Hello everyone
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It certainly will be pivotal for Kantara, as we wrestle with increased global interest in our capabilities and demand for our services. Our resource pool however remains largely comprised of the same familiar voices on our calls and emails in our group discussion threads. What can you do to champion Kantara further within your organization, and what can we do to help you do that successfully?
Thinking about our resources, it is with sadness that we farewell Catherine Schulten from the Staff team. Catherine has been helping out between jobs on a modest contract, primarily with Board and Staff support but also extending into Group support at times. On behalf of the Board and Staff, the very best wishes for your exciting and enormously challenging new role with Change Healthcare. We will miss your strategic insight, 'can do' attitude to turn your hand to anything that needed doing and sense of humor. But as one door closes, another opens. We're hiring! If you or someone you know that is experienced in the things that Kantara operates and supports, please let me know.
Looking back into December, I want to start with the call for nominations for Directors at Large. For the 2 positions catered for by current Bylaws we had 4 organization nominations - one from Canada, one from Germany and two from the US. This was a great result; in fact so great, that the Board is proposing to accept all 4. But to do so, it requires making a minor amendment to the Bylaws. And to do that it needs to notify members, prior to an all-Member Ballot for the slate. Members will see an email with all the details soon.
Later on in December, we welcomed Origo Services Limited Limited from Scotland as members. There is a back story here in that for several years now Origo has been fascinated with the functionality of the UMA protocol and have been internally working on a Profile of UMA related to the UK Government's Pension Dashboard Programme. And upon joining, Origo offered its profile to the UMA Working Group for consideration as a contribution and onwards to a Kantara publication, the form of which has not been decided yet. The last couple of UMA calls have been largely dedicated to the first phase of this review by the UMA WG participants. We understand that the Pensions Dashboard Programme is expected to make considerable progress during 2021, so the contribution proposal is timely. Thank you Origo!
If you are actively involved in Kantara, it won't have escaped your attention just how busy all facets of Kantara have been. We concluded November with the Members' Annual General Meeting. It was the most well attended ever. In past years we have piggybacked on international conferences in the US and Europe as a venue. While this was great for face to face interaction, it was necessarily restricted in attendee numbers by its very nature. I guess this is one positive for stay-at-home 2020. During the jam packed meeting:
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And while thinking about members, welcome back Accredited Assessor, The The Slandala Company Company - thank you for renewing!
Reflecting on the past year, I'm proud of what Kantara has achieved.
- By the numbers we
- received double the expressions of interest in conformity assessment, assurance and grant of trust mark in our Trust Framework Operations program,
- doubled our publications,
- doubled our responses to requests for comment on consultations on digital identity around the world, and
- slightly increased our Membership; and
- We launched the Privacy & Identity for mDL Discussion Group .
All up, a satisfactory year and you can see the AGM materials here on the website. But wait, there's more! 
. It was a delight to announce the winners of the inaugural Exemplary Contribution Awards to individuals, regardless of their membership standing, who have tirelessly volunteered with group work, attended calls and promoted Kantara's unique qualities to the world as judged by Working Group Officers. It was great to be able to recognize the efforts of
and thank them in a meaningful way for their service and unflagging dedication.
November also had other activities. I was a panelist on the UK's Think Digital Identity for Government virtual conference which is always great value, and was on three panels for Identity Week UK the week after.
Members received emails on the call for nominations for the two Directors at Large positions for 2021 from the general organization membership. There will be more information of a new 'view' of our membership coming early in the New Year.
It was great to welcome new member Tim Reiniger as well as membership renewals from Wedacon in Germany, 2Keys in Canada, ITIM Consulting in Canada and Individual Contributors Silvia Knittl, Sal D'Agostino and Vitor Jesus.
December will be very busy for Staff as we prepare a new, fresh look for the website with improved navigation as we continually improve the information architecture for the increasing amount and range of material Kantara publishes.
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- which attracts an ever-growing and influential following as the draft Report begins to take shape. Thank you AAMVA, TSA and others for your support there.
Looking forward to 2021, near term we have the Directors at Large to seat of course and our fresh new website for review and comment. We have increasing interest for our Trust Framework mapping and governance capabilities from the public sector largely, from all corners of the world, so we look forward to translating that interest into funded work projects. Last but certainly not least is the Board's priority work areas that President Matt summarized at the AGM on November 30th. Together with the work areas, comes several quite significant strategic changes - some have been in the oven for a couple of years, others are very recent products of the Board's 2021-2025 strategic review during the mid-year. While different in detail, they are all common in supporting the unique and open Kantara community that you are a part of. Whether it is conformity assessment and assurance at the heart of operating Trust Frameworks agnostic to any scheme or standard, or mapping gaps and deltas between standards, schemes and trust Frameworks, or digital identity related RFP support, or sponsored publications arising out of working and discussion group collaboration, existing work and new opportunities are designed to blend nicely together in a re-organized and re-energized Kantara.
Happy New Year! See you on the other side .
Onwards to 2021 and all that it has in store for us personally and our expanding and diverse community.
Kind regards,
Colin
Around the Houses:
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- Miss something? See our press releases here.
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Program, Work Group and Discussion Group Updates:
You can always keep up with the latest news from the Work and Discussion Groups directly on the Leadership Council's Blog. See the list of public groups here.
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Not sure where to find things? Membership Bella, Assurance Director Ruth, Business Development Ambassador Chris and myself, together with the Kantara IT team consisting of Sebastian and Gonzalo led by Armin are only too willing to assist. Contact them here.
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