Re: BOARD OF GOVERNORS VOTE: Incorporate Veres One as a Nonprofit Foundation in Canada+1

+1   On Friday, 24 August 2018, 15:22:41 GMT, Adam Lake <alake@digitalbazaar.com> wrote:  
 
  
Dear Anriette, Dorothy, and Mishi, 
 
 
Please reply to this email, to the mailing list, with your vote on the proposal to incorporate Veres One as a nonprofit in Canada. 
 
 
Kind Regards, 
 
 
Adam 
 
 
 On 8/17/2018 12:35 PM, Adam Lake wrote:
  
 

 
 
Greetings Veres One Community Group,
  
 
Given the consensus on the mailing list and the end of the time period for community input on the incorporation proposal, I would like to call for a vote by the members-to-be of the Board of Governors on the following proposal:
 
 
PROPOSAL: Incorporate the Veres One Foundation as a non-profit in Canada.
 
 
Members-to-be of the Board of Governors, please reply with a +/- 1 to this email with your vote on the proposal. 
 
 
Details on this vote follow. 
 
 
We currently have six members-to-be that have agreed to serve on the Board of Governors with a seventh and final to be announced and added later next month. I should note that because the Foundation doesn’t exist yet, and because the Board of Governors can’t be officially formed until the Foundation exists, that this is more of a vote in spirit than a legally binding vote. Digital Bazaar continues to hold all legal and financial liability in the formation of the Veres One Foundation until such a time as the Board of Governors is officially and legally in place.
 
 
Below is the specific proposal that was discussed on the mailing list including background information. The proposal (above) to be voted on has been edited to include only the essential information:
 
UPDATED PROPOSAL: After doing more research into the various country options for incorporation my proposal has changed somewhat. I propose that we incorporate in Canada to start with and leave the next country of incorporation more open ended. Canada may end up being a good long term home for the Veres One Foundation. The CG and the Board can decide where, when, and if the Veres One Foundation should migrate to another jurisdiction at a later date.”
 
 
The entire discussion thread can be found in the mailing list archives:
 
https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-veres-one/2018Aug/thread.html 
 
 
I believe there has been some good discussion on the proposal and that we have consensus (see tally below) to move forward with a vote. 
 
 
Since this is our first proposal and vote as a community I would like to remind everyone that the function of the Board of Governors (Board members may also be CG members) is to act as guardians of the mission and not to favor their preferred proposals. The Board of Governors are tasked with first determining whether consensus has indeed been achieved as part of the “consideration” phase of the decision making process and then pass the proposal unless it endangers the Veres One Mission. The final decision is determined by a simple majority vote. Governors who reject proposals are expected to provide an explanation to the Veres One Community Group
 
 
Tally of responses to the Proposal:
 
 
Ten -- +1
 
Two -- 0
 
Zero -- -1
 
 
More specifically: 
 
 
Anriette Esterhuysen: +1
 
 
Matt Stone: +1 “+1 on the basis of Adam's thorough analysis and recommendation. Personally I'm glad we're not trying to go to Switzerland right now (or maybe ever). When I hear of "Swiss neutrality" in a topic like this I feel a slight eye-roll come on.  Their marketing is good. Bose speakers anyone?”
 
 
Dorothy Gordon: +1 "I hope we can come to a decision soon. I go with Canada now, Estonia would be my second choice." Dorothy, apologies for missing you on the first tally. 
 
 
Markus Sabadello: +1 Canada makes sense I think, even though I have to admit I also liked the Swiss option :)
 
 
Kilnam Chon: “Canada sounds better than others”
 
 
Kaliya Young: “Canada seems like the best option. They (the Canadians) are doing really good identity work too.”
 
 
Joe Andrieu: +1, “Canada is alright”
 
 
Manu Sporny: +1, agreed. “The country has a fairly excellent track record wrt.
 
identity work, the government is progressive wrt. Privacy…”
 
 
Dave Longley: +1
 
 
Adam Lake: +1
 
 
Melvin Carvalho: 0 “Not a stakeholder in this, but Estonia sounds like an exciting option”
 
 Christopher Allen: 0, Abstain -- 
Adam Lake
Director, Business Development
Digital Bazaar
Veres.io
540-285-0083 
 -- 
Adam Lake
Director, Business Development
Digital Bazaar
Veres.io
540-285-0083