About Us

What is the history of the ALAC?
What are the roles of the ALAC?
How is the ALAC structured?
What does the ALAC do?
What is the difference between the ALAC and At-Large?

How is the ALAC structured?

The ALAC consists of Members and Appointees. Selected from current ALAC Members, the ALAC Leadership Team (ALT) Plus plays a central management role. The ALT Plus consists of the ALAC Leadership Team, Liaisons and former ALAC Chairs, and Regional Chairs. See the At-Large Organigram for details.

In addition, the ALAC and the wider At-Large Community select a Director to serve on the ICANN Board.

Members

Serving on behalf of the At-Large Community by acting for the good of the entire Community, the ALAC Members commit substantial time as volunteers to fulfill the roles of the ALAC expressed in ICANN Bylaws. With a deep understanding of the potential impact of ICANN decisions on the global Internet-using community, ALAC Members provide leadership and champion the end-user voices in ICANN policy development and other activities.

There are 15 ALAC Members, who have the voting power within the ALAC:

2 from AFRALO
2 from APRALO
2 from EURALO
2 from LACRALO
2 from NARALO
5 selected by the NomCom (1 from each ICANN region)

Appointees

Acting on behalf of the ALAC to various bodies within or outside of ICANN, ALAC Appointees are responsible for communicating ALAC positions to those groups and for reporting their activities and actions that may be of interest to the ALAC. Appointees can be ALAC Members or non ALAC Members. Regardless, they must have sufficient knowledge of the ALAC, the At-Large Community, and any other group or subject related to their appointment. Appointees do not have voting power within the ALAC or their appointed groups. The exception is that if they are also current ALAC Members, they can still exercise their voting power within the ALAC.

Currently, 5 Appointees bear the title of Liaison to other ICANN bodies:

ccNSO
CSC
GAC
GNSO
SSAC

The Appointees that do not bear the Liaison title can represent the ALAC in one or multiple bodies as permitted by their rules. Some of those bodies include:

ALAC Leadership Team

In a narrower sense, the ALAC is a regionally balanced group comprised of 5 current ALAC Members, one per ICANN region. They hold the following leadership positions within the ALAC:

1 Chair
1-2 Vice Chair(s) (the number to be set at the discretion of the Chair)
2-3 untitled ALT Members

By extension, the ALT emcompasses the ALAC Liaisons to the GNSO, ccNSO, and SSAC, as well as past ALAC Chairs who do not necessarily hold ALAC Member positions at present. These additional members also serve as the current Chair’s advisors.

The ALT members support and collaborate with the Chair in the overall management of the ALAC, ensuring the ALAC can focus on the most appropriate issues with minimum of administrative overhead.

The ALAC may, from time to time, assign specific responsibilities or tasks to the ALT. For example, due to urgency or confidentiality (e.g. selection of ALAC Appointees requiring complex criteria evaluation or in a controversial circumstance), the ALT is empowered to make substantive decisions with due consideration of regional issues on the part of the ALAC; in such case, the ALAC will then ‘ratify’ (to be explained in later section) such decisions as soon as practical. The ALT, especially the Chair and Vice-Chair(s) take on a much heavier workload than the other untitled ALAC Members.

Board Director Selected by At-Large

Originally the ALAC appointed a non-voting Liaison to the ICANN Board. That position was abolished in 2010 as a result of the first organization review of the ALAC and that change was reflected in ICANN’s Bylaws. Since then, the ALAC and wider At-Large Community is able to select a member to assume the fully voting Director position on the ICANN Board.

While Board Director does not represent the ALAC or the wider At-Large Community, he or she has an obligation to serve the best interest of ICANN and of the public good.

Due to those considerations, the candidates nominated for this position must meet specified criteria and qualifications, and the final candidate is selected a structured process. Check out the At-Large Board Director Selection Home to learn more.