Hello everyone
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I begin this final Director's Corner of 2020 with 2021 just a few hours away. Many of our members in both hemispheres are taking time out for Holidays, so I hope hope this update finds you safe, well, rested and recharging for what is to be a pivotal 2021 - globally, nationally, locally and individually. To those active member and non-member volunteers that keep doing the doing, and the Credential Service Providers and Accredited Assessors driving the assurance Trust Framework that is the beating heart of Kantara, my sincere and grateful thanks.
2021 will certainly 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 that participate on our calls and in emails on our group discussion threads. I encourage everyone to ask what can you do to champion Kantara further within your organization, and what can we do to help you do that successfully? Take our survey here.
Thinking about our resources, it is with sadness that we bid farewell to ForgeRock's Allan Foster and the Internet Society's Robin Wilton from the Board. Their operational support, evangelism and strategic insight over the last 8+ years will be missed. We also bid farewell to Catherine Schulten from the Staff team. While between jobs later in 2020, Catherine has, on a modest contract, been helping out primarily with Board and Staff support but also extending into Group support at times. To Catherine, on behalf of the Board, Staff and Staffmembership, I we wish you the very best wishes on for your exciting and enormously challenging new role with Change Healthcare. We will miss your strategic insight, your 'can do' attitude to turn your hand to anything that needed doing and your sense of humor. But as one door closes, another opens. We're hiring! If you, or someone you know, is experienced in the things that Kantara operates and supports, please let me know.
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Looking forward to 2021, we have, in the near term, the Directors at Large to seat of course and our fresh our fresh new website for review and comment. We also 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.
New for 2021! Reduce your already modest membership fee even further by introducing new members! Each existing Individual or Organization level member in good standing that introduces a prospective Organization level member that subsequently pays its member dues before the introducing member's next renewal anniversary, gets 25% of the new member's membership level rebated off the introducing member's membership renewal to a maximum of 100% of the introducing member's membership level.
Happy New Year! See you on the other side 
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