[Ofa_boardplus] OFA Board Mtg Agenda 12/15

[Bernard Metzler]

All,

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.

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:

"Motion to accept funding at $35000/quarter to be reviewed every quarter
for a  total of 18 months pending legal review"

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).

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.

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..?

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.

Thank you,
Bernard.
---



From:	Bill Lee <Bill at Mellanox.com>
To:	Paul Grun <grun at cray.com>, "Coulter, Susan K" <skc at lanl.gov>,
            "ofa_boardplus at lists.openfabrics.org"
            <ofa_boardplus at lists.openfabrics.org>
Date:	12/14/2016 10:45 PM
Subject:	Re: [Ofa_boardplus] OFA Board Mtg Agenda 12/15
Sent by:	"Ofa_boardplus" <ofa_boardplus-bounces at lists.openfabrics.org>



Attached is the latest 2017 budget for discussion.
Bill


From: Ofa_boardplus [mailto:ofa_boardplus-bounces at lists.openfabrics.org] On
Behalf Of Paul Grun
Sent: Wednesday, December 14, 2016 9:58 AM
To: Coulter, Susan K <skc at lanl.gov>; ofa_boardplus at lists.openfabrics.org
Subject: Re: [Ofa_boardplus] OFA Board Mtg Agenda 12/15

These have been distributed several times over the last few weeks/months,
but here they are again for easy reference.
-Paul

From: Ofa_boardplus [mailto:ofa_boardplus-bounces at lists.openfabrics.org] On
Behalf Of Coulter, Susan K
Sent: Wednesday, December 14, 2016 9:47 AM
To: ofa_boardplus at lists.openfabrics.org
Subject: [Ofa_boardplus] OFA Board Mtg Agenda 12/15


Please see the attached document for the agenda and call-in information.

11am Mountain[attachment "OFA 2017 Budget 161214.xlsx" deleted by Bernard
Metzler/Zurich/IBM] _______________________________________________
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