Minutes of Board Meeting No. 191

8-9 November 2025

Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth
900 René-Lévesque Blvd W
Espace 21 Room
Montreal, QC, Canada H3B 4A5

Guide to Board of Trustees Session Types:

Closed Executive Session: Board members and staff only.
Open to Observers Session: Local and remote attendees are welcome to listen in.
Open Forum Session: Local and remote attendees are welcome to ask questions, provide input, and discuss with the Board.

Note: there were no Open Forum Sessions scheduled for this meeting.

Trustees Present:

Ted Hardie, Chair
Olufunke Baruwa
Ramanou Biaou
Brian Haberman
Maureen Hilyard
Russ Housley
Victor Kuarsingh
Barry Leiba
Charles Mok
Kathleen Moriarty
Caleb Ogundele
Laura Thomson
Sagarika Wickramasekera Sally Wentworth, President and CEO, non-voting

Staff Members Present:

Yogesh Khanna, Managing Director, Internet Society (ISOC)
Ilona Levine, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, ISOC
Chris Locke, Managing Director, ISOC Foundation
Sae Park, Chief Financial Officer, ISOC
Lauren Terrell, Director of Governance, ISOC
Dan York, Chief of Staff, ISOC

Guests Present for Certain Portions of the Meeting:

Roman Danyliw, Chair, Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
Tommy Pauly, Chair, Internet Architecture Board (IAB)
Flávio Rech Wagner, Steering Committee Chair, ISOC Chapters Advisory Council (ChAC)
Harald Summa, Co-Chair, ISOC Organization Members Advisory Council (OMAC)
Brent Arnold, Chair, The Canadian Internet Society
Jon Nevett, President and CEO, Public Interest Registry (PIR)
Mohibul Mahmud, Canada Ontario Chapter Members of ISOC’s Finance Team

1. Welcome, Apologies, and Declaration of Conflicts – Ted Hardie

Mr. Hardie called the meeting to order in Open to Observers Session on Saturday, 8 November 2025 at 14:01 UTC.

Mr. Hardie acknowledged the meeting was being held on the traditional and unceded territory of the Kanien’keha:ka (Mohawk), at a place called Tio’tia:ke (Montreal), a meeting place for many First Nations, including the Haudenosaunee (Six Nation Confederacy), Anishinabeg, and Algonquin peoples.

Mr. Hardie called for any conflicts; none were declared.

2. Welcome to New Chapters and SIGS – Ted Hardie

Mr. Hardie welcomed new and rejuvenated chapters.

RESOLUTION 2025-X: Welcome and Congratulations to New and Rejuvenated Chapters
RESOLVED, that the Internet Society Board of Trustees extends a warm welcome and congratulations to the new US Hawaii Chapter, Canada Ontario Chapter, and Mongolia Chapter;
FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Internet Society Board of Trustees celebrates the rejuvenation of the Namibia Chapter and the Somalia Chapter.

The resolution was approved by acclamation.

3. Committee Reports – Ted Hardie

The following community chairs provided reports:

IETF – Roman Danyliw

Mr. Danyliw reported on IETF’s areas of work, new working groups focusing on topics such as security evidence and attestation transport, HPKE publication, and DNS related groups and applications. He also discussed IETF work on AI, including AI preferences and Web Bot Auth. Mr. Danyliw highlighted recently completed work, including post quantum cryptography, civilian aviation, spam mitigation, and routing.

Discussion ensued with trustees inquiring about the role of IETF in the AI regulations and engaging new stakeholders, and work that the IETF should do versus external entities’ work on the AI standards and private protocols.

IAB – Tommy Pauly

Mr. Pauly provided an overview of the IAB’s work and activities, including WSIS+20. He noted that the IAB published input to both the Elements Paper and Zero Draft and conveyed his appreciation to ISOC for their engagement. He reported on workshops and technical programs held, recent appointments, and increased outreach for participation. In addition, he highlighted some technical trends the IAB is noticing, such as AI and Agentic AI and age restrictions. Mr. Pauly also noted that IETF received multiple appeals on a particular issue and, while the ISOC board does not solve substantive issues for the appeals, it is the adjudication forum for the procedural issues related to the appeals. To date, no appeals have been made to ISOC board.

Some of the goals for IAB and ISOC engagement include continued focus on global participation in IETF and coordination with ISOC chapters, taking a more proactive approach in how to defend the Internet architecture, identifying content the technical community can provide that could be useful for policy goals, and identifying other outreach where the IAB and ISOC can be most effective.

ChAC – Flávio Rech Wagner

Mr. Wagner presented the ChAC report highlighting the third quarter ChAC call, revisions to the ChAC governance documents, chapter engagement in the ChAC, and the chapter content archive project. He also provided an update on the 2026 ChAC Steering Committee Elections and on the health of the chapters.

Discussion ensued. Ms. Wentworth highlighted the positive energy of the ChAC, and substantive ideas generated by the candidates running in the election for the ChAC Steering Committee. Questions were asked about continuity in the ChAC Steering Committee chair role and the ChAC Steering Committee membership.

OMAC – Harald Summa

Mr. Summa presented the OMAC report, highlighting recent OMAC activities, identifying members for the ISOC Board Nominations Committee and Elections Committee, and hosting two successful OMAC roundtables.

Discussion ensued with comments stressing the value of the roundtables and desire to see increased participation of the Organization Members.

