We’re happy to announce the continued leadership of Philippe Clement as Kantara Initiative’s Identity Provider Selection Working Group Chair.  Philippe works at Orange-FT Group and has been involved with Kantara Initiative since it’s inception as Chair of the Identity Provider Selection WG.  In previous years, Philippe actively worked with the Business Marketing Expert Group (BMEG) to move the work of IdP Selection MRD forward.

We congratulate Philippe with his ongoing leadership and look forward to more great work coming from the Identity Provider Selection WG this year.

Organization: Kantara Initiative
Job Title: Executive Director
Job Type: Full Time Contractor

Date Posted: February 6, 2010
To Apply: Send a cover letter and resume to ksearch@elists.isoc.org

Description:

The Executive Director (ED) of the Kantara Initiative is responsible for the successful operation of the organization, including aspects of Operations, Strategy, Business Development, Member Relations, and Marketing. This includes the cultivation of strategic relationships and member recruitment as well as personnel management, all conducted internationally. Additionally, the ED shall perform other activities as required by the Board of Trustees that are commensurate with the duties customarily provided by an Executive Director.

The ED shall be appointed in accordance with the Kantara Initiative Bylaws, report to the Board of Trustees, and operate under guidance provided by the Leadership Council. All permanent Kantara Initiative staff will report directly to the ED, with the reporting relationship of paid contractors depending on the particulars of the project.

The ED position is for a full-time contractor. The Kantara Initiative is flexible regarding work location given the highly distributed and global nature of the organization U.S. residency is not a requirement. In support of the organization’s mission, the ED is expected to travel regularly, both domestically as well as internationally.

Primary Roles & Responsibilities Include:

• Administrative & Infrastructure Operations
  • Oversee the daily operation of the organization according to the Bylaws and Operating Procedures.
  • Work with the Board of Trustees, Leadership Council, and key personnel to formulate and execute on the organization’s strategy, goals, objectives and future vision.
  • Continually improve the operational efficiency and financial viability of the organization.
  • Develop an annual budget in collaboration with the Treasurer, Officers, Board of Trustees, and Leadership Council.

• Group / Program Support
  • Participate in Executive Committee, Leadership Council and Board of Trustees meetings, providing periodic reports on all principle activities such as the Assurance Review Board (ARB), Interoperability Review Board (IRB) and other certification programs.
  • Help organize and lead Kantara Initiative conferences and workshops, seeking and collaborating with co-sponsors as necessary.
  • Continually work to accelerate awareness and adoption of Kantara Initiative Recommendations.
  • Develop, implement, and maintain a forward-looking roadmap for Kantara Initiative that covers key milestones for the organization for a period specified by the Kantara Officers.

• External Liaison / Representation
  • Act as a visible and accessible representative for Kantara Initiative, effectively representing the organization, its programs, work groups, and discussion groups.
  • Actively participate in and present at Industry events, representing the Kantara Initiaive perspectives, goals and activities.
  • Help coordinate activities and projects with other industry consortia, standards bodies, or professional organizations. Act as an executive liaison to other organizations.
  • Help coordinate marketing and other outreach activities to spread the Kantara Initiative perspectives.
  • React quickly to help orchestrate response to Industry news and events that would benefit from Kantara involvement.

• Membership Growth / Evangelism
  • Recruit organizations to join Kantara Initiative as paying Members, especially at the Board of Trustees level, and encourage active participation across all levels.
  • Identify and drive programs that deliver on the Kantara Initiative mission, expand the organization’s financial viability, and increase the benefit of membership.
  • Continually work to expand Kantara Initiative Membership on all levels, increase participation within existing Members, and improve working relationships with other organizations.

For Reference:

• Kantara Initiative Overview
• Kantara Initiative Bylaws
• Kantara Initiative Operating Procedures

Requisite Skills & Experience:

The successful candidate for the position of Kantara Initiative Executive Director will need to have proven successful experience managing a distributed organization, including budget responsibilities, preferably within a technology intensive area. This includes the skills required to build, manage, and otherwise develop an effective team, including contractors, required to support the operational needs of an international organization.

In addition to the operational aspects of the position, the ED will be required to interact appropriately with member companies, government officials, individual contributors, partner organizations, press, and industry analysts. As such, the successful candidate will be required to demonstrate an ability to act diplomatically and respectfully. A key skill of the successful candidate will be the ability to facilitate the building of consensus across stakeholders with distinctly varying points of view. The candidate will also need to have experience speaking in public and be able to react effectively to press inquiries.

Kantara Initiative is a technical organization supporting the development of open standards and related best practices and policies. As such, the successful candidate will need to display an understanding of the interplay between technologies within various standards organizations and their deployers. While the successful candidate is not required to be fluent in the details within the identity industry to be considered, proven experience dealing with similar issues will be required.

The successful candidate for the ED position must have experience:

• Managing distributed operational and technical teams.
• Developing and managing against a budget.
• Working with international entities.
• Public speaking and general diplomacy.
• Designing and executing marketing campaigns.
• Working with Internet-related issues, technologies, and businesses.
• Speaking fluent English in business settings.

The successful candidate for the ED position should have an understanding of:

• Building successful international business relationships.
• Standards development organizations and their processes.
• Technology development and adoption phases.
• Internet technologies.
• Trends within the Internet and security markets.
• How to effectively work with business and government partners.

The successful candidate for the ED position would benefit from experience:

• Working for a not-for-profit organization.
• Working in more than one country.
• Speaking languages in addition to English.
• Chairing long-running, highly distributed, volunteer committees.
• Working with one or more of the following: SAML, OpenID, IMI, OAuth, SSL/TLS

For more information or to apply for the position, please send email to: ksearch@elists.isoc.org

This job description is also available in PDF format for your convenience.

FuGen Solutions joins Kantara Initiative’s annual identity workshop at the RSA Conference, March 1, 2010, 8am-5pm.  NTT, Ping Identity and the U.S. Government showcase demonstration pods alongside FuGen Solutions.  Join us for a series of presentations, panels & demonstrations of common Cloud/SaaS scenarios from diverse market leaders.

Register now for our free workshop using the code: 1310KANEXPO for the Expo only pass and select Kantara Initiative from the ‘Registration Package’ page. This pass only allows access to Kantara Initiative workshop on March 1. Read details about the Conference events March 1-5.

Title: Technology, Policy, and Compliance for Identity Services in 2010 & Beyond

What: Kantara Initiative’s RSA Security Pre-Conference Workshop

When: Monday, March 1, 2010, 8:00am-5:00pm, Room 301

Where: Moscone Center, San Francisco, CA, USA

2010 brings new opportunities for identity services in the enterprise & consumer markets. This workshop is designed to equip attendees with the vital information required to ensure success in employing the right identity management approach with the proper considerations. Recent developments in identity assurance, multi-protocol interoperability, liability models, usability, privacy-enablement and identity services certification will be spotlighted by key market