This is my official 500-word election statement
Sebastien Lahtinen, NetConnex Ltd.
Proposed by: London Internet Exchange Limited (LINX) (via John
Souter), S00739
Seconded by: Thus plc (via Clive Feather), S00025
Having spent four years on Nominet's Policy Advisory Board/Body advising on policy, I would like to take a more active role in helping guide Nominet through its next stage of evolution on a strategic level by bringing in a fresh perspective and new energy to the heart of the company.
The Nominet board has understandably faced some tough times from the issues
surrounding the governance review and EGMs over the last year. It
needs to
re-establish the trust and relationships which have been affected
and which are so important for a
membership organisation.
My background:
I am director of NetConnex, a hosting company; Chairman & director of LONAP, a not-for-profit Internet Exchange Point and co-founder of ADSLguide.org.uk (now thinkbroadband), a broadband news and comparison site. I have been involved with Nominet informally through events and nom-steer since my company joined, and formally since 2003 when I was elected onto the Policy Advisory Board.
This experience will I hope, allow you will consider me as an
independent director not tied to any one particular
competitor or stakeholder group, but able to understand the needs and concerns of
all stakeholders and therefore able to address them accordingly.
My Vision for Nominet:
- Nominet is fundamentally a stable organisation with dedicated and highly skilled staff
- Encourage technical excellence and leadership (IDN, DNSSEC, etc.)
- It should remain a not-for-profit organisation supporting both small and large members
- Continuing encouragement of registrar-business model with fair pricing (domains registered via tagholders)
- Paperless Nominet - moving from paper-based to electronic communication where possible
- Key focus and resources into finishing development of synchronous EPP interface and associated web-based systems
- Electronic interfaces for transactions which are currently manual (e.g. transfers) with appropriate safeguards
- Nominet's bid for UK ENUM is a high strategic priority
- Evaluation of competitive position against other TLDs (1-10 year registrations, promotion of .uk, etc.)
- Reduce operational costs using technology where appropriate to achieve efficiency savings
- New approach to member and stakeholder participation with more opportunities to meet other members
** Participation: A new strategy **
Nominet has grown from a small group to almost 3,000 members and it's important Nominet adapts to better understand the needs of those members. It has already helped matters by introducing electronic voting, simpler consultation feedback and so on, but I'd like to see it take a leap by appointing an individual responsible for member and stakeholder participation, whose only role would be to pro-actively encourage and facilitate direct interaction through various mediums, both online and off-line with members and other stakeholders in a conversation, rather than a consultation.
I understand the commitment and responsibilities involved and if elected, I will undertake to be an active director in every way possible.
Read more about My Vision for Nominet at:
http://www.seb.me.uk/nominet
I welcome any questions or suggestions to nominet@seb.me.uk or you can reach me on 07747 607 148.