Summary

  • EB#195-R-09 records the RIPE NCC Executive Board’s designation of Lars-Johan Liman and community participant Franziska Lichtblau after Falk von Bornstaedt told the Board he would step down from the Rob Blokzijl Foundation board.
  • The resolution passed by majority, with one Board member abstaining because of a conflict of interest. The draft minutes do not identify that member, and the Foundation’s Articles reserve unanimous appointment to the Foundation board itself.

The September record describes a succession process, not a single interchangeable “appointment”. Falk told the RIPE NCC Executive Board that he would step down. The minutes say it was suggested he send his resignation to the Rob Blokzijl Foundation board; they do not establish that the Foundation had already received or accepted it.

The RIPE NCC Board then considered whether to designate someone from its own membership or another person. It chose both: Lars-Johan Liman, who serves on the RIPE NCC Executive Board, and Franziska Lichtblau, described in the minutes as a community participant recommended by Falk. The Board said two people could be designated because the Foundation board, excluding Falk, had three members and its maximum is five. The Board adopted Resolution EB#195-R-09 by majority; one member abstained due to a conflict of interest. The published record does not name the abstainer.

That wording matters because the Foundation is a separate legal entity with its own appointment mechanism. Article 5 of its Articles of Association says the Foundation board manages the Foundation and appoints board members unanimously. It must have between three and five members. At least one must be the RIPE Chair or a person appointed by the RIPE Chair, and at least one must be a person designated by the RIPE NCC Executive Board. The RIPE NCC resolution supplies the latter designation; it does not by itself document the Foundation board’s unanimous appointment step.

The Articles also impose an independence test. In the board’s view, members must be independent; they may not have a connection to the Foundation other than as a board member, or hold management authority at a party receiving Foundation funds or having a direct or indirect financial interest in their allocation. The purpose is to recognise substantial, sustained technical or operational contributions to internet development in the RIPE NCC service region, or people who enabled such work.

The minutes published on 29 September are marked “Draft”. The RIPE NCC Managing Director’s member summary separately lists the Foundation-board resolution, but readers should still distinguish what the RIPE NCC Board resolved from any later Foundation action. The available sources do not establish when the Foundation board will take its own appointment decision, whether Falk’s resignation has taken effect, or how the unnamed abstention affected deliberations beyond the recorded vote.

Sources