Governance

The consortium will consist of member organizations and affiliates. Individual contributors will come from a member or will be an affiliate.

An individual consortium lead will operate the consortium under the direction from an executive committee.

The governance model is designed to address two objectives that are in tension. First, the consortium will require a prolonged ongoing investment of resources to ensure the developed ecosystem is of sufficient quality and keeps pace with the evolving technical landscape. Second, the consortium will take an inclusive approach to harnessing the collective abilities of the community by encouraging participation at a smaller scale from organizations and individuals who may not be able to commit dedicated resources or may have closely-scoped interests.

Members

Consortium members are organizations that contribute an aggregate equivalent of one full-time engineer’s (FTE) worth of effort with at least half of that FTE coming from a contributor who is consistently active over the period of the engagement. Contributions may include technical expertise, training, documentation, or technical leadership. Member organizations also have a Representative that participates in the Executive Committee, the contribution to the executive committee is in addition to the one-FTE target.

New members are added via a nomination by an executive committee member followed by a vote of the full executive committee.

Affiliates

Affiliates are individuals or organizations that do not meet the requirements for membership but are interested in contributing. Affiliates are able to contribute in more flexible ways as their resources allow. This approach enables and recognizes the value of contributions from non-member institutions. Additionally, organizations interested in becoming members can first participate as affiliates where later they are nominated by and voted in via the executive committee to member status. While affiliates do not have direct formal representation in the executive committee and therefore have less input into the project focus and road mapping, it is assumed that the executive committee will use participatory techniques to gather feedback from affiliates.

Including new affiliates is based on a nomination from any contributor and decided by the consortium lead.

Executive Committee

The executive committee consists of one individual from each member organization. It meets at least twice a year to review the state of the consortium and provide higher-level direction. Essential functions include:

• Review requests for new members

• Review conduct of individual contributors and member organizations.

• Ensure roadmaps and strategy exist and are being successfully executed.

• Ensure the consortium is providing value to member Organizations.

The decision to add new member organizations is determined by a simple majority vote by the executive committee. The review of individual contributor conduct and the decision to remove individuals from the consortium will require a simple majority vote of the executive committee.

The review of member organizations might be made based on adherence to the code of conduct as well as maintaining resource obligations. The executive committee may vote to remove a member in cases of code of conduct violation or it may choose to move a member to affiliate status should that be needed based on ability to maintain resourcing. In both cases, a majority vote of the executive committee is required.

The current members of the executive committee are:

Consortium Lead

The executive committee will appoint a consortium lead that will serve at the committee’s discretion. This individual will represent the interest of the executive committee and is expected to be sufficiently technically-engaged to provide leadership and guidance in all aspects of the consortium. This position will have a two-year duration and come from one of the member organizations. Back-to-back appointments are allowed.

Essential duties include:

• Facilitate and oversee the execution of development and outreach efforts.

• Ensure project work is aligned with stated objectives, strategies, and roadmaps.

• Coordinate work assignments and delegation.

• Act as a liaison between the executive committee and the contributors.

• Provide periodic status reports as needed by the executive committee.

The current consortium lead is Ed Balas of ESnet.