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

[John van Oppen]

Why would we force this or make a rule vs just letting the voting community decide?     2/5 is not an organizational risk, perception only risks should be handled through the voting process in my mind.

-----Original Message-----
From: Pdb-gov <pdb-gov-bounces at lists.peeringdb.com> On Behalf Of Theo Voss via Pdb-gov
Sent: Tuesday, April 14, 2026 9:43 AM
To: Stephen McManus <smcmanus at peeringdb.com>
Cc: Chris Caputo <ccaputo-dated-1786549804.27c661 at alt.net>; pdb-gov at lists.peeringdb.com; Chris Caputo <ccaputo at alt.net>
Subject: Re: [PDB Gov] Risk of excessive DE-CIX influence on PeeringDB

+1, 5 seats should represent the entire PeeringDB community. Having them 
+occupied by 2 people from
the same company creates an unhealthy imbalance from my POV.

Best regards,
Theo Voss, Inter.link

-------- Original Message --------
On Tuesday, 04/14/26 at 18:40 Stephen McManus via Pdb-gov <pdb-gov at lists.peeringdb.com> wrote:
+1 to the perception problem. I would not consider running while Alex Corso as we both work at Meta. I like working with both Yolandi and Arnold but imo we should have a rule to prevent >1 sitting board member from the same organization.

I think a looser rule for committee membership could be considered as well if we do consider that: > 2?

-Steve

> On Apr 14, 2026, at 11:50 AM, Chris Caputo via Pdb-gov <pdb-gov at lists.peeringdb.com> wrote:
>
> 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