[IRP] IRP chair

[Lisa Horner]

Hi all

As you'll have seen, I sent a note to our steering committee yesterday, saying that I would be stepping down as chair of the coalition in the near future.  I wanted to run it past them first, mainly as it could potentially involve a change in our established procedures for elections (see http://internetrightsandprinciples.org/node/9).

I've very much enjoyed chairing the coalition - we've done some great and important work together, and it's been a huge pleasure to work with everyone.  However, I've decided to step down as chair for a number of reasons (although I'd still like to participate in the coalition).

IRP steering committee elections are due at the next IGF according to our
internal procedures, as this will be our 2nd IGF with the current committee and chair. However, I thought it might makes sense to have a new chair (and committee) in place before then so that they can prepare
properly for the IGF...so our energy there is focused on making impact
rather than on internal procedure.

I'm also  finding that I don't have as much time at the moment to dedicate
to driving the coalition forward as is needed and deserved.  I feel that
we're at quite a critical juncture in the development of the coalition, with
awareness and membership raised by the punchy principles, and solid work
being produced through the charter process.  I think we need someone to push
the coalition forwards at this important time so that we can really build on
what we've achieved so far.  It'll of course also be good to have someone
with renewed energy and fresh ideas at the helm.

However, there seemed to be a feeling in the steering committee that we shouldn't have elections at the moment as that would divert energy and attention away from the work we need to do with the principles and charter in the run up to the IGF.  The suggestion was made by a few members of the committee that Dixie Hawtin takes over as an interim chair until the IGF, after which we can elect a new committee and chair.

What do you think?  Would you like Dixie to step up as interim chair until the IGF?  That would give us enough time to prepare for new elections, and keep us focused on issues and impact rather than procedure. We could have the elections immediately after the IGF, so as not to disturb our work at the IGF itself, and hopefully also get some new people on board.

If we do decide on this option, we may want to revisit the rules of procedure to check that we're happy with them (e.g. including the procedure of the elected steering committee electing its own chair).

Please share your thoughts on this.

All the best,
Lisa