Meeting of the ARIN Board of Trustees - 19 April 2026

Louisville, Kentucky

Attendees

• Nancy Carter, Chair
• Tina Morris, Vice Chair
• Dan Alexander, Board Trustee
• Michael Abejuela, General Counsel, Acting CEO
• Peter Harrison, Board Trustee
• Lee Howard, Board Trustee
• Hank Kilmer, Treasurer
• Robert Seastrom, Board Trustee
• Chris Tacit, Secretary

Staff

• John Curran, President and CEO (on sabbatical)
• Erin Alligood, CHRO
• Alyssa Arceneaux, Board Operations Manager, Scribe
• Richard Jimmerson, COO
• Christian Johnson, CISO
• Brian Kirk, CFO
• John Sweeting, CXO

ARIN Board of Trustees Executive Session. The Board Chair called an Executive Session at 9:00 am ET.

1. Welcome, Agenda and Conflict of Interest Disclosure Review.

The Chair welcomed staff back to the room at 9:20 am ET and called the meeting to order. It was noted that ARIN’s executive continuity test was still ongoing (with Michael Abejuela serving as Acting CEO) and CEO John Curran would serve as an observer until he returns to duty. The Chair spoke to proper process regarding observers and also regarding abstaining on motions. She noted that she had received a report from the Chair of the Advisory Council and she will send along to the Board.

She asked for any additions or changes to the agenda. The agenda was adopted as presented.

She asked for any conflicts of interest. There were none.

2. Consent Agenda

• Approval of the Minutes of January 13, 2026. (Exhibit A)
• Q4 2025 Financial Statements. (Exhibit B)
• Q4 2025 Investment Report. (Exhibit C)
• 2025 Annual Compliance Filings and Fees Register. (Exhibit D)
• 2026 Annual Training Memo. (Exhibit E)
• Fee Waiver for IPv6 /36’s Memo. (Exhibit F)

It was moved by Lee Howard, seconded by Rob Seastrom, that:

“The ARIN Board of Trustees approves the Consent Agenda, as written.”

Mr. da Silva noted a typo in the minutes (Exhibit A). He explained that he did not feel the need to pull it if everyone was okay with the update. The minutes would be posted with this correction.

The motion carried, via acclamation, with no abstentions or oppositions.

3. ARIN Board Committee Reports

The Chair noted her appreciation for all the Committee Chairs submitting their individual reports. These reports will be moved to consent agenda in August. Mr. Kilmer has also noted that several of the Trustees are attending various committee meetings and wants to make sure that the committees stay on track and that full Board conversations happen at Board meetings and not in Committee meetings. The Vice Chair stated that it could skew opinions and observations and that the full Board must have the opportunity to discuss as a whole. The Secretary said it is imperative that observers adhere to that observer role responsibly.

• Compensation Committee. (Exhibit G)
• Finance Committee. (Exhibit H)
• Nomination Committee. (Exhibit I)
• Governance Committee. (Exhibit J)
• Risk and Cybersecurity Committee. (Exhibit K)
• Special Committee for Strategic Planning. (Exhibit L)

4. 2027 Financial Outlook and Registration Service Plan (RSP) Price Increase.

(Exhibit M)

The CFO stated that the Finance Committee met last week and discussed the proposed RSP pricing fee change being presented. It is a responsibility of the Finance Committee to review proposed fee changes, and management works with the Committee to meet the long-term financial plan set forth by the ARIN Board to achieve a balanced budget which calls for matching annual revenues and expenses. The CFO presented the long-term model, which has spending increasing annually at 4% and with an RSP fee increase of 5% each year until 2030, and noted the planned fee increase for 2027 has been reviewed and recommended by the ARIN Finance Committee. Until reaching a balanced budget in 2030, ARIN will continue to draw the small difference from its reserves.

It was noted that the reserves are continuing to increase. The CFO noted that some of the investment funds are being used right now to cover the deficit each year as ARIN is not running a balanced budget yet. These extra funds that are there can be used for special projects. The Treasurer noted that these are projections, but right now we are in a very volatile economy so these numbers could change. A little excess helps to prevent issues, but the answer to membership is that as we get to a balanced budget there will be conversations around how and what to do with any surplus funds.

