These guidelines describes how the IAB selects its chair.
This is a set of guidelines describing how the IAB selects its Chair. It is NOT a set of rules. In any circumstance where it does not work, the Selection Committee or IAB can and should use common sense and do what is right.
One or more members of the outgoing IAB members volunteers to serve as Selection Chair. If there is more than one volunteer, the Selection Committee chooses a chair from among the volunteers.
Around 5 days after the New Slate Date, the Selection Chair starts the IAB Chair Selection Process by soliciting the Selection Committee Members to nominate or self-nominate candidates for the chair position. The Selection Chair sets the nomination deadline which normally is 2 weeks.
Candidates send their intentions to the Selection Chair within the set deadline, with a short memo describing their motivation, goals, time commitment, etc. (no questionnaire, free form, 1 pager size).
After the deadline, the Selection Chair publishes all the intentions to the Selection Committee. A separate message is sent to the candidates so that all candidates are made aware of each others' willingness to serve. Note that if there are no candidates, steps beyond those described here need to be found and undertaken. Prior to the next face to face meeting, the Selection Committee Members without the candidates may decide to hold a meeting to discuss about the candidates set.
During the next IAB face to face meeting, the Selection Committee Members without the candidates shall have in person discussion about the candidates.
The Selection Committee determines whether consensus can be reached on the IAB chair position or whether a vote is necessary. If no vote is necessary, step 7 is skipped.
After the conversation, if it is deemed necessary to have a vote, the Selection Committee votes using secret, written, ballots. The ballot mechanism needs to include some way for each member to indicate preference for "none". These ballots are counted by the Selection Chair and Selection Chair Assistant and the selection chair announces the majority winner (but not the counts).
The Selection Chair informs the (new) IAB chair. The Selection Chair or Selection Committee discusses any feedback that the committee wants to share with the (new) IAB chair.
--- If there is no majority winner, steps 4, 5 and 6 are repeated, adjusting the candidate set by adding or subtracting choices as they collectively see fit.
--- This procedure deliberately makes no provision for absentee voting, as the absentee voter does not participate in the discussion.
Subject: Call for Nominations for IAB Chair
To: iabHello the IAB, and welcome new members!
I've volunteered to serve as the chair of the IAB Chair Selection
Committee for the March [YEAR] IAB chair selection.This message starts the IAB Chair Selection Process [1] with a solicitation of nominations for IAB Chair. Any incoming or continuing member of the IAB may be selected as chair; self-nominations are accepted and encouraged.
Please send nominations to me (ADDRESS) with a short memo describing the nominee's (i.e., your) motivation, goals, and a statement of time commitment.
Nominations will close on [DATE], end-of-day where ever you happen to be.
Thanks!
[Name][1] https://wiki.ietf.org/e/en/group/iab/IAB_Chair_Selection_Process_Guidelines
Subject: IAB Chair Candidates
To: iab-chair-voteHi,
This is a note to inform you of the willing candidates we’ve received for the IAB Chair position.
Mailing list
Who is on the iab-chair-vote mailing list? The list includes the voting members of the Chair Selection Committee:
- All incoming, continuing, and returning IAB, minus the candidates
The list also includes the non-voting members, who may still participate in the discussion of the candidates, as they have experience working with them
- All outgoing IAB (including me)
- The IRTF Chair (Colin)
- The Selection Chair Assistant (Cindy), who is on the list to keep things on track on the admin side
Candidates
Names
Their short memos and declarations of intent are at the bottom of this email.
Process
What follows per the process [1] is that prior to the next face to face meeting, the Selection Committee Members are informed about the candidates and their intentions. The Selection Committee may decide to hold a meeting to discuss about the candidates, in addition to discussion on the iab-chair-vote list. Then during the next IAB face to face meeting, the Selection Committee Members without the candidates shall have in-person discussion about the candidates, possibly vote, inform the candidates about the results, etc.
References
[1] https://wiki.ietf.org/e/en/group/iab/IAB_Chair_Selection_Process_Guidelines
Candidate Statements
Statement 1
Statement 2
Generally, the selection of the new Chair is finalized on the Sunday of the March IETF meeting. The official handover happens during the plenary, with the outgoing chair taking care of the IAB reporting section of the plenary, and the incoming chair taking over for the open mic session.
The content of this page was last updated on 2024-02-06. It was migrated from the old IAB wiki on 2023-12-04.