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Minutes 148th Executive Board Meeting

Author:

Daniella Coutinho

Date:

2021/09/28

Status:

Final

Attendees:

  • Christian Kaufmann (CK), Chairman
  • Ondřej Filip (OF), Treasurer
  • Raymond Jetten (RJ), Member
  • Remco van Mook (RvM), Member
  • Maria Häll (MH), Member
  • Job Snijders (JS), Member
  • Piotr Strzyżewski (PS), Secretary
  • Daniella Coutinho (DC), Executive Assistant, RIPE NCC
  • Fergal Cunningham (FC), Head of Membership Engagement, RIPE NCC
  • Athina Fragkouli (AF), Chief Legal Officer, RIPE NCC
  • Simon-Jan Haytink (SJH), Finance Manager, RIPE NCC
  • Hans Petter Holen (HPH), Managing Director, RIPE NCC
  • Hisham Ibrahim (HI), Chief Community Officer, RIPE NCC
  • Mirjam Kühne (MK), RIPE Chair
  • Kaveh Ranjbar (KR), Chief Information Officer, RIPE NCC
  • Felipe Victolla Silveira (FVS), Chief Operations Officer, RIPE NCC
  • Carolien Vos (CV), HR Director, RIPE NCC

Guest:

  • Jeroen van Velden, Senior Finance Controller, RIPE NCC (topic 3.1, 3.2, 8.4)

Day 1: 23 September 2021

1. Welcome and agenda

The Chairman opened the meeting at 09:01 and welcomed everyone.

1.1 Apologies, new agenda points

The Chairman noted that all members of the RIPE NCC Executive Board (the Board) were present and asked to add a topic under AOB regarding outstanding tickets. It was agreed that the current drop in service level of Member and Registration Services would be discussed at agenda item 4.1.

1.2 Approval of minutes

Daniella Coutinho suggested to add English translation for Ondernemingsraad (Works Council) to the minutes of EB#146. The Board agreed and all draft minutes published on the website were approved.

Resolution EB#148-R-01
The RIPE NCC Executive Board approves the minutes ofEB#145, EB#146 and EB#147.

The RIPE NCC Executive Board unanimously adopted the resolution. 

1.3 Dates of next meetings

  • 29 Oct 2021
  • 19 Nov 2021, Board Briefing ahead of RIPE 83
  • 24-26 November 2021, RIPE NCC General Meeting
  • 15-16 December 2021

1.4 Action list review

Action items in progress

Action EBD415 / 08/09/2020 / SJH
To improve transparency in the purchases by separating consultancy in the Finance Report.
Deadline: Briefing Session before RIPE 81
Status 11-12-2020: In progress.
GvB provided an improved report for topic 3.3, but further improvements can be made.
Status 12-03-2021: In progress
Status 21-06-2021: In progress, to be included in monthly finance report
Status 23-09-2021: Reassigned from GvB to SJH, in progress

Closed action times

Action EBD425 / 21/06/2021 / MK
To consider consequences of amending the start time of the GM and seek feedback from RIPE PC and WG chairs, and inform the Board on the possibilities before the end of August 2021.
Status 23-09-2021: Done, the GM will start at 16:30 pm on 24 November 2021

Action EBD426 / 22/06/2021 / OF, SJH
To investigate options for portfolio management for treasury and share outcome in the September Board meeting.
Status 23-09-2021: Done, options for portfolio management for treasury are on the agenda at topic 3.2

2. Report from the MD

Hans Petter Holen shared his report, which covered his priorities, AFRINIC, the status of LIRs and members that are sanctioned, HR statistics, organisational changes and integrated risk management. Hans Petter noted that the staff pages on the website now reflect the organisational structure.

On the topic of sanctions the RIPE NCC just revisited the interpretation of “Economic Resource” and external legal advice confirmed the existing understanding that it covers all Internet Number Resources, IPv4, IPv6 and ASNs. When reviewing Ultimate Beneficial Owners (UBOs) for government entities, a clarification based on case law has been added.

