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I have just declared my candidacy in the OpenID Foundation Board election (2025). If you are a member, I would greatly appreciate your seconding my nomination.

The election page is https://openid.net/foundation/members/elections/61.

Below is my candidacy statement. The original is in English, and I have also included a Japanese translation.

I have been deeply involved in digital identity and privacy for the past 25 years. I am also a co-author of many standards, including OpenID Connect, JWT, JWS, OAuth PKCE, and FAPI.

My consistent theme has been “Power to the People”—empowering people to regain control over themselves through digital identity.

I founded the OpenID Foundation Japan (OIDF-J) in 2008 and have served as Chairman of the OpenID Foundation (OIDF) since 2011. I was also involved in founding the Open Identity Exchange (OIX) and the Kantara Initiative. I have served on various Japanese government committees and also chair Japan’s national committee for ISO/IEC SC27, “Information security, cybersecurity and privacy protection.” I also contribute to IETF working groups, particularly the OAuth WG. I currently serve as Representative Partner of NAT Consulting.

My principal accomplishments in my work with the OpenID Foundation include:

  • Launched the AB/Connect WG and created OpenID Connect Core 1.0 and related standards
  • Initiated work on digital signature and encryption schemes, which culminated in JWS, JWE, and JWT
  • Launched the FAPI WG and created FAPI 1.0, which has been adopted or recommended by international communities including UK Open Banking, the US Financial Data Exchange, Australian Consumer Data Standards, and Brazil’s Open Finance
  • Initiated work on a test suite with Umeå University in Sweden, which later became the OpenID Certification Program. Adoption of the certification program has accelerated substantially through FAPI over the past 4 years, and more than 1000 implementations are now certified
  • Organized and streamlined the IPR framework, including securing the OpenID(R) trademark internationally
  • Encouraged and supported people in joining the OpenID Foundation to launch WGs: the number of active WGs has grown to 13, addressing a broad range of industry needs
  • Promoted OpenID Connect and related technologies internationally through in-person meetings, conference presentations, blog posts, YouTube channels, and other means, making them mainstream protocols
  • Initiated active collaborative relationships with other international organizations such as ISO, ITU-T, and the OECD, and established a liaison committee within the OpenID Foundation
  • Supported the organization of OpenID-related events in the United States, Europe, Japan, and Latin America

New architectural approaches to identity management are emerging. Wallet-centric approaches, identity metadata exchange, continuous authentication, and event sharing are drawing particular attention. The OpenID Foundation has worked to prepare specifications that will influence such an environment. Examples include:

  • OpenID for VP and SIOP v.2
  • OpenID Federation
  • OpenID for Identity Assurance
  • CAEP and RISC
  • FAPI 2
  • AuthZEN
  • IPSIE

These are not yet complete, but they are making steady progress. Going forward, I intend to support the working group chairs and working groups to accelerate the development of these specifications.

At the same time, I will continue exploring new market requirements and educating the market about best practices in identity management and API protection. This can also be seen in the activities of community groups such as GAIN and DADE.

My motto is “Listen, Observe, Coordinate, and Be Proactive.” I ask for your vote so that, together with everyone who shares our aspirations in this field, I can further advance “open identity.” By joining forces, we can make an impact on the world and make it happen.

Nat Sakimura
Blog: https://nat.sakimura.org (English) https://www.sakimura.org/ (Japanese)
Twitter: @_nat_en (English) @_nat (Japanese)
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NatSakimura (English) https://www.youtube.com/@55id (Japanese)

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