Updated: Sat Apr 30 03:58:55 UTC 2022

Seattle Internet Exchange Voter's Guide for Board of Directors Election April 15th through 29th 2022 UTC

Bylaws at https://www.seattleix.net/docs/20170418_Bylaws.pdf define Membership:

  • "In order to qualify for membership a member shall be an operator of an Internet protocol network which has one or more direct connections to the Corporation's switches. A member may be elected or appointed to membership by the Board. Members may have such other qualifications as the Board may prescribe by amendment to these Bylaws."

Each Member may submit one ballot. We are employing Single Transferable Vote (STV) as the voting system. This means that you rank your candidate preferences from most preferred to least preferred. You do not need to rank all the candidates. A later ballot from a representative of a Member will replace a previous ballot from the same Member.

There are 5 seats on the Board of Directors, 2 of which are up for election this year. A Director term is 2 years.

The following schedule applies to Board elections:

  • Through April 14th 23:59:59 UTC 2022: Candidates may submit their candidacy and a maximum 300 word statement, as determined by the POSIX "LANG=en_US.UTF-8 wc -w" command, or revisions to their statement, to secretary@seattleix.net.

  • Through April 14th 23:59:59 UTC 2022: A supporter of a candidate may submit or retract/revise a maximum 150 word endorsement of a candidate, as determined by the POSIX "LANG=en_US.UTF-8 wc -w" command, to secretary@seattleix.net. The Secretary will send it to the candidate, and if approved by the candidate before the cut-off, it will be reachable from the voter's guide.

  • April 15th 2022: A voter registration form will be sent to the SIX "announce@" and "members@" mailing lists. (subscription details: https://www.seattleix.net/faq#ml)

  • April 15th through 29th 23:59 UTC 2022: Voting. (Registrations received after April 28th UTC are not guaranteed to be processed in time for the April 29th 23:59 UTC voting deadline.)

List of Candidates:

Election Results:

Candidates:


  • Nathan Eisenberg statement:

    • As a longstanding member of the SIX Community, I have had the opportunity to watch the exchange’s growth from a remarkable and unusual interconnect into a true regional asset.  I believe that the Exchange’s real power is its symbiotic relationship with its community and membership, and represents a major factor in the high-tech job growth the Pacific Northwest continues to enjoy. My professional experience with organizations ranging from startups to enterprises affords me perspective to appreciate the SIX’s different value propositions to networks large and small. As the demands on our networks continues to evolve, I want to actively contribute to the continued evolution of the SIX, in both membership and throughput.

      Like so many of you, my technology journey began at a young age. Ever since my first US Robotics modem dialed in, I've been fascinated by the foundational power of connectivity. In the years since I first got hooked, I have occupied roles in leadership, network engineering, outside plant design, datacenter construction, software engineering, and more. I've also had the special opportunity to co-found an ISP serving the Seattle area. For me, becoming involved in the SIX's board represents a natural extension of my journey.  I am excited about the opportunity to engage with and serve our technology communities in a compelling future.

      With two decades of experience, and as an innovator and entrepreneur, I will bring a fresh perspective to the SIX’s board. As a board member, I will be committed to deepening member outreach, membership growth, public awareness, and operational continuity.

      Thank you for your consideration.


  • Patrick W. Gilmore statement:

    • I joined the SIX board in 2008, and have served continuously except for one year.

      For those who do not know me, I was a customer of the SIX (and many other IXPs, obviously) as Akamai Technologies’s Chief Network Architect for several years, including donating the first 10 G port to the SIX. My team and I were heavily involved in the governance & founding of many IXPs around the world, such as TorIX, FranceIX, AMS-IX, etc. As you can see, I have a preference for member-run exchanges, which means SIX suits me quite well. For five years, my team ran the Boston Internet Exchange. While not member-run, it was the largest IXP in New England and let me see how a commercial entity runs an exchange. I recently started at Meta (aka Facebook).

      I am currently also on the boards of NANOG and PeeringDB. I was a board member of LINX until I was term limited in May of 2017. I was on the board of ARIN from 2017 to 2019.

      I would like the opportunity to rejoin the board and help the SIX grow and evolve as traffic and members keep increasing.

    Patrick W. Gilmore endorsement:

    • I have had the pleasure of working with Patrick since he became a SIX member in 2005. After seeing his strong support and advocacy for the SIX, we asked him to join the board in 2008, and he’s been a valued contributor ever since. Patrick has my vote for re-election to the SIX board – I encourage you to vote for him too.

      Nikos Mouat, President, Seattle Internet Exchange


  • Michael K. Smith statement:

    • I connected my first participant to the exchange in 1997, served as a Technical Advisor for 5 years and on the Board for another 3. If elected, I serve to answer two questions; is what we're about to do going to add stability to the organization or the platform? And, are we sure? We are one of the most stable exchanges globally, so I will work to ensure we don't introduce changes that potentially impact our stability.

    Michael K. Smith endorsement:

    • Mike and I first crossed paths in 1998 when we were both working at regional ISPs. Our paths have crossed many times since, and Mike’s involvement in the SIX began in 2008 as a board observer and we were lucky to have Mike join the board in 2012 for a 3 year stint. I’m eager to have Mike re-join the board, and he has my full support. I hope that you will vote for Mike!

      Nikos Mouat, President, Seattle Internet Exchange


Voter Registration:

  • SIX Board Election Voter Registration for April 15th-29th UTC election
    
    NOTE: If you have already received your ballot, feel free to ignore this
    message unless you need to update your previous registration. Ballots were
    already sent to everyone who voted last year, so please check your junk
    folders if you voted last year, before re-applying to vote.
    
    We are using a voting website known as BigPulse to conduct the April 15th
    through 29th UTC Seattle Internet Exchange Board election.
    
    The SIX Board will soon ratify new participants as voting members and you
    can check out your organization's status at:
    
      https://www.seattleix.net/participants/
    
    Before you can get access to the ballot at BigPulse, we need to know that
    you are the sole authorized representative voter for an organization with
    a SIX membership.
    
    Further, we need to confirm that your organization is not affiliated with
    any other organization intending to vote. The Bylaws up at
    https://www.seattleix.net/docs/20170418_Bylaws.pdf govern affiliation as
    follows:
    
       - '2.3.3 Members who are affiliated with each other are entitled to a
         total of one vote upon each issue or election. "Affiliate" means,
         with respect to a particular person, any entity that directly or
         indirectly controls, is controlled by, or is under common control
         with such person, as judged by the Secretary.'
    
    If you intend to vote, please complete the following form and send
    it to secretary@seattleix.net.
    
    
    1) Organization ASN:
    
    
    ________________________________________________
    
    2) Organization Name:
    
    
    ________________________________________________
    
    3) I am the sole authorized voter for this organization: (yes or no)
    
    
    ________________________________________________
    
    4) This organization is affiliated (per the definition above) with these
       other ASNs: (put N/A if not applicable)
    
    
    ________________________________________________
    
    5) Email address to which BigPulse should send the ballot login, if
       different than your own: (example: peering@example.net)
    
    
    ________________________________________________
    
    
    The Policy or other contact email address in your organization's SIX or
    PeeringDB record will be informed that you are voting for your
    organization, so please make sure you are pre-authorized to do so.
    

Past Board Elections:

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021