Update from the Board Chair
4 August 2023
Dear DotAsia members,
This email gives you a brief report on the DotAsia Board meeting held on
Wednesday 2 August, and looks forward to some topics the Board will be
working through in September in preparation for a General Meeting towards
the end of the year.
Board Report - August 2023
The main matters dealt with by the Board during the 2 August meeting were
these:
-
We confirmed the Audit Report for DotAsia for the FY ending September
2021. The audit process for the FY ending Sept 2022 has now begun. Later in
August, the Board will meet with the Auditors to discuss both audits, ask
any questions or clarifications, and hear from the Auditors direct as part
of our improvements to DotAsia’s general good governance practice.
-
We conducted a brief Namesphere board meeting, agreeing to release the
settlement funds arising from the settlement of the .box litigation to the
company - these funds are currently sitting with our lawyers.
-
We further refined the agenda for our upcoming Face to Face meeting,
which is planned in September alongside the APTLD meeting in Seoul.
-
We had a first discussion on some governance changes and improvements
which we will bring to DotAsia members for consideration in the last
quarter of 2023.
-
We worked through some key monthly financials for the company for the
period to 31 July 2023.
We also adopted the minutes of the Board meetings held on 22 June and 13
July 2023, which will be posted at the following URL along with other Board
Committee meeting minutes:
https://www.dot.asia/dotasia-organisation/agm-and-board-meetings/
As I have reported in past months, the Board remains conscious that
the Elections
Committee review of the 2023 elections is continuing, looking at complaints
about how the election was conducted. I am anticipating that the Board will
receive this report in August. We will organise a meeting for members to
discuss the findings and follow up actions once we have worked through
them.
If the report includes recommended changes to the election process, we will
work through those and include them in the governance change package I
mentioned above.
Strategic clarity and governance improvements
At its September face to face meeting, the Board is hoping to settle on
recommendations in two areas for discussion and engagement with members:
-
A new strategic framework for DotAsia, to clearly set out priorities
across all DotAsia’s work and be clear about how we would measure
achievement of these. This will be about consolidating and clarifying our
work, rather than any sudden changes in direction.
-
A set of governance improvements to strengthen DotAsia governance,
including improvements to the election process to prevent the sorts of
problems seen recently, an update to the Articles of the company, improve
the quality of Board selection processes, and various other matters.
DotAsia Members are integral to both of these discussions and so the
Board’s role will be to prepare clear, well-thought out proposals to
discuss with you, and then to convene a General Meeting for decisions to be
made.
I look forward to those discussions. If you have any ideas in respect of
any of these - where DotAsia should focus or not focus, how our governance
approach could be improved - I would love to hear from you.
The next ordinary meeting of the DotAsia Board will be held in the first
week of September, deferred by a week from previous schedules to avoid the
APrIGF week at the end of August.
In closing, as ever, I want to thank you again for your continued interest
in, and support for, DotAsia.
If you have any questions or suggestions, please do contact me.
Yours sincerely
Jordan Carter
--
Jordan Carter
Chair of the Board of Directors
*DotAsia*
+61-417-243-647
chair(a)board.dot.asia
