Committee: Executive Committee of BoT
Document: excom-04-008
Revision:
Supersedes:
Status: Unconfirmed
Maintainer: Minutes taken by S. Bradner.
Access: Unrestricted
Present:
Fred Baker (Chair)
Steve Crocker
Rosa DelGado
Lynn St. Amour (President)
Scott Bradner (Secretary).
Lynn DuVal (ISOC Director of Finance)
Apologies were received from Glenn Ricart and Pindar Wong.
The ISOC ExCom met from 10:09 am to 12:25 pm (EDT) August 16, 2004 via conference call.
I Financial update – June 2004 financial statements
Lynn reported that cash and cash equivalents at the end of June were $843K, including $148K in restricted funds for the Security Expert Initiative Project (SEINIT) and $20K for the Postel Award. (SEINIT is a two-year project with the European Commission and the Swiss Government to address areas of security and privacy and is based on the IPv6 protocol.) Lynn noted that enough cash is available to cover approximately four months operations and is nearly 4 times higher than it was the same time a year ago.
She also reported that the accounts payable at the end of June was $176K and consists of the Q2 accrual of $144K for the RFC Editor (as we were still awaiting the invoice) as well as travel expenses in connection with the ccTLD workshop in Amsterdam. She noted that the accounts payable was half of what it was in June 2003.
Lynn reported that, year to date, the ISOC shows a surplus of $39K. She reported that direct expenses and G&A were significantly below budget (by $426K) due to the conservative path that the ISOC is following until the Organization member revenue and IETF needs are more certain. Traditional organization member renewals and individual member donations are behind budget by $250K. However, Platinum revenues are looking quite strong with some payments expected earlier than projected and Lynn expects to meet the budget’s projected surplus of $102K. Shem noted that, while organization member revenues are significantly behind budget, total revenues are closer although still behind budget by 14%. This shortfall is largely offset by a decrease in total expenses of 24% and she continues to monitor all expenses carefully to ensure budget will be met.
Steve asked if it was time to reexamine the budget to realign it to reflect the expected revenue from the various sources and the expenses that will result from the IETF restructuring. He also urged that Lynn communicate often with the ISOC organizational members about the status and impact of the IETF restructuring. Lynn reported that she sent a message to the organizational members during the week of the IETF meeting and had a further message that she was expecting to send today. Lynn felt that there was not a need to redo the budget at this time as there were no significant new developments.
The ExComm discussed the fall off of the ISOC organizational membership revenue and the prospects of turning this around. It was noted that the fall off was largely a result of the dot-com bubble bursting as well as the continuing difficult economy. This caused some members to reduce their membership levels, and some also went bankrupt or were acquired (and was not largely or simply a failure of members to pay their dues). Lynn noted that the new ISOC membership director David McAuley (the first full-time membership director the ISOC has hired) is starting to have an impact. Lynn agreed to develop detailed projections of expected organizational memberships and to schedule a further discussion on this issue for an upcoming ExComm call.
II IETF restructuring update
– Review status after IETF 60 Lynn reported on the reorganization discussions that took place during the IETF meeting. She reported that Harald and Leslie have proposed a timetable to complete the reorganization. Several trustees, notably Steve, Fred, Lynn, and in a different capacity Margaret, have been having an active dialog with Harald and leslie about the IETF reorganization.
Lynn reported that the new document on the restructuring options is due soon from Carl who has been retasked by Harald and Leslie to develop the document that the May resolution called for: a dispassionate analysis of the various options.
– Possible courses of action/readiness for ISOC
Lynn suggested that ExComm members be ready to help Carl in his preparation of a new document if he asks.
– Preparations for IESG/IAB/ISOC meeting – Sept. 30, 2004
Lynn reported that the date of this meeting has been confirmed and that most of both the IESG and IAB plan to attend. The meeting will run from 8am to roughly 3pm. There also may be a dinner the night before for any IESG/IAB/ISOC BoT members that may be around.
III PIR Update and Governance discussion
Lynn reported that the PIR board held a Board meeting earlier today. The PIR board agreed to David Maher’s appointment as Sr. VP for Law and Policy as of September 1. This means that David’s board seat will be vacant at that time.
Several weeks ago Lynn asked the PIR Board if they would be interested in a joint PIR/ISOC ExComm meeting on October 1st. The PIR board expressed interest although not all PIR board members would be able to be present in person. (Editor’s note – this meeting will not happen at this time as there would be insufficient representation from PIR). Lynn reported that Ed provided some scenarios to the PIR board this morning on use of the funds that PIR had set aside as a tax reserve. PIR may need to use some of the funds for their use but Lynn expects that some of the funds will be available to the ISOC in 2004 (and possibly split over 2004 and 2005?).
IV Discussion on ISOC Strategy and Planning meeting – Sept. 28 & 29, 2004
This topic was deferred to the mailing list although it was noted that Fred had already kicked things off on the Trustees list.
V INET 2004
Lynn reported that just under 200 people from outside Spain attended the INET 2004 meeting and approximately 92 of these where paid attendees. The organizers will reimburse ISOC’s out of pocket expenses but may not be able to reimburse all of the amounts identified in the MOU as the number of “external to Spain” participants was so low. In addition ISOC incurred significantly more costs in staff time than expected due to the need to shore up a number of areas and we’re looking at approximately $90K in staff time and travel costs. The final settlement and accounts for INET are expected to be complete by end September. The INET/IGC conference was deemed successful by IGC with approximately 2600 participants in attendance.
All Board Executive Committee Meeting Minutes