There was a suggestion that the upper and lower limits for investment funds may need to be discussed again at the Finance Committee. The Acting CEO reiterated the CFO’s notes on the definition of a balanced budget is revenue matching expenses and that this fee increase is necessary to achieve that plan.

It was moved by Rob Seastrom, and seconded by Peter Harrison, that:

“The ARIN Board of Trustees approves an increase in the registry services fee by 5% for 2027 as recommended by the ARIN Finance Committee.”

The motion carried (10-0), via roll call.

The CFO thanked all for the excellent discussion and the Chair asked staff to move forward.

5. Board Leadership Succession Planning Procedure.

(Exhibit N)

Mr. Tacit stated that this topic has had a lot of discussion, it started as a longer document and has come down to one-page. The document is not meant to be a formal process, but rather a guideline. The Acting CEO noted that this is supposed to get away from surprises on how Board leadership works.

It was moved by Chris Tacit, and seconded by Lee Howard, that:

“The ARIN Board of Trustees approves the Board Leadership Succession Planning Procedure as a guideline.”

Ms. Morris noted that this is very new and demonstrates that the Board is trying to add more structure and reduce confusion. Mr. Howard feels like it is a great document that removes the concerns shared by the Board in January.

The motion carried, via acclamation, with no abstentions or oppositions.

6. Board Trustee Training and Development Plan.

(Exhibit O)

Mr. Tacit stated that this document was part of the Governance Committee work plan. The Acting CEO stated that this document provides guidance and highlight opportunities that are available to Board Trustees. He noted that there are some areas of training that require a fee and that is why there is a sentence about the Chair working in consultation with the CEO to approve. This is done solely for budgetary reasons.

Mr. Howard suggested tracking Trustee trainings to support the skills matrix. The Acting CEO agreed, noting that sharing training records would benefit all Trustees. The Vice Chair acknowledged limited availability but emphasized that a log of completed trainings and reviews would be useful. Such a log could also help the Board Chair manage training activities effectively.

There was a discussion about Board-related policies and their update schedule. Mr. Kilmer suggested that this discussion should be in the August meeting as more documents will be coming out of the Governance Committee. Ms. Morris noted maybe an update of the organization of the Board SharePoint site might help here.

Mr. Tacit asked all Trustees to look at folder organization on SharePoint and provide any thoughts on that, as well.

The Chair reiterated why the Training and Development document specifies that for training requests, the Board Chair works in conjunction with the President and CEO. Mr. Kilmer stated that any training requests should follow the same process as other budget requests. He reiterated that the Chair should not be part of the decision.

It was agreed the document would be amended to include the following language, “where such need has been confirmed by the approval of the Board Chair, the regular budget process should be followed.”

It was moved by Chris Tacit, and seconded by Hank Kilmer, that:

“The ARIN Board of Trustees approves the Board Trustee Training and Development Plan, as amended.”

The motion carried, via acclamation, with no abstentions or oppositions.

The Chair called for a break at 10:23 am ET. The Chair called it back to order at 10:38 am ET.

7. ARIN 2026 Election Process.

(Exhibits P, Q, R)

Mr. Tacit noted that there have been very good comments but believes that this document should not be moved for approval today and the updates suggested by Board Trustees through email should be made first and then the revised document should be sent back to the ARIN Board by email for comments. The Acting CEO noted that there are a lot of comments and will work to ensure that their thoughts and comments are integrated. Finishing that revision, staff will circulate for comments and then move forward to obtain approval via email with ratification at the next Board meeting. He also noted that the Election Process has begun, but this document needs to be formalized by the Board. The Acting CEO noted that there will be an opportunity to review the updated document via email before approval.

Mr. Tacit next addressed the Board Guidance letter and noted that this document has been circulated to the Board for feedback and there is a bit of concern on clarity of the financial skill. Instead of accounting professionals, it should state, “CFO or equivalent with experience in oversight, financial statements, and audits.”

