Hello everyone
This is the running update from the Executive Director. Have questions or comments? Suggest some added information or edits? Contact Colin at kantarainitiative dot org.
...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
After five and a half years leading the organization, and I begin to write my final Director's Corner as Kantara's Executive Director, I am certainly doing it with mixed emotions. There's sadness because of the all the highs that I'll miss - exhilarating when the organization reaches a milestone, or its members achieve a breakthrough, or the highly thought-provoking conversations with community friends and industry counterparts. It's has been such a blast! But with the highs come the lows too - the organization encounters a setback or a member incurs the loss of a loved one or my regrets on leaving some projects unfinished as the clock ticks down. Highs or lows regardless, I'll miss them all because Kantara has been my life (and a large part of my wife's life as she has had to put up with Kantara/me!) for a chunk of years now. Don't kid yourself. Running a global non-profit - particularly with the ethics of equality, transparency and low/no barriers to participation that Kantara embraces in its mantra - is not easy street. It's competitive, political, demanding on one's time - sometimes exceptionally so - and on occasion can take you outside your comfort zone. So there's something kind of attractive in winding down to a more balanced life that most folks think typifies New Zealand - more relaxed, less deadline-driven and closer to nature. I'll still be lurking! So don't count me out too soon while I continue some activities in Kantara and for its members and the wider global digital identity community for some years yet. I'll be writing to members to say my 'see you around' later this month, and to update them on the handover to my successor.
My role is not the only part of the organization seeing change. There are changes afoot in the Assurance Trust Framework operations program too, a major part of the organization that is gets global attention and attracts increasing numbers of services seeking conformity assessment and approval against Kantara's NIST SP 800-63-3 and other classes of approval under its Identity Assurance Framework scheme. If you would like to be involved in Kantara's scheme operations, please let me know.
It's so good to have the support of new and renewing members. In May we saw Dr Owl Health Technologies and Zenkey, the Sprint, Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile collaboration and Linaltec from Sweden join as new members while Internet2, Experian, Verizon and 2Keys Corporation from Canada renewed for another year. Thank you! Supporting the Kantara community in its endeavours helps Kantara support you in turn.
Regarding events, the Think Digital Identity for Government in May featuring our Government members GSA, DTA and less directly related, the Government of Sweden was hugely informative and well received by the largely UK government sector audience. The Leadership Council chairs pre-recorded their Identiverse session providing updates and goals achieved since the 2020 Identiverse update. This will be released a few days before Identiverse kicks off on June 21. The US Healthcare industry association CARIN Alliance, that Kantara has very close ties with, pre-recorded its panel for Identiverse last week also, where Cambria Health's Max Templeton, Blake Hall from ID.me and myself riffed and jived under the expert moderation skills of CARIN's Ryan Howells. But before we get to Identiverse later in the month, we have the IdentityNorth Annual Summit underway in Canada right now. We look forward to seeing Kantara's Director of Assurance Operations, DIACC's Joni Brennan, Kantara member DTA's Shannon Peterson and Jeremy Grant from the Better Identity Coalition discuss aligning Canadian standards with International standards in digital identity and why that's important.
Recent new members have asked about how they can support Kantara by representing it onstage both at Kantara events and at other events that Kantara is invited to participate or lead. Absolutely! Just Contact us and Staff will direct your enquiry to the right person.
Amongst a slate of community Group work baking in the oven, the PImDL Discussion Group voted through a Group-Approved draft of its Privacy and Identity Report to support ISO compliant mDL implementations. The Leadership Council will see it next and it remains on track for publication before the end of the month. The draft Report should help allay potential concerns raised by @ACLU in this tweet https://twitter.com/ACLU/status/1396479281862164480 if mDLs are not implemented in compliance with ISO 18013-5. Consideration is also given to assisting non ISO compliant implementations for example using decentralized architecture.
So I sign off here, happy but also a bit sad that this is my last Director's Corner. As I think back to the 10th Anniversary in 2019 and what has been achieved since, I am proud of what this organization has achieved these past 5+ years through the tireless efforts of its volunteer members, staff (who do a considerable amount of volunteering too) and its reinvigorated Board. There is lots more to come this year, including more 'industry firsts' to add to our virtual trophy cabinet, that my successor will share with you via some means, if not this blog.
Remember, if you are not a member, and don't receive our direct emails, sign up to receive KantaraNews or keep an eye on @KantaraNews on Twitter as well as Kantara on LinkedIn where we try to get news shared as it breaks.
Kind regards,
'SignoffColin'
Around the Houses:
Marketing:
Follow us online: https://twitter.com/KantaraNews and https://twitter.com/UMAWG and https://twitter.com/KantaraCISWG.
- Miss something? See our press releases here.
Want to start a Kantara local chapter in your town? We are happy to help. Just Contact us.
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.
As always, our Specifications, Recommendations and Reports are available for download from our Reports and Recommendations web repository - now with frictionless access.
Not sure where to find things? Membership Bella, Trust Framework Operations & Assurance Director Ruth, Business Development Ambassador Chris, Board Secretariat Ken 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.
Events: See them all here!