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Today, the U.S. OpenID Foundation held its first board meeting of 2010.

The main topics today were deciding the committee structure for this term, appointing the officers for this term, and approving OIX (Open Identity Exchange).

Regarding the committee structure, we decided to adopt a model in which multiple small committees are created and authority is delegated to them. Corporate directors have increased this year, resulting in a board of 19 people, so I think this approach is logical. It was approved unanimously. Specifically, I expect committees on usability, RPs, and other matters to be convened.

Next came the appointment of officers. For the unpopular treasurer position, Mike Ozburn was the only candidate, so he was automatically selected. For secretary, Chris Messina, whose recent move to Google had attracted attention, will take over from Microsoft’s Mike Jones over the period through IIW in May. Mike will step down as Microsoft’s representative in May, and former IBM executive Tony Nadalin will succeed him.

For chair, last year’s chair Brian Kissel, who received the most votes in this year’s election, and Dick Hardt both stood as candidates. However, there was strong support in recognition of Brian’s accomplishments last year, so Dick withdrew, and Brian will continue in the role this year.

For vice-chair, David Recordon first declared his candidacy, followed by Dick Hardt, who had withdrawn from the chair election, and finally me. (Just as I was trying to declare my candidacy, Skype disconnected, which made me panic…) Each of us spoke for about 1 minutes about why we were running. Since no consensus emerged, a roll-call vote [*1] was held. The result was 14 votes for me, 3 for Dick, 1 for David, and 1 abstention (absence), and I was appointed. Incidentally, I ran because there were no candidates from Asia or Africa in this election, and all the candidates from Europe had lost. That left me as the only person from outside North America, and I felt that, as a result, OIDF risked sending the mistaken message that it was a North America-only organization.

OIX stands for Open Identity Exchange and is an organization that certifies OpenID providers for the U.S. government. There had been a proposal to establish it jointly with the InfoCard Foundation, and we discussed whether OIDF should approve it. Attempting to conduct certification creates litigation risks and other concerns. The conclusion of the joint study committee formed by the OpenID Foundation and the InfoCard Foundation was therefore to create a separate legal entity so that the main organizations would not be affected, and the issue was whether to follow that recommendation. There was a fairly lengthy question-and-answer session, but it was ultimately approved.

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