Summary Record of 59th meeting of the Executive Committee – 12 January 2022

Feb 14, 2022 | Meeting Summary Records, Reports and Meeting Minutes

Internet Governance Forum Support Association (IGFSA)

59th meeting of the Executive Committee

12 January 2022

 

  1. The Executive Committee held its 59th meeting on 12 January 2022. The meeting took place in a virtual setting with the following participants: Markus Kummer (Chair), Amrita Choudhury, Anriette Esterhuysen, Brian Cute, Chris Mondini, Wisdom Donkor, Nigel Hickson; IGFSA Secretariat Jennifer Chung. Apologies were received from Joyce Chen. A quorum was established for the meeting, with seven of the eight Executive Committee members taking part in the call.

 

  1. The Chair welcomed the new Executive Committee members to the call and stated that aside from the IGFSA banking issue discussion item, this will be an onboarding call for the new Executive Committee members.

 

  1. The Chair noted that UBS has terminated the IGFSA banking relation without prior notice or additional reasons and mentioned that the letter has been circulated to the EC mailing list prior to the call. It was underlined that the transfer of monies need to be done by 4 February 2022. The Chair reported that there was an internal call with the Secretariat regarding stopgap measures and the Secretariat is currently looking into possible avenues. Additionally, Chris Mondini noted that he will ask ICANN org regarding assisting on interim measures. Wisdom Donkor also mentioned that his organisation is willing to step up to assist with interim measures if needed.

 

  1. There was discussion regarding banks that can support a non-profit making multiple and frequent international payments to varied countries. HSBC was mentioned by several EC members. The Chair noted the suggestions and noted that there is an ongoing discussion with Credit Suisse as well with some documents that are needed from IGFSA. The Secretariat took an action to produce the required documentation, and the Chair noted that developments will be shared with the EC on the mailing list.

 

  1. Brian Cute announced that he will be stepping down from the IGFSA Executive Committee as he will be taking a position with the Global Cyber Alliance and part of his new role will be fundraising with similar industry stakeholders and thus will have a conflict of interest. He thanked the Executive Committee members for working together on supporting the IGF ecosystem and noted he will continue to support IGFSA as a member. Chris Mondini took an action to have an offboarding call to hand over any outstanding stakeholder outreach items.

 

  1. The IGFSA Executive Committee formally thanked Brian Cute for his work and efforts during his tenure on the EC, in particular noting his efforts with producing the value proposition and leading outreach efforts to various industry stakeholders along with Chris Mondini.

 

  1. The Chair noted that the IGFSA EC could fill the seat vacated by the following three options: 1. Appoint the 3rd place candidate from the 2021 EC Elections held in December; 2. Appoint a person of the EC’s choosing; 3. Hold the seat vacant until the 2022 General Assembly. The EC expressed interest in the feasibility of option 1. The Chair took an action to inform the 3rd place candidate, Fiona Asonga.

 

  1. The two new Executive Committee members noted that they are looking forward to working on the IGFSA mandate. Anriette Esterhuysen expressed interest in working on the continued fundraising efforts. Amrita Choudhury noted that she would like to bring in Asia Pacific perspective and continue IGFSA efforts with the NRIs.

 

AOB

  1. The Secretariat noted that as there were some difficulties with disbursement of funding with some NRIs, once IGFSA has a new bank account, a form will be developed to streamline the invoicing process.