Minutes of the Meetings of the Executive Committee of the Internet Society

29 October 2001
Executive Committee Meeting Minutes

Date: 2001.10.29
Committee: Executive Committee of BoT
Document: excom-01-010
Maintainer: Minutes taken by Christian Huitema
Access: Unconfirmed

Attendees:Brian Carpenter, Rosa Delgado, Lynn StAmour, Mike Conn, Kees Neggers, Christian Huitema, Latif Latid, Jeremy London, Bob Vaughan

II. Reports
A. Audit

Mike had a conference call with the auditors, to review the 2000 Annual report. Auditors recommended limiting amount of vacations employees can accrue. Is there a need for board action? Probably not. Auditors also report that the bank reconciliations were not completed in time, leading to recognizing less money than the actual income on the draft annual statements of December 31, 2000. This is largely due to our switching accountants last year, compounded by an enormous work load for a small team due to the need to change our chart of accounts, financial reports, close on INET, etc. The problem has been fixed, and the auditors’ observations have been specifically answered.

B. Financial review

We’re approximately 10% behind budget on ISOC’s total year-to-date surplus. We had one week worth of cash in the bank by end of August, while the account payable grew to 200K at the end of August. Microsoft’s and Cisco’s platinum payment came in, as well as Oracle’s gold payment. Other payments are expected from platinum and gold members. On the expense side, ISI is willing to move to a “cost+” contract, but this is proving to be a long negotiation process.

III. Strategy
A. Board meeting preparation.

To answer potential questions about the Geneva office, the President will provide a one page summary detailing the cost of the office and its revenue contributions.

On the potential bylaws changes, Jeremy London (legal counsel) suggests to not attempt any electronic procedure: the electronic voting is largely preparatory, until the ballot is actually passed at the next board meeting; indeed, any board member can veto an e-vote. A better procedure is to get a sense of the board through a straw poll, in order to better prepare the meeting. Also, any proposal to change the by laws has to be presented to the board one month before the next meeting, in practice next week. Among the proposed changes will be a reduction of the current 4/5 majority required for several actions, including bylaws changes; a 2/3 figure would be much more practical.

It is important to also get the budget discussion going promptly.

The agenda for next board meeting should be very simple, avoid a succession of tedious reports, and concentrate on the main issues.

B. Election process

Should we go ahead with the election process? It may make sense to postpone the process by a few days, so that any public action starts after the board meeting.


We should analyze the ISTF response and discuss it on the trustees’ list.

IV.Other Items
A. INET 2002

The program committee is very strong, and is working hard. The final contract is expected in the next week or two and will be reviewed by the President and the ExComm.

B. IPv6

Christian has to prepare a position statement.

Latif has sent a short executive summary of the EU proposal; we will know the evaluation of the proposal by November 23. If we have acceptance from the EU, we will need to finalize the proposal by December 3.


We have exchanged further versions of the proposed agreement, discussing the roles of the societies and their financial responsibilities.