The Board Chair stated that in her opinion it is necessary to have a CPA on the Board and helps with due diligence. The CFO stated that if he were a member in the community, he would be looking for a CPA because it gives assurance and provides the credibility of fiduciary responsibility. Mr. Tacit stated that the Board Job Description depicts a lot of information on what is expected and required of a Board Trustee, and where financial skills are required, a CPA or equivalent is listed. Mr. Kilmer stated he would prefer CPA to CFO as it is a certification instead of a title.

It was moved by Chris Tacit, and seconded by Lee Howard, that:

“The ARIN Board of Trustees adopts the Board Guidance Letter, as amended.”

The motion carried, via acclamation, with no abstentions or oppositions.

The Acting CEO presented the newly drafted Election Officer Job Description and stated that this was requested by the Board and prepared by the legal team. This job description is a bit more lightweight than the others but feels it includes everything that was being asked for by the Board. Mr. Tacit had a question about the validation being based on hearsay in “confirm the eligible voter list”. The Vice Chair stated that she was also curious if this portion was just to assure that the process is being followed or did it imply more. Mr. Howard feels it could be adopted as is but should return back to Board in the future for further discussion.

There was a brief discussion about the Election Officer preparing an experience report along with the other committees and presenting to the Board in December.

It was moved by Lee Howard, and seconded by Peter Harrison, that:

“The ARIN Board of Trustees accepts the Election Officer Job Description, as presented.”

The motion carried via acclamation, with no abstentions or oppositions.

8. Risk Register Presentation.

(Exhibit S)

The CISO presented the Risk Register, speaking to the top risks for Board attention and progress for the associated mitigation actions. He noted that one new risk was added to that list in Q1 2026 at the Trustees’ request.

The Chair called for a break at 12:00 pm ET. The Chair reconvened the meeting at 12:30 pm ET.

9. Strategic Priority: Optimize ARIN’s Services Portfolio through Service Retirement

(Exhibit T)

The COO provided a presentation on retiring outdated services, including Email SWIP templates, FTP Protocol usage, and other internal tools. He noted that the CXO, CTO, and their teams have done a great job in making a lot of this happen. The COO stated that ARIN has a consolidation planned for Q2 of 2026 on the topic of directory services (Whois-to-RDAP client conversation tools). He then noted how this relates back to the KPI’s set through the strategic process.

Mr. Kilmer stated that as soon as ARIN does consultations to retire services it will allows other companies and organizations to start their own retirement of old services. The Vice Chair stated that this process should help simplify and increase velocity. For a measurement mechanism, having a list of all services and moving retired to the bottom, with those marked as retiring next to the bottom, would help inform the Board how management is progressing.

Lastly, the CXO noted that there was an emergency retirement of the Point of Contact service earlier this year and that these come up from time to time.

The Chair would like to also hear about a reallocation of talent and maybe this could factor into the customer survey also. This could provide metrics possibly and the impact of risk. Mr. Kilmer noted specifically, technical debt report. The COO noted he would update the previous service retirement memo from 2 years ago including specifically showing the movement that has been made.

10. Strategic Priority: Strengthen Governmental Relations for RIR System

(Exhibit U)

The Acting CEO stated that this strategic priority really focuses on the Government Affairs Department (GAD). This is a preview, but Tuesday at lunch there will be presentations from Lynne Hamilton, Canada, and Bevil Wooding, Caribbean.

Mr. Howard asked about relations with the U.S. government and the Acting CEO said that he and Mr. Curran are always available and will provide an update during the General Counsel update session. He provided an update on ongoing engagements within Canada, the Caribbean, and the U.S. Government. The Acting CEO stated the GAD is not only focused on structured meetings but also maintaining and developing relationships. He noted that ARIN will be bringing two government analysts onto the team as this is not an area where you can just train someone; they need to cultivate relationships and come to understand meetings and processes and politics.

He then gave an update on upcoming activity and made note that the Connected Caribbean Summit may be changing its agenda. The Acting CEO then provided the KPI and measurement mechanisms.

