Dear France-IX Members,

Some of you brought up the question at the General Meeting last September about the concepts of the corporate board seat and if we should get rid of it as they seemed no longer up to date.
As promised the board looked into it and also talked to our legal advisor regarding the wording and spirit of the articles.

Here is the result:
We do no have to change the articles of association as they allow for both, the individual and the corporate applicant. Board seats numbers are also not fix in any of the two categories, so every candidate decides as what he wants to run and if elected his seat turns then either into an individual one or into a corporate one regardless of what the seat was before.

As the Articles were flexible enough to allow for both and were not limiting any candidate or board composition, the current board decided to not make a suggestion to change them as it was originally requested.

Please reach out to us if you have any questions or comments regarding this topic.

Best regards on behalf of the France-IX Board.
Christian Kaufmann, President of the France-IX Board

Who should apply?

If you have a significant professional experience in telecoms/Internet/network interconnection, if you want to be part of France-IX community and if you have time to do so, a great opportunity opens up for you.

You can either apply as an individual or represent the company you are working with.

You can apply, whether your company is a member or not of France-IX, except if you are already a board member of another Internet Exchange Point, or if you already work for another Internet Exchange Point.

The articles of the association are allowing both individual and company seats. During the application process you must indicate whether it is as an individual or as a company seat.

In the case of a company seat, an official letter from the management is required to confirm the support from the company. For such seat, in case you cannot attend to a meeting you can be temporarily replaced by someone else, and in case you leave the company you are automatically considered as resigning and your company shall nominate someone else. If the company is not able to do it, the seat is considered as vacant and available for the next annual election. Also, when a company is validating/confirming your candidacy it means that such company is supporting the costs of the travels required when there are face-to-face meetings. For company seats, it is also expected to collect the vision and strategy of such company as an actor of the global Internet ecosystem.

As an individual, you do not need any official support from your company, as you are only representing yourself, but you shall get some support from the Internet community and to be known and respected by such community. When you cannot attend a meeting you can still allocate your voting rights to someone else from the board. All expenses related to attending board meeting are reimbursed upon justifications.

In both case, either as a company or an individual, more than technical skills, it is expected to benefit from your knowldege from the market, your capacity to identify and collect needs and to express a vision and contribute to the development of France-IX.

The duration of the mandate for a board member is 3 years.

The main missions of the board members are:

• Participate to monthly conference calls (1 hour);
• Participate to face to face meetings (twice a year, full day);
• Represent the association France-IX, and be a spokesman;
• Make the link with the France-IX’s community, especially to collect needs and expectations;
• Contribute to the strategy of France-IX, help to define new services and bring high-level advice to the CEO.

All board members must sign a Code of Conduct, in relation with the confidential nature of the information they will have access to, and to guarantee neutrality in decision-making processes, and avoid any potential conflict of interest.

How and when should I apply?

Your resume along with max 300 word statements in English should be submitted to board-candidates_at_franceix.net prior to September 8, 2017.

If your application is complete and validated by France-IX current Board, you will be invited to present on stage during the next France-IX General Assembly on September 29, 2017 in Paris: 5-minute speech to explain who you are, why you want to contribute and how you think you can help.  The vote is electronic, it is then open till the day of the annual meeting: in practice, except for the member not able to attend physically and who vote in advance, most of the members are voting after the speeches of the applicants, meaning this step is quite important.

What should I expect?

France-IX Board Members do not get any kind of salary, bonus or discounts on peering services. Only expenses during the face-to-face meetings may be reimbursed.

France-IX Board Members get fulfilled by their involvement in a professional eco-system of +350 members and their contribution to help France-IX to grow year after year. Actually, technical matters are rarely discussed during Board Meetings but instead Board Members contribute to bring innovation, ideas with member satisfaction, and more generally, ideas to keep improving France-IX performance and services, and finally they are the guardians of France-IX sustainability in the long term.