Board Minutes - 14 April 2014

Public Version
Meeting of the .au Domain Administration Board

14 February 2014 - 11.00am
.au Domain Administration Limited. 114 Cardigan Street. Carlton VIC 3053

Present:
Tony Staley (Chair), Cheryl Langdon-Orr, Chris Disspain, Erhan Karabardak, George Pongas, Graham McDonald, Joe Manariti, Josh Rowe, Julie Hammer, Paul Levins, Stuart Benjamin

Observers:
John Higgins (Nexia Australia, items 1-4), Keith Besgrove (DoC), Jo Lim (auDA), Paul Szyndler (auDA), Helen Hollins (auDA), Jacki O’Sullivan (auDA–Minutes)

Apologies:
Kartic Srinivasan

1. Continuous Disclosure
   

   • Josh Rowe advised he has taken up a new position as CEO of Looking Together Pty Ltd, a start-up business in the Real Estate industry.
   • George Pongas advised his role at AusRegistry now includes the management of .shabaka.
   • Chris Disspain advised he had joined the Board of a Corporate Advisory Service in the UK however anticipated no conflict of interest.
   • Julie Hammer advised her term on the War Memorial Council has now concluded.
   • Paul Levins advised he had been appointed to manage all Asian offices at Intellectual Ventures.
   • Keith Besgrove, DoC, advised he would be retiring on 4 July 2014.

2. Confirmation of December 2013 Minutes
   The minutes of the 17 February 2014 Board meeting were confirmed.
   
   
3. Finance Report
   

   • The Board noted the March 2014 accounts.
   • The Board was advised the 2014-15 draft budget will be discussed by the Finance Committee in early May, for final approval by the Board at the June 2014 meeting.

4. CEO Report
   

   • The CEO report was noted.
   • Keith Besgrove gave a summary on preparations for the NetMundial meeting to be held in Brazil in April 2014.
   • New auDA GM Communications, Helen Hollins, was introduced to the Board.

5. Edu.au Governance Arrangements
   

   • Jo Lim gave a summary on the proposed approach to Edu.au governance arrangements, aimed at maintaining current operations in the immediate period, pending a more substantial review and proposal for future governance arrangements to be provided to the Board in due course.
   • The Board approved the recommendations as per the circulated proposal document.

6. Board Committee Updates
   Finance & Audit Committee:
   

   • The Chair advised the Committee had met on 9 April 2014 and minutes would be circulated in due course for comment.
   • The Committee discussed buying vs. renting auDA office premises. It was noted the current lease at Cardigan Street, Carlton runs to 2017 with a 5 year further option. The Committee agreed that the landlord should be approached to gauge if there is any interest in selling the property. A further update will be provided at the June Board meeting.

   Governance, Board Succession & Remuneration Committee:
   

   • The Chair advised the Committee was scheduled to meet on 10 April 2014 however the meeting was postponed due to absences and pending a response from DoC.
   • The 2013 Board Performance assessment was completed. Joe Manariti gave a summary of the outcomes noting that the Board was performing well with a few points that would be monitored. The final assessment document was currently being compiled and would be circulated to the Board prior to the June 2014 meeting.

   Strategic Risk Committee:
   

   • The Chair advised the Committee had met on 14 April 2014 and minutes would be circulated in due course for comment.
   • The Committee agreed on a recommendation to trial the implementation of Own Cloud as a possible document circulation and repository solution for the Board.
   • A high level status review of all actions, risk log progress, overall update and planning will be held at the next Committee meeting in August.

7. AusRegistry presentation
   

   • Maggie Whitnall, Client Services Manager .au, attended from AusRegistry and gave a presentation on marketing activities including AusRegistry’s May $1 net.au campaign and the 2014 .au Benchmark Survey.

8. Membership
   The following membership applications were approved in the classes indicated:
   
   

   Name of Applicant	Class
   George Fong	Demand
   Jesse Needham	Demand
   Jenny Wiltshire	Demand
   Grant Wiltshire	Demand
   John Nugent	Demand
   Beagle Internet Pty Ltd	Supply

    

9. Board Correspondence
   There was no Board correspondence.
   
   
10. Other Business
    • Paul Szyndler advised there would be a high level Governmental meeting at the ICANN London meeting 22-26 June 2014 with the Minister for Communications likely to attend.  It was also planned to hold a ccTLD Directors level meeting with colleagues from UK/Canada/Scandinavia with auDA Directors attending ICANN London asked to attend if available.
    

    • The CEO advised there would be a Strategic Planning Session for Board members held in conjunction with the December Board meeting and Christmas function on 16 and 17 December 2014. Further details will be supplied in due course.
    • Keith Besgrove, DoC, advised his last auDA Board meeting attendance would be in June 2014. He advised his replacement at the Department will be Marianne Cullen. It was suggested the auDA Chair and CEO meet with Marianne Cullen in the new financial year and that she might attend the August Board meeting and auIGF.

11. Next Meeting
    The next Board meeting will be held on Monday 16 June 2014 at 11.00am in Melbourne.