Hi, earlier this year, before the IETF meeting in Prague, we received some feedback when a number of ISOC staff members were selected to serve on the Nomcom. The executive summary is that we have decided that going forward ISOC staff and ISOC board members will *not* volunteer to serve on the IETF Nomcom. If you are interested in the background to this decision, please continue reading. Since 2011 various ISOC staff members have volunteered to serve on the IETF Nomcom. We saw this as a good thing (i.e., community service) and, despite the fact that the list of voluteers has always been public, nobody from ISOC or from the IETF community ever considered this to be a problem. In any case, until this year the dice never rolled in the direction of ISOC staff. This year 2 ISOC staff members were randomly selected to serve on the Nomcom. Additionally, at a later point one additional Nomcom member listed ISOC as his affiliation. The former happened because a number of IETFers (including both ISOC and non-ISOC people) ended up on the volunteers list because they had volunteered to serve in the past, even if they had not volunteered to serve the last time around. The latter happened because the individual involved kindly put Internet Society as his affiliation on his badge because ISOC payed for his travel in the context of supporting the fellow program. After the volunteers were announced Dan York noticed that his name was on the list and, naturally, withdrew. He had not realized he was on the volunteers list and simply does not have the cycles to serve at this point in time. As a result, this year there is one ISOC staff member (Neil Harper) who serves on the Nomcom. While there has been no formal appeal or complain, the episode did cause some hallway conversations and reflections leading to the following principle: as the organizational home and the final appeal body for the IETF, the appointment of ISOC affiliates in the IETF governance structure should be done done either on behalf of the community or as part of an ex-officio role as documented in the relevant RFC or charter. For example, the appointment of an ISOC staff or board member as working group chair by the IESG would be an appointment on behalf of the community. The appointment of ISOC's CEO to serve on the IAOC is a chartered role. On the other hand, the appointment by a random process to serve on the Nomcom does not pass the test above. To prevent any perception of conflict of interest we have decided that going forward (i.e., starting with next year's Nomcom cycle) ISOC staff an board members will not volunteer to serve on the Nomcom. Any consultants working for ISOC will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis but, in any case, ISOC will not pay people to participate in the IETF Nomcom. Cheers, Gonzalo Camarillo (for the board) Chair - ISOC Board of Trustees Olaf Kolkman (for staff) Chief Internet Technology Officer - ISOC