<html><body><p>All,<br><br>In preparation of todays call, let me communicate my view on the issue of funding the position of an Executive Director by a single member of the Alliance. During Board calls time is usual short, and it is not always easy to get the audiences undivided attention on conflictive issues.<br><br>With early retirement of Jim Ryan, there was the proposal of his by then employer, to create the position of an Executive Director. It was further proposed to have that position financed by that employer, if and only if Jim fills that position. We extensively discussed the merits and problems of having a company sponsoring the ED position on the 06/16 Board meeting and ran a voting on that proposal on the 07/21 Board meeting. The voting was about:<br><br>"Motion to accept funding at $35000/quarter to be reviewed every quarter for a total of 18 months pending legal review"<br><br>I had (and have) severe concerns with that proposal and abstained from that vote, expecting further evaluation results would appear at latest in 3 months from then. Others seemed to have at least mixed feelings as well (we counted 6 yes votes, 1 no, 3 abstains).<br><br>After asking at another Board meeting in fall, I learned the result of the legal review clearly indicated that it must be considered illegal to have a single member company funding a 'ED' position. There is now this to me somewhat disturbing idea, that we can hide (from ourself?) the fact that we accept funding from a single member company for the ED position, if we do some money reshuffling/laundering. I don't like that approach.<br><br>But, what I dislike even more is that we do not follow our own rules. There was no serious quarterly review of that decision/vote so far. Instead, the funding now appears very natural as a monthly income row in the 2017 budget planning. Do we want to sidestep open discussion and establish a de-facto standard, where a single member company decides upon the head of the Alliance..?<br><br>Please don't get me wrong. This is not against having an ED of the alliance. After all, it is against having a single member company deciding, or at least being able to disproportional influence, who takes that position. As an industry alliance, we shall take care to avoid that situation. If we feel we need an acting ED, then we should all contribute an equal share of the extra funding needed.<br><br>Thank you,<br>Bernard.<br>---<br><br><img width="16" height="16" src="cid:1__=8FBB0A19DFC7C1628f9e8a93df938690918c8FB@" border="0" alt="Inactive hide details for Bill Lee ---12/14/2016 10:45:11 PM---Attached is the latest 2017 budget for discussion. Bill"><font color="#424282">Bill Lee ---12/14/2016 10:45:11 PM---Attached is the latest 2017 budget for discussion. Bill</font><br><br><font size="2" color="#5F5F5F">From: </font><font size="2">Bill Lee <Bill@Mellanox.com></font><br><font size="2" color="#5F5F5F">To: </font><font size="2">Paul Grun <grun@cray.com>, "Coulter, Susan K" <skc@lanl.gov>, "ofa_boardplus@lists.openfabrics.org" <ofa_boardplus@lists.openfabrics.org></font><br><font size="2" color="#5F5F5F">Date: </font><font size="2">12/14/2016 10:45 PM</font><br><font size="2" color="#5F5F5F">Subject: </font><font size="2">Re: [Ofa_boardplus] OFA Board Mtg Agenda 12/15</font><br><font size="2" color="#5F5F5F">Sent by: </font><font size="2">"Ofa_boardplus" <ofa_boardplus-bounces@lists.openfabrics.org></font><br><hr width="100%" size="2" align="left" noshade style="color:#8091A5; "><br><br><br><font color="#1F497D" face="Calibri">Attached is the latest 2017 budget for discussion.</font><br><font color="#1F497D" face="Calibri">Bill</font><br><font color="#1F497D" face="Calibri"> </font><br><font color="#1F497D" face="Calibri"> </font><br><b><font face="Calibri">From:</font></b><font face="Calibri"> Ofa_boardplus [</font><font face="Calibri"><a href="mailto:ofa_boardplus-bounces@lists.openfabrics.org">mailto:ofa_boardplus-bounces@lists.openfabrics.org</a></font><font face="Calibri">] </font><b><font face="Calibri">On Behalf Of </font></b><font face="Calibri">Paul Grun</font><b><font face="Calibri"><br>Sent:</font></b><font face="Calibri"> Wednesday, December 14, 2016 9:58 AM</font><b><font face="Calibri"><br>To:</font></b><font face="Calibri"> Coulter, Susan K <skc@lanl.gov>; ofa_boardplus@lists.openfabrics.org</font><b><font face="Calibri"><br>Subject:</font></b><font face="Calibri"> Re: [Ofa_boardplus] OFA Board Mtg Agenda 12/15</font><br><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font><br><font color="#1F497D" face="Calibri">These have been distributed several times over the last few weeks/months, but here they are again for easy reference.</font><br><font color="#1F497D" face="Calibri">-Paul</font><br><font color="#1F497D" face="Calibri"> </font><br><b><font face="Calibri">From:</font></b><font face="Calibri"> Ofa_boardplus [</font><a href="mailto:ofa_boardplus-bounces@lists.openfabrics.org"><u><font color="#0563C1" face="Calibri">mailto:ofa_boardplus-bounces@lists.openfabrics.org</font></u></a><font face="Calibri">] </font><b><font face="Calibri">On Behalf Of </font></b><font face="Calibri">Coulter, Susan K</font><b><font face="Calibri"><br>Sent:</font></b><font face="Calibri"> Wednesday, December 14, 2016 9:47 AM</font><b><font face="Calibri"><br>To:</font></b><font face="Calibri"> </font><a href="mailto:ofa_boardplus@lists.openfabrics.org"><u><font color="#0563C1" face="Calibri">ofa_boardplus@lists.openfabrics.org</font></u></a><b><font face="Calibri"><br>Subject:</font></b><font face="Calibri"> [Ofa_boardplus] OFA Board Mtg Agenda 12/15</font><br><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font><br><font face="Tahoma"><br>Please see the attached document for the agenda and call-in information.<br><br>11am Mountain[attachment "OFA 2017 Budget 161214.xlsx" deleted by Bernard Metzler/Zurich/IBM] </font><tt>_______________________________________________<br>Ofa_boardplus mailing list<br>Ofa_boardplus@lists.openfabrics.org<br></tt><tt><a href="http://lists.openfabrics.org/mailman/listinfo/ofa_boardplus">http://lists.openfabrics.org/mailman/listinfo/ofa_boardplus</a></tt><tt><br></tt><br><br><BR>
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