3. Finance topics

3.1 Financial report

Simon-Jan Haytink presented highlights of the Finance report for August 2021.

The Board discussed if the current reserves can adequately cover the continuity and legal risks. The members will vote on the redistribution of this year’s surplus at the AGM. The vote will have three options, 0%, 50% and 100%. The board recommended that 50% should be returned.

3.2 Treasury Statute

Simon-Jan shared the Treasury Statute that has a yearly review cycle. The wording of the statute has been improved and amended to reflect the current company structure. The content remained unchanged. The Board agreed with the statute and will sign it off electronically so it can be published on the website.

Resolution EB#148-R-02
The RIPE NCC Executive Board reviewed and approves the RIPE NCC Treasury Statute, according to the agreed yearly review cycle.

The RIPE NCC Executive Board unanimously adopted the resolution.

As a follow-up on EBD-426, the Treasurer of the Board, Ondřej Filip, and Simon-Jan shared several options to have a fully managed portfolio for treasury. Currently reserves are shrinking due to inflation and low interest rates. The Board wants to take care of the reserves without taking considerable risks. They discussed the possibilities and agreed to form a group to select a professional party and discuss further. The group will consist of the Chairman, Treasurer, Managing Director and Finance Manager.

Action EBD427 / 23/09/2021 / SJH
To form the group to select a professional party for portfolio management and make a recommendation to the Board on management of the treasury.

3.3 Charging Scheme

Fergal Cunningham presented the work that has been done regarding the Charging Scheme principles.

After the presentation to the members at the General Meeting in May 2021 on the past, present and future of the Charging Scheme, the RIPE NCC carried out a survey on principles for a charging scheme model. The survey got 868 responses and the results were discussed in an Open House on 20 September 2021.

The Board discussed the outcome of the survey and Open House and potential next steps. The Board asked the RIPE NCC to propose charging scheme models to be reviewed at the next Board meeting.

Action EBD428 / 23/09/2021 / HPH, FC, SJH
To propose charging scheme models based on the outcome of the survey and Open House before 29 October

4. Reports

4.1 COO Report

Felipe Victolla Silveira presented the report for the Registry for the third quarter, about workload challenges, enhancing the internal controls for compliance and hardening the infrastructure and processes for RPKI. The Board appreciated the report, as well as the fact that there were very few outages for RPKI.

There have been several concerns on the mailing lists regarding the current drop in service level of Member and Registration Services. This is due to multiple factors: significant increase in number of tickets, higher than normal staff holidays this year due to COVID and added workload due to sanction checks.

In order to improve the situation, several new staff members in the Registry have been hired. It does however take time to get them fully up to speed, and we are now beginning to see the effect. Also, review and streamlining of processes and automation will be needed.

Action EBD429 / 23/09/2021 / FVS
To make a plan to improve the service levels in the Registry.

4.2 CCO Report

Hisham Ibrahim provided the Chief Community Officer Report. As it is his third month as CCO for the RIPE NCC, he shared his top three priorities, and explained why community engagement is done for community building and member engagement, learning & development and community coordination and collaboration. For all areas, Hisham shared the project and activity highlights.

The Board thanked Hisham for his work and acknowledged that the work is very important.

4.3 CIO Report

Kaveh Ranjbar shared the status update for Information Services. He touched on what is happening and what will happen in Information Technology, Global Information Infrastructure and Research and Development. He also shared to what extent Technology meets their Service Level Expectations.

5. Strategy 2022-2026

The RIPE NCC is developing a five-year strategy. The focus is on key objectives and goals, and forthcoming Activity Plans and Budgets should contribute to this five-year strategy. Hans Petter presented the highlights of the draft RIPE NCC Strategy 2022-2026 and asked the Board for feedback and comments. The Board discussed the details of the draft strategy and provided their input. It will be important to link all activities in the Activity Plan to the strategy. Hans Petter agreed to incorporate the comments of the Board and share the new version for their review.

