid.net/2008/11/03/openid-japan-launches-with-32-member-companies/>,
>>> they are making great progress and we need to have equally compelling
>>> aspirations.
>>>
>>>
>>> With respect to community membership, JanRain would certainly welcome the
>>> opportunity to contribute as a BOD member, but we'll continue to participate
>>> via my membership on the Marketing and Customer Research Committee
>>> regardless.
>>>
>>>
>>> We are working with Research Media to get the OpenID membership polling
>>> solution working this week and the BOD election system working next week.
>>> Regardless of that, I don't think we should wait on the BOD vote the two
>>> additional corporate members.
>>>
>>>
>>> There is a lot of good buzz going on right now with the Microsoft and
>>> Google announcements.  If we could also announce these two new corporate BOD
>>> members at IIW, that we can continue to build on that momentum.
>>>
>>>
>>> So, IMHO, we should do the vote on the 2 additional corporate sponsors
>>> right now (assuming they are still willing) and finalize them this week.  If
>>> we want to wait on community members, that's fine with me.
>>>
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>>
>>>
>>> Brian
>>>
>>> *==============*
>>>
>>> *Brian Kissel*
>>>
>>> *Cell: 503.866.4424*
>>>
>>> *Fax: 503.296.5502*
>>>
>>>
>>> *From:* board-bounces at openid.net [mailto:board-bounces at openid.net<board-bounces at openid.net>
>>> ] *On Behalf Of *Dick Hardt
>>> *Sent:* Monday, November 03, 2008 3:54 PM
>>> *To:* board at openid.net
>>> *Subject:* Re: [OpenID board] URGENT: New Board members motion
>>>
>>>
>>> I don't see any advantage to the coupling of hiring an ED and bringing on
>>> new board members. Any ED is going to look at the risk of getting paid.
>>> Bringing in money before hand is a good sign. In the current economic
>>> climate, making a donation to a Foundation is going to come under increased
>>> scrutiny.
>>>
>>>
>>> The bylaws allow the board to appoint temporary community board members
>>> as need be -- something we would want to do in case someone needs to resign
>>> for some reason.
>>>
>>>
>>> Only bringing on corporate members one at elections does not serve us
>>> well. We have a product, which is membership, and we should remove barriers
>>> to selling it rather then raising it -- and requiring the timing to coincide
>>> with an election does not serve anyone well -- except those that want to
>>> make board membership exclusive.
>>>
>>>
>>> We have been working on having elections since last March.
>>>
>>>
>>> As noted in my financial report, not bringing these corporate members on
>>> board was a bad financial decision.
>>>
>>>
>>> -- Dick
>>>
>>>
>>> On 24-Oct-08, at 6:49 PM, DeWitt Clinton wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> Sort of.  I think we should have finished the discussion about how to
>>> proceed with a full five new corporate board members, timed that around the
>>> hiring of the new ED, and ideally scheduled all of it around the election of
>>> new community members.  With those three pieces in place we then could make
>>> a coordinated engagement on all three.  Four pieces, in fact, as we can
>>> count the CRC in there as well.
>>>
>>> I share your frustration, Dick, and I agree that sometimes a vote makes a
>>> good forcing function.  It's taken far too long to get where we are, and I
>>> happen to concur that those were fine nominees.  And I especially welcome
>>> Brian's continued leadership in any case.
>>>
>>> Hopefully this is the kick in the pants we need to close in expediently
>>> on the missing pieces.  And then I'd welcome seeing this come up for a vote
>>> again in the near future.
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>>
>>> -DeWitt
>>>
>>> On Fri, Oct 24, 2008 at 5:33 PM, Dick Hardt <dick.hardt at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Do you have a suggestion on how this should have been done differently by
>>> me?
>>>
>>>
>>> I made the motion on the board call and agreed to withdraw it until after
>>> the membership committee report was published, and then we could do the vote
>>> over email. Agreed that the vote should have been started on the public list
>>> -- but we are here now.
>>>
>>>
>>> Do you have a new motion to bring the nominees on the board that you
>>> would support that we could act upon?
>>>
>>>
>>> -- Dick
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 24-Oct-08, at 5:17 PM, DeWitt Clinton wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> This is not a vote against any of the nominees, but procedurally and
>>> organizationally we can do better than this.  Hence to the motion as it
>>> stands at this time:
>>>
>>> -1
>>>
>>> -DeWitt
>>>
>>> On Thu, Oct 23, 2008 at 1:03 PM, Raj Mata <rajmata at yahoo-inc.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> -1.
>>>
>>> Agree with Gary.
>>>
>>> Raj
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: board-bounces at openid.net [mailto:board-bounces at openid.net] On
>>>
>>> Behalf Of Krall, Gary
>>> Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2008 12:42 PM
>>> To: board at openid.net
>>>
>>> Subject: Re: [OpenID board] URGENT: New Board members motion
>>>
>>> -1.
>>>
>>> As we are actively in the process of recruiting for a Executive Director
>>> which my understanding is should complete shortly coupled; with the
>>> manner in which this vote has been requested/handled is a clear
>>> indication to me that adding any additional members at this time would
>>> not be prudent.
>>>
>>> Gary.
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: board-bounces at openid.net [mailto:board-bounces at openid.net]On
>>> Behalf Of Dick Hardt
>>> Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2008 9:48 AM
>>> To: board at openid.net
>>> Subject: [OpenID board] URGENT: New Board members motion
>>> Importance: High
>>>
>>>
>>> (this motion was originally posted on the board-private list to
>>> protect the confidentiality of the potential corporate board members
>>> -- reposting to public list to provide transparency to community)
>>>
>>> Background:
>>>
>>> There are two corporations that have expressed interest in joining the
>>> OpenID Foundation for the last six months. The board approved adding 5
>>> new corporate board seats, to be balanced with community seats so that
>>> the community seats have a majority.
>>> Brian Kissel has been active on the marketing committee and the
>>> customer research committee. He organized a gathering of content
>>> providers in NY that led to the OpoenID UX summit last Monday.
>>> The primary source of funding for the Foundation is corporate board
>>> seats. In order to fund a new Executive Director and OpenID adoption
>>> initiatives, we need more funding. The patience of the two
>>> corporations is running thin as they have been waiting for far to long
>>> for a decision from the board.
>>>
>>> The motion: Add the two corporate board seats and add Brian Kissel as
>>> the community seat. Brian's seat (like all other community board
>>> seats) would be up for re-election when we hold an election.
>>>
>>> All board members need to vote or abstain for the motion to be
>>> considered.
>>>
>>> Votes to date:
>>>
>>> +1 Dick Hardt (made motion)
>>> +1 Martin Atkins (seconded motion)
>>> -1 David Recordon
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>>>
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