auDA’s 2009 board elections – an unofficial betting market.

With a cumulative total more than one million dot com.au domain names now registered, turnover amongst Australia’s 28 licensed domain name registrars in 2009 may well be comfortably in excess of $100million.
That’s a lot of money, and one good reason why the nation’s ecommerce industry is  watching with some interest this years’ elections for the board of the industry regulator – au Domain Administration Ltd (auDA).
Another reason is that an auDA license is a valuable asset, worth perhaps as much as $5million, according to NetRegistry’s Larry Bloch, who owns 3 of the 28 licenses.
And there is some chance that  auDA’s board could well slash the licenses’ value this year, if they approve new registrar licenses.
Moreover this year the elections are contested, with more candidates than spots available.
So, unlike in some previous years, where retiring board members have simply been immediately re-elected, there will need to be a vote at auDA this year.
Ninety-six (96) auDA “ demand class”  members will choose two domain name consumer representatives from the five candidates, whilst twenty-seven (27) “supply-class” auDA members will choose two industry representatives from the four candidates standing.
The four elected will join the seven continuing members of the eleven-person board, chaired by the 70 year old businessman and former liberal politician Tony Staley.
Not surprisingly, in such a relatively small community, at least four of the candidates have been on the auDA board in previous years, and indeed three of them are seeking re-appointment after having completed their two year elected term.
However what anyone of them may think about the great ecommerce issues of the day, such as whether or not the proposed new global domains are a good idea, is hard to know.
The candidates have all posted short statements on the auDA web-site but most of the statements do little more than outline qualifications and experience.
So  eCommerce Report has decided to help out by publishing photo’s of the candidates and providing our assessment of  their likely chances.

Supply class

Amin Kroll

Amin Kroll.

As a retiring board member offering himself for re-election the CEO and founder of Sydney based domain name registrar – Intaserve – stands a good chance.  He’s been an active participant in auDA policy panels and has done little, if anything to blot his copybook.  With his nomination proposed by competing  registrar – Click ‘N Go and seconded by Domain Directors Pty Ltd, Kroll’s candidacy looks likely to prosper and he may be an early favourite for re-election to the board.

Brett Fenton

Fenton too, has previously sat on the auDA board, but the chief operating officer of Larry Bloch’s NetRegistry and associated companies might suffer from his bosses outspoken criticism of auDA’s legal action against fellow domain name registrar – Nick Bolton.  Bloch’s characterization of that action as corruption may well have upset some voters. Only an outside chance.

George Pongas

Undoubtedly a creative and smart businessman, the former GM of Nick Bolton’s domain name registrar businesses, and founder of the controversial expired domains    business – Domain8 – would be a surprising winner. Also not entirely clear that he remains a candidate following the apparent sale of Domain8 to Gold Coast company, Dark Blue Sea. Nominated himself and seconded by ispONE. Probably too much controversy and noise around his candidacy for it to succeed this time.

Kartic Srinivasan

Melbourne IT’s domain name registrar business manager would be a first timer on the auDA board.  He may not have the same high profile personally as some of the other candidates, but I suspect that Melbourne IT’s heavyweight status in the industry will get him over the line.

Demand Class

David Cake

A first-time candidate for the auDA board, David has good credentials as a board member and long-standing secretary of the well-respected Electronic Frontiers Association organisation.  With his nomination seconded by auDA’s deputy chairman, Kim Heitman, Cake stands a fair chance in an even contest.

Cake was the only one of the nine board candidates to take up our inviation to publish a candidate statement.

Josh Rowe

Seeking re-election after his latest two year term on the auDA board, the Australia Post online guru is well-regarded for his long-standing domain name industry activism and involvement.  Rowe is entitled to be confident of his chances but nothing is certain in such a high-class field.

Rosemary Sinclair

Rosemary Sinclair

Perhaps the wild-card in this contest, the ATUG chief executive enjoys a high profile in the telecommunications community and would be seen as bringing added clout and status to the board. Certainly she would have valuable government and industry connections that auDA’s members could well see as worth acquiring. A big show.

Simon Johnson

A genuine Australian Internet industry pioneer, with undoubted technical smarts,  and a useful profile as the author and publisher of “Keep your kids safe on the Internet.”  Also a noted domainer and an avowed auDA reform candidate. Not sure if such a conservative organisation is ready to embrace him, more is the pity. Unlikely.

Tony Stevens

An experienced small-business and industry association lobbyist, Stevens, like Rowe, is seeking re-election to the auDA board following his latest 2 year stint.  A big turn-out prompted by such a high-calibre field could hurt his chances this time around. My tip is no.

For the detailed candidate statements go to:

www.auda.org.au

Proxy  voting forms for those not attending this years auDA annual general meeting in Perth on October 19th can be downloaded either  here or from  auDA web-site.

Proxy votes must be either mailed or faxed to the auDA company secretary, care of Craig Ng at Maddocks Lawyers, 140 Williams St Melbourne 3000, -and be received by no later than 5pm AEST on Thursday the 16th of October.