Skip to end of metadata
Go to start of metadata

You are viewing an old version of this page. View the current version.

Compare with Current View Page History

« Previous Version 8 Next »

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.

...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Welcome to April 2021's Director's Corner!  

Like many of us, I'm pleased to beckon in the new month, tho' March had plenty to offer. For me it was something of a watershed month, notifying staff and members first in advance of it going public, of my intention to step back from leading Kantara in a few months time.  I'm at that time of life where attention is needed on personal finance, assets and property ... and life really. Kantara has been all consuming and I have thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of surmounting the hurdles as they arose.  But life balance is important too, and mine is overdue for a reset. Also overdue is my need to switch my residency back to my home country New Zealand for at least 3 years, so the time feels right to hit the reset button on the work side too, rather than having to work much of the night in New Zealand to operate Kantara's primary time zones. It's only a step (semi-retirement), it's not retirement! I will remain in and around Kantara and around the industry for quite a while yet, but a more relaxed cadence than the deadline driven cadence that comes with leading a global community of 3 Kantara branded organizations.   

My impending move wasn't Kantara's only news item for March. Far from it. 

Joining Kantara in March were new members Zenia Vasquez, Dedra Chamberlin, Manvendra Kumar and Roger Quint, together with renewing members Hindle Consulting and John Wunderlich. Thank you all!  And for renewing members it's great to have your continued support!  

The new Board has started work in earnest. Experian, Airside and Wedacon, together with LC Board rep Andrew Hughes have met several times to begin framing what the future might look like for Work and Discussion Groups to put to the Membership for consideration later in the year, while President Matt and myself worked on the ED succession plan the details of which members received before it went public. 

March was book-ended with virtual events featuring Kantara.

The FinTechTalents Identity conference aired on March 17th, but of course the prep and pre-record activity started as the month opened. I had the pleasure of moderating a panel with Dai Banerji representing Women in Identity, our friend and fellow mDL journeyer Gail Hodges from the Future Identity Council, Andrew Black from Natwest Bank and David Pollington from the GSMA. We developed discussion themes around the topic of ‘Privacy Enhancing, Consent Based Digital Identity'. Great discussion and debate was had on whether the financial service sector embrace a decentralised ID mode;, how can we ensure to build Digital Identity which enhances privacy and consent, granting users control over how their personal credentials are shared; and are users actually ready to take control of their digital identity.

March 29-30 saw Kantara undertake something very different. We were honored to be asked to have a virtual booth in the virtual exhibit hall of the virtual ONC Annual meeting. This was a significant undertaking in a short space of time and Kantara is indebted to members Identos, Patient Centric Solutions, Airside, ForgeRock, Tom Jones and Dr Tom Sullivan and non member participant Jim Kragh to prepare new videos, modify existing presentations, project manage and attend the booth over the 2 days. As I tweeted at the time, it was a surreal experience and quieter than organizers and participants alike had hoped, but nonetheless we were delighted to receive interest and a qualified prospect for conformance to Kantara's 63-3 Class of Approval under our Identity Assurance conformity assessment and certification scheme. We will endeavour to republish the material on the website soon.  

April's events schedule is a lighter lift for Kantara with its support of the inaugural International Identity Management Day on April 13th and Internet Identity Workshop 32 April 20-22 with VRM day curtain-raising on April 19. Several members are presenting sessions at IIW 32, tho' I am only aware of Identos's details, which will be in the Demo hour, showcasing its work in the HealthCare space in Canada that has received significant press coverage recently. (Hint: If you want Kantara to amplify your activities, you have to inform it that those are!) Then we have Think Digital Identity of Government UK May 21 where Kantara is participating in two panels as well as supporting the event through partnership.    

Beyond events Kantara expects to make several important announcements in April arising from exciting collaboration with and between members in different parts of the world. If you are not a member so don't have access to news before it breaks, sign up to receive KantaraNews and follow @KantaraNews on Twitter as well as Kantara on LinkedIn.  And as I sign off this month's post on Good Friday in the Christian calendar, indeed it has been just that in a different context for Kantara and another two members after an exciting (potentially dial-moving!) call regarding a new project.

Stay safe, get vaccinated if you can, and keep happy!  

Kind regards,

Colin

Around the Houses:

Marketing:

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! 

  • No labels