[PDB Gov] Risk of excessive DE-CIX influence on PeeringDB

[Chris Caputo]

At https://docs.peeringdb.com/gov/misc/2026-04-14_election.html I see that 
two DE-CIX personnel are running for the 5-person PeeringDB Board, based 
on their names also being present on 
https://www.de-cix.net/en/about-de-cix/the-team:

  - Arnold Nipper, Chief Technology Evangelist and Co-Founder

  - Yolandi Cloete, Interconnection Community and Academy Manager

While board members are expected to serve independently of their 
affiliations, I am concerned about the potential risks of 2/5th's of the 
PeeringDB Board having the same conflict of interest.

Thus I ask that either Arnold or Yolandi rapidly consider withdrawing from 
this election prior to the end of the April 14th 23:59:59 UTC 2026 call 
for candidates, just over 8 hours from now.

I am sure both individuals are upstanding, but the perception of capture 
by DE-CIX is, in my opinion, not a good look and not a good risk for the 
PeeringDB community to be faced with.

Since I don't see Yolandi as even subscribed to pdb-gov@, I will forward 
this to her after sending to the list. (Arnold is subscribed.)

Thank you for your consideration.

Chris