IETF Trust – Glenn Deen

Mr. Hardie noted the IETF Trust report will be shared with trustees once it is received.

4. Chapter Report – Brent Arnold

Chair of The Canadian Internet Society Mr. Arnold briefed the board on the chapter’s activities. He presented the chapter’s the strategic plan for 2025- 2029, which was launched with five priorities: capacity building and expertise; proactive digital policy leadership; public awareness and education; national engagement and community building; and formalizing comments. He also shared that the chapter’s current key priorities are digital sovereignty, AI policy, cybersecurity, privacy, broadcasting, protection of minors, and competition policy and the Internet.

Discussion ensued.

Following a short break at 16:02 UTC, the meeting resumed in Open to Observers Session at 16:22 UTC.

5. President and CEO’s Report – Sally Wentworth

Ms. Wentworth shared key highlights from the President and CEO’s report as provided in the meeting packet. More specifically, she noted that ISOC and the Foundation are on track to achieve the goals of the 2025 Action Plan. Ms. Wentworth reflected on the year and spoke to the three themes she identified as key for success in 2025: community centeredness; connecting ISOC’s work to impact on people; and defending and advocating for a globally connected Internet. Ms. Wentworth addressed the importance of chapter engagement and contributions to ISOC’s 2030 strategy. She also addressed ISOC’s investment in chapters, which has reached new levels. In 2025, ISOC granted USD $1,959,400 to 94 chapters, demonstrating a commitment to supporting local action and impact. Ms. Wentworth stressed that ISOC’s relationship with the technical community is also very strong.

On advocacy, Ms. Wentworth stated that forces around the world are working to fragment the Internet, impose digital sovereignty at the expense of openness, and undermine the multistakeholder model that has been essential to the Internet’s success. ISOC is focusing on unified advocacy and positioning itself as a leading voice for the future of an open, secure, and trustworthy Internet for everyone. Looking ahead, the organization is focusing on scaling impact.

Discussion ensued. Trustees stressed that, due to actions by nation states and other actors, ISOC must scale faster to address ever-evolving needs and challenges to the Internet. Ms. Wentworth stressed that 2026 will be an even more challenging year and ISOC and its communities must remain agile, including the board’s work.

6. ISOC Update – Yogesh Khanna

Mr. Khanna provided an update on the ISOC organization noting that ISOC is building a learning culture and scaling impact. He reported on the success of several programs, including community-centered connectivity, affordable and reliable access, online trust and safety, and community and partner mobilization. Building on learnings in 2025, ISOC will look to evolve new partnerships and keep investing in the community. On the topic of organizational operations, Mr. Khanna provided an update on the work of the Technology Solutions and Services teams, including improvements to AMS.

Discussion ensued. Trustees congratulated ISOC staff on all the achievements to date and encouraged Mr. Khanna to focus on the online safety hub work.

7. Accessibility Update – Dan York

Ms. Wentworth and Mr. York provided an update on the progress of implementing accessibility features to ISOC’s website, events, branded templates, and chapter website templates to ensure they meet, and are compliant with, existing standards. Mr. York also continues to engage the Accessibility Standing Group on the topic. Mr. York reported on challenges and delays to the accessibility implementation, including delayed work on the staff toolkit and internal system analysis. Looking ahead to 2026, he reported that ISOC will continue auditing and improving identified websites, such as Pulse, and finalize the internal training toolkit.

Trustees thanked the team for their work and stressed the value in making accessibility part of ISOC culture. Trustees also inquired about providing accessibility training to chapters.

The meeting recessed for lunch at 18:02 UTC and resumed in Open to Observers Session at 19:03 UTC.

8. Presentation of the Action Plan – Yogesh Khanna and Katie Bengaard

Mr. Khanna and Ms. Bengaard presented the 2026 Action Plan, including 2026 priorities (scaling grant making, advocating for and promoting the interest of unconnected communities, affordable and reliable access, online trust and safety), and proposed success measures.

Discussion ensued. Trustees inquired about the community trainer toolkit, as well as considering “baseline” and “stretch” goals for proposed metrics because previous metrics have been easily surpassed. Ms. Wentworth will work with executive leaders to review the goals and return with a proposed set of stretch goals.

Following a short break at 19:57 UTC, the meeting resumed in Closed Executive Session at 20:26 UTC where the following topics were discussed.

9. CFO’s Report: Q3 2025 Financial Update – Sae Park

Ms. Park presented the third quarter financial results.

10. Presentation of the 2026 Budget – Sae Park

Ms. Park presented the proposed 2026 budget.

11. Finance Committee Report – Victor Kuarsingh

Mr. Kuarsingh presented the Finance Committee report.

12. Presentation of PIR Long Term Plan – Jon Nevett

Mr. Nevett presented PIR’s Long Term Plan.

13. Review of PIR Budget – Jon Nevett

Mr. Nevett reviewed PIR’s budget proposal.

14. Adjournment for the Day – Ted Hardie

Mr. Hardie adjourned the meeting for the day at 22:00 UTC.

15. Call to Order – Ted Hardie

Mr. Hardie reconvened the meeting on Sunday, 9 November at 18:00 UTC in Open to Observers Session.

16. Approval of the PIR Budget – Ted Hardie

Resolution 2025-X: Approve the 2026 Public Interest Registry Budget
RESOLVED, that the Internet Society Board of Trustees hereby approves the 2026 budget of the Public Interest Registry as presented.