RFC 3777 describes the processes used to select, confirm, and (hopefully never used) recall IESG members.
The normal term is two years. One-half of the IESG membership is selected to be reviewed each year. Although there is no limit to the number of consecutive terms for serving in an IESG position, the nominating committee may use length of service as one of its criteria for evaluating an incumbent. Incumbents must notify the nominating committee if they wish to be nominated.
Mid-term vacancies are filled using the same rules. See RFC 3777, section 5.
All nominating committee (usually called "Nom Com") deliberations and supporting information that relates to specific nominees, candidates, and confirmed candidates are confidential. The nominating committee and confirming body members will be exposed to confidential information as a result of their deliberations, their interactions with those they consult, and from those who provide requested supporting information. All members and all other participants are expected to handle this information in a manner consistent with its sensitivity.
The nominating committee is comprised of a Chair, 10 voting volunteers, 3 liaisons, and an advisor. The liaisons are responsible for ensuring that the nominating committee executes their assigned duties in the best interests of the IETF community. Liaisons do not vote on the selection of candidates. The liaisons from the IESG is expected to provide information to the nominating committee regarding the operation, responsibility, and composition of the IESG. As a very rough estimate, the IESG liaison should expect to use about 2 to 4 hours a week for around 4 months for this task.
At a very high-level, the IESG membership selection is done as follows:
The IESG is responsible for providing summary of the expertise desired of the candidates. The IETF Executive Director includes this information in the list of IESG positions that is sent to the nominating committee.
The nominating committee selects candidates, and sends the list to the IAB for confirmation. The nominating committee also sends supporting information that justifies their list of candidates.
The IAB reviews the candidates within a reasonable time frame. The IAB may communicate with the nominating committee. Eventually, the IAB consents to some, all, or none of the candidates. If some of the candidates are not confirmed by the IAB, then the IAB explains the reason why all the candidates were not confirmed. At this point, the nominating committee must select alternate candidates.
Using basically the same process, the IESG is the confirming body for IAOC members selected by the nominating committee.
The content of this page was last updated on 2007-02-26. It was migrated from the old Trac wiki on 2023-02-17.