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It's been a transformational year for Kantara, bringing its own challenges that together, we have all risen to and overcome. When I go back in time 12 months to when the Board made the unprecented unprecedented decision to self incorporate as a separate organization, replace its service management company, and initiate the transition of Exec Director - all in one single December 2015 meeting - the enormity of it at the time looked ... well... scarydaunting!
Then when one adds the historic ructions in the political landscape and the appalling events brought on by war, terror and natural disaster, there's a valid case to be thankful for the end of 2016, so we can focus on doing our part in making 2017 100% positively memorabememorable.
And there is a lot we can do.
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We have UMA - the only profile in the world for distributed authorization and delegation built for the modern, lightweight mobile world - gaining attention and rapid adoption, not only from the tech sector, but increasingly from the legal and health professions, as we do with the Blockchain Smart Contracts DG. We have the Consent Receipt specification about to go to public review - another world first. We are recognised experts in conformity assessment with our experience in operating the Identity Assurance program for the US Federal government's FICAM initiative, with a clutch of partners looking at us to potentially extend it to assess and assure their trust frameworks. And we have the other Working Groups and Discussion Groups building towards their goals, such as but not limited to the new paradiym paradigm that IRM portends and the ID Pro Discussion Group's efforts to build a home for digital identity professionals.
Governments and policy-makers are attracted to Kantara by what they see at the grass-roots level and want it in the room in other fora - like ITAC in its role to support the OECD and in Vienna earlier this year to observe UNCITRAL - we welcome their interest.
What we strive to do and the egalitarian consensus driven culture in which we do it, is not for everyone however. While we have had While some folks have not renew renewed their membership in 2016, many more have chosen to join us. December's New Members are OneWorldIdentity, Collective Underwriters,Inc and John Macaulay (of whom you will see much more in the Health Identity Assurance Working Group). A very warm welcome folks. We welcome your interest and your investment in time and money. We need all of it and more besides, if we are to do more of what we do. With more money and more volunteer effort, the more we can do - it's that simple 
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Finally, I want to take this opportunity to publically publicly thank my hard working dedicated staff - Ruth for all things Identity Assurance and KIPI - and Oliver for all things technical, web and visual, the super team at Virtual Managment Management Inc and those individuals across the Board of Directors and its sub committees, the Leadership Council and Working/Discussion groups who have worked harder than anyone can imagine to drive the organization forward. You know who you are and I salute each and every one of you!
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