The revised version was presented on the second day under AOB, when final adjustments were made and the document approved for publication. See agenda item 10, AOB.

6. RIPE

The RIPE Chair, Mirjam Kühne, reported on the most important matters in the RIPE community over the last months.

  • RIPE 83
    RIPE 83 will take place from 22-26 November 2021 as a virtual meeting. Parallel tracks are scheduled on Thursday afternoon to allow the General Meeting to start earlier (as requested by the Board, action EBD425) on Wednesday and give more time for Plenary sessions. Social events are grouped and the newcomers intro will take place one week ahead of the meeting.
  • New Code of Conduct (CoC)
    The final version of the CoC is available. It includes suggestions from the community and Mirjam noted that it encourages positive behaviour. The CoC will be linked to RIPE 83 registration and will apply to the mailing lists as well. The Board thanked the CoC Task Force and especially the Chair for the good work.
  • Policy Development Process (PDP)
    The RIPE Chair Team is updating the PDP after the review of the appeal last year. The draft document will soon be shared with the community.
  • RIPE Database Requirements Task Force (DBTF)
    The comment phase for the report of the DBTF has ended and some wording is being clarified by the Task Force. There will be ca. 15 recommendations in the final report. The community will then need to decide what to do with each of them in the relevant WG.
  • RIPE Visibility and Engagement
    The RIPE Chair Team welcomes the strong focus on community and the role of the RIPE NCC as the secretariat for the RIPE community in the RIPE NCC Strategy and Activity Plan. In that context the team is working on making the community more visible and attractive to new participants, for instance by changing the structure on the ripe.net website, providing introduction videos for RIPE working groups and helping with the onboarding of RIPE NCC staff.

7. AOB

It was agreed to come back to AOB at the end of the following day.

The meeting adjourned at 14:00.

Day 2: 24 September 2021

Apologies were received from Kaveh Ranjbar.

8. Draft Activity Plan & Budget 2022

The draft Activity Plan and Budget 2022 was shared with the Board ahead of the meeting.

Each Budget holder presented the plans for their division for 2022.

8.1 Activity Plan - Registry

Felipe provided an overview of the budget and highlights for the Registry in the draft Activity Plan and Budget 2022 and the Board discussed the content.

8.2 Activity Plan - Information Services

Hans Petter stepped in for Kaveh and shared the draft Activity Plan and Budget 2022 for Information Services. One notable change from 2021 is that the operation of RIPE Atlas and RIPEStat are moving from Research and Development to Information Technology, and IT Security will move across to Organisational Sustainability.

Felipe presented the Strategy Framework for RIPE NCC and the Cloud that has set principles and requirements. The framework has been developed after consultation with the community. Different services have different requirements, based on their type and criticality. The Board was pleased to see the developed Cloud Strategy Framework and approved the document for publication.

8.3 Activity Plan - Community and Engagement

Hisham provided the content for Community and Engagement in the Activity Plan and Budget 2022 and touched on project highlights for 2022. The Board discussed different ways of bringing the community together and the direction of Certified Professionals as the uptake of exams has not been as high as the initial estimates.The Board asked Hisham to revisit the existing business case for Certified Professionals to assess the current status and prospects.

Action EBD430 / 24/09/2021 / HI
To revisit the existing business case for Certified Professionals for the upcoming Board meeting on 29 October 2021.

8.4 Budget 2022

Simon-Jan shared the draft Budget figures for 2022. 22,500 paying LIR accounts are estimated for 2022, which will lead to an increased income of 1,4M compared to the draft discussed in June. The income budget is 4M lower than for 2021.

8.5 Resolution to publish

Resolution EB#148-R-03
The RIPE NCC Executive Board approves the publication of the Draft RIPE NCC Activity Plan and Budget 2022.