Mr. Alexander said that the KPI measurement is difficult and may be more focused on level of threat. Mr. Tacit stated that he would be interested in hearing more about the specific government threats/opportunities/pain points moving forward. Mr. da Silva stated that a reporting mechanism could be risk driven and may even be tied back to the Risk Register.

11. Strategic Priority: Strategic Collaboration with Other RIRs

(Exhibit V)

The CXO noted that right now there are five coordination groups made up of the five RIR’s. The NRO RPKI program is a prime example of how the five coordination groups came together. These coordination groups have charters and annual work plans. The Chair of the coordination groups rotates in the same way as the leadership on the NRO Executive Council for the RIRs works. He then provided a summary of the Registration Services Coordination Group (RSCG), Communications Coordination Group (CCG), Public Affairs Coordination (PACG), and the Engineering Coordination Group (ECG).

He also noted that the legal affairs team has an informal group but are often invited to other coordination groups. Human Resource and Financial also have coordination groups but are not formal; however, they do meet regularly. The NRO Executive Council will be re-establishing the Coordination Groups along with new Memorandums of Understanding this year. Lastly, each RIR supports their own Wiki page, which is very important internationally.

Mr. da Silva noted his challenges with the measurement mechanisms. Is there a way to represent the system as healthy?

The COO stated that ARIN staff has certain measurements but did not want to overstep the Board and what they would want. The Board Chair stated that this is a transition year, and the KPIs may not match up with the Strategic Priorities exactly but we can continue to work on this and would welcome KPI recommendations from staff.

The Board Chair stated that the NRO EC set three strategic priorities and one of them includes RPKI and moving it forward. The EC has taken ownership, and ECG is moving ahead and there may be a metric coming out of that.

Mr. Kilmer noted that the KPIs were starting points in January and feels that staff coming with recommendations is exactly what should be happening.

The Board Chair asked if wiki is outdated technology and the CXO noted it is what is supported by the RIR staff at this time.

12. Strategic Priority: Drive Global IPv6 Deployment

(Exhibit W)

The Acting CEO provided a highlight of the ongoing activities that ARIN is doing now – participating in IPv6 focused events, highlighting IPv6 information via ARIN blogs and training materials, providing network address planning and sharing this adoption data and information with other RIRs. He then spoke to the other activities that ARIN has planned.

Mr. Howard asked for more detail on the education that is being provided. The CXO was asked about an education training, “why you should use IPv6?” He agreed that yes, this would be helpful. He suggested a survey to the community on why IPv6 is not being adopted or utilized. There is a lot of software that does not support IPv6 and maybe a task force convenes to discuss the software and survey the community.

The Vice Chair suggested implementation of an evaluation method for determining actual use and accessibility of an organization’s services and web presence using IPv6 only. That may lead to organizations adopting v6 to insure they have the “checkmark” next to their name when evaluated in this manner.

The Chair called for a break at 2:30 pm ET. The Chair reconvened the meeting at 2:48 pm ET.

13. Strategic Priority: Community Advocacy via ARIN Subregion Engagement

(Exhibit X)

The CXO stated that this presentation overlaps with the Acting CEO’s presentation when discussing governments. Not just subregions but across the different segments of ARINs community. He discussed the community advocacy that ARIN provided in the Caribbean, Canada, and in the United States. He highlighted that ARIN is expanding on technical services, like “deep dive” training sessions.

Mr. Howard asked about target distribution among the three regions – intended rotation cycle. The CXO noted that there used to be a rotation but with Covid, it is taking ARIN a while to get back on that rotation. He also pointed out that our fall meeting is dictated by NANOG.

14. Strategic Priority: Strategic Project Update – Systems Modernization

(Exhibit Y)

Mr. Mike Cullen, Baker Tilly joined the call at 3:17 pm ET.

The Acting CEO provided a summary of the recent registry incident that occurred in December. He stated the customer and service impact and realized that there was a single party control which allowed the execution. This control gap was identified, which was then reported to the Board and then the public community, and then expectations were established by the Board. An outside audit was requested, and Baker Tilly was approached and hired to provide this audit.

