IETF LLC Board Retreat 2026

The IETF Administration LLC Board of Directors held its annual retreat 29-30 April 2026 in Amsterdam. In addition to all Board members, the IETF Executive Director, the Director of Finance, and the Board Secretary were present. Here is a short summary of the main points we discussed.

We had a good discussion about how we communicate as a Board, how we can streamline our meetings, and how best to document decisions. It is important that we, as a Board, effectively instruct, guide, and manage the IETF Executive Director without micromanaging.

Those of you who attended the April 2026 LLC Board meeting, heard the auditors report of a clean audit for the 2025 financial year. There are no substantial flaws in our accounting practices or financial reporting. We chose to hold our annual meeting with the auditor at the board retreat this year, to provide us with the opportunity to discuss their recommendations. Based on that, we discussed some follow-up steps, especially related to a clear documentation of roles so that the IETF Executive Director and staff can do their day-to-day work and the Board can fulfill its oversight responsibilities.

We also looked at IETF LLC costs over time. While over the last few years, the budget has remained stable (or even decreased), it has increased in 2026, mostly due to an increase in overall costs. As an example, there were no site visits for IETF meetings in 2025, but site visits will be necessary in 2026. The 2026 budget also reflects the transition to the new approach to the IETF Secretariat.

We further looked at our long-term financial strategy and discussed questions such as: What level of reserves does the IETF LLC need? Do we need to increase them and, if so, how fast? As a next step we will look at various scenarios. This will also inform our investment strategy.