The RIPE NCC Executive Board unanimously adopted the resolution.

9. General Meeting

Fergal presented a draft agenda for the upcoming General Meeting on 24-26 November 2021.

Christian Kaufmann stated the possible models for the Charging Scheme could be added to the Chairman's presentation in the General Meeting, or, in case there is substantial content, to give the topic a separate agenda item.

Options for redistribution of the surplus:

  • Redistribute all
  • Redistribute 50/50
  • Redistribute nothing

Resolution EB#148-R-04
The RIPE NCC Executive Board approves the publication of the draft agenda for the RIPE NCC General Meeting in November 2021.

The RIPE NCC Executive Board unanimously adopted the resolution.

10. AOB

Board comments after the presentation of the draft RIPE NCC Strategy 2022-2026 on Thursday were integrated in the document. Hans Petter ran through the amended draft RIPE NCC Strategy 2022-2026 and incorporated the last input from the Board.

Resolution EB#148-R-05
The RIPE NCC Executive Board reviewed and approves the draft RIPE NCC Strategy 2022-2026 and asked the RIPE NCC to publish the document.

The RIPE NCC Executive Board unanimously adopted the resolution.

The Chairman closed the meeting at 13:51 (UTC +2).

Resolutions

Resolution EB#148-R-01
The RIPE NCC Executive Board approves the minutes ofEB#145EB#146 and EB#147.

The RIPE NCC Executive Board unanimously adopted the resolution.

Resolution EB#148-R-02
The RIPE NCC Executive Board reviewed and approves the RIPE NCC Treasury Statute, according to the agreed yearly review cycle.

The RIPE NCC Executive Board unanimously adopted the resolution.

Resolution EB#148-R-03
The RIPE NCC Executive Board approves the publication of the Draft RIPE NCC Activity Plan and Budget 2022.

The RIPE NCC Executive Board unanimously adopted the resolution.

Resolution EB#148-R-04
The RIPE NCC Executive Board approves the publication of the draft agenda for the RIPE NCC General Meeting in November 2021.

The RIPE NCC Executive Board unanimously adopted the resolution.

Resolution EB#148-R-05
The RIPE NCC Executive Board reviewed and approves the draft RIPE NCC Strategy 2022-2026 and asked the RIPE NCC to publish the document.

The RIPE NCC Executive Board unanimously adopted the resolution.

Action Items

Action items in progress

Action EBD415 / 08/09/2020 / SJH
To improve transparency in the purchases by separating consultancy in the Finance Report.
Deadline: Briefing Session before RIPE 81
Status 11-12-2020: In progress.
GvB provided an improved report for topic 3.3, but further improvements can be made.
Status 12-03-2021: In progress
Status 21-06-2021: In progress, to be included in monthly finance report
Status 23-09-2021: Reassigned from GvB to SJH, in progress

New action items

Action EBD427 / 23/09/2021 / SJH
To form the group to select a professional party for portfolio management and make a recommendation to the Board on management of the treasury.

Action EBD428 / 23/09/2021 / HPH, FC, SJH
To propose charging scheme models based on the outcome of the survey and Open House before 29 October.

Action EBD429 / 23/09/2021 / FVS
To make a plan to improve the service levels in the Registry.

Action EBD430 / 24/09/2021 / HI
To revisit the existing business case for Certified Professionals for the upcoming Board meeting on 29 October 2021.

Closed action Items

Action EBD425 / 21/06/2021 / MK
To consider consequences of amending the start time of the GM and seek feedback from RIPE PC and WG chairs, and inform the Board on the possibilities before the end of August 2021.
Status 23-09-2021: Done, the GM will start at 16:30 pm on 24 November 2021

Action EBD426 / 22/06/2021 / OF, SJH
To investigate options for portfolio management for treasury and share outcome in the September Board meeting.
Status 23-09-2021: Done, options for portfolio management for treasury are on the agenda at topic 3.2