Five new staff appointments at ICANN, including a well-deserved promotion for Dan Halloran. I'm troubled though that the duties for the Director of Communications (formerly Mary Hewett) and the new position of Manager of Public Participation have been lumped together under one person. Manager of Public Participation is a vital position, and Mr. Baker's impressive credentials suggest that his experience is solely on the press side of his new job. Fortunately, this appears to be a temporary appointment, and I hope that the Public Participation position gets a full-time employee soon.

Add: From the Evolution and Reform Process: "There should be a Manager of Public Participation. This would be a staff position, under the management of the CEO, whose sole responsibility would be to take the actions necessary to enable effective public input into the ICANN policy-development process."