I am running for re-election.
My platform is primarily to continue the path we're on: MICE is maturing
/ has matured, and if re-elected, I'd like to keep working on issues
related to that. My focus has been and likely would remain on handling
administrative issues, some boring / some not.
My main goal for my current board term was to sort out our non-profit
status with the IRS. While that took longer than we might have liked due
to the question of how we should be classified, I consider that project
to have been a success. We have a normalized non-profit status with the
IRS. The differences between 501(c)(6) and 501(c)(12) for us are minimal.
While I can't take the credit for it, the next big hurdle was the port
fees. With port fees in place, we are now in a much more sustainable
financial position.
These were the "big ticket" items, and they're now behind us, but there
is still ongoing administrative work. Where applicable, I try to utilize
a continuous improvement process, making small tweaks over time as
issues arise. For example, I have worked on improving our Order Form.
A project that is still on my plate is the insurance issue, which is
actively moving forward again. There's a realistic chance that will be
resolved by the October meeting / the end of my current board term.
Looking forward, I would like to continue to streamline our meetings. We
also need to implement some solution to the "quorum problem": the MICE
membership has grown while UG attendance is relatively consistent.
The next 3 years will likely involve many networks upgrading from 10G to
100G, which could present issues to be solved (e.g. needing more ports
and/or adjusting port fees).
The impending launch of various new streaming services will be
interesting for the industry as a whole, but could result in new content
participants joining MICE, more traffic being moved across MICE, and/or
an increased desire for reliability/redundancy/diversity in the MICE
core. I believe MICE is well positioned to meet these challenges.
--
Richard
|