Mr. Cullen, from Baker Tilly, presented the draft audit report and stated that management and leadership were very open during this audit. He then noted the objective and scope of the audit that Baker Tilly provided. He summarized the results. There were inconsistencies found in all areas looked at; however, he noted that the 10 criteria were recently created and they had not been something that were a focus previously. The rest of the report is recommendations designed to fill the gaps based on the criteria.

Mr. Mike Cullen left the call at 3:33 pm ET.

The Acting CEO presented the mitigation steps that were taken right away. He noted that ARIN has already implemented additional safeguards within existing systems, increased internal review and validation steps, and acknowledged limitation of incremental controls. However, looking at this strategically, there is a systemic challenge, and the long-term solution requires structural change, and cannot rely on incremental fixes. ARIN staff is proposing to establish a new system by creating a Registry Control Plane. This would centralize enforcement, sit in between all applications, and enforce Board and Executive defined controls.

The Acting CEO provided a diagram of the proposed system, that would be more consistent and support a more robust registry moving forward. He noted that enabling this new system would allow eliminating single-point execution risk, enable safe adoption of future tools and systems, ensure consistent enforcement of controls, and provide auditability and governance. From a legal perspective this last measurement is extremely important as it can be used as a source of evidence.

To implement this Registry Control Plane, ARIN will need to fully define the specifications, especially cost and time expectations. ARIN staff would like to present the next steps at the next Board meeting in August. ARIN staff is also recommending using outside consultants for development as it would be quicker. The Acting CEO would like to get the Board’s alignment on direction and planning and proposal development.

Mr. Kilmer asked what is being defined as a Registry Control Plane and how the time estimates are even gathered without having the scope already developed. He stated that developing a model and tool set needs more data to move forward. What do you want the Registry Control Plane to do? The Acting CEO stated that the baseline of the Control Plane would address the immediate concerns. He also stated that the time estimates are preliminary and could change as ARIN continues to dive deeper into the planning process. Mr. Kilmer stated that ARIN would need to start the Registry Control Plane with one aspect and grow and add instead of one large product plan. He stated that certain components could be developed externally while others could be handled internally.

Mr. da Silva does not feel that there is enough detail on external development verse internal development. What would the internal cost be and what priorities would be impacted? The Acting CEO said those questions would be added as planning got underway.

Mr. Tacit asked about costs and specifications and how quickly those could be done. The Acting CEO noted that it would depend on how quickly ARIN was able to put together the must-have needs. He also noted that for cost purposes, ARIN needs to get the RFP out with the specifications. Mr. Tacit asked about the integration process, and whether it is part of what is being presented here today. The Acting CEO stated that the first activity is to start the Registry Control Plane, but we would then have a continuous rolling process of adding additional items.

Mr. Alexander agrees with the effort but is concerned about the scope. In January, he noted the Board talked about a full overhaul of the registry and the introduction of a Registry Control Plane just fixes part of the incident issue. He does not want to do this for one occurrence. Mr. Seastrom said that right now it is not where we want to get to, however, this is a good first step. He feels like that there will be steps made here that will affect strategic priorities. The Acting CEO wants to fix the problems of today but wants to make sure we are speculating and scoping for realistic problems moving forward into the future.

The Vice Chair appreciates the direction this is going and reiterates the direction that was discussed in January and that was to go big. This is phase one but need to show the overall plan and see the ability to plan out. Mr. Seastrom is also in support.

Mr. Kilmer agrees with the direction of Registry Control Plane and suggested thinking about what systems would go first and what is next.

15. General Counsel Update.

The Acting CEO provided an attorney-client privileged brief to the Board.

16. Open Action Item List.

(Exhibit Z)

The Acting CEO provided an update on the open action item list.

17. Any Other Business.

The Chair asked for any other business.

• Mr. Seastrom announced that he has new employment, starting in May.
• Reminder from Chair about the RIR HH, Board Only Dinner on Tuesday evening.

18. Executive Session.

The Chair called for an Executive Session at 4:40 pm ET.

19. Adjournment.

The Chair asked for a motion to adjourn. It was moved by Rob Seastrom and seconded by Lee Howard. The meeting adjourned at 5:49 pm ET.