I think the term you are all looking for is factotum Thanks, Donald ============================= Donald E. Eastlake 3rd +1-508-333-2270 (cell) 155 Beaver Street, Milford, MA 01757 USA d3e3e3@xxxxxxxxx On Mon, Feb 17, 2014 at 5:45 PM, Dale R. Worley <worley@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > I agree with John and Ted that while "leader" often has the > connotations of boss or controller, its actual meaning is quite broad, > really only limited to "when this person does or says something, > others pay attention to it as being important". All other proposed > terms seem to imply certain *specific* powers, which may not be > accurate for all of them. > > Now, as long as the audience for these announcements is the > memberships of the various organizations involved, the terminology > doesn't really matter. IETFers know what the role of the IAB Chair > is, and the roles of the other "leaders" (if they care). And such > meetings help to coordinate efforts that are of common interest. > > It gets more interesting if the organizations are collectively > attempting to increase their influence in what is called "Internet > governance", the mass of laws, treaties, customs, business > arrangements, etc., etc. that altogether determine how the Internet > actually works from the point view of users. Of the seven bullet > points mentioned in the announcement, six of them seem to be of this > nature. For instance, "Preparations for the 2014 ITU Plenipotentiary > Conference". > > >From that point of view, some care needs to be taken to ensure that > the words that are used support the political influence that is > desired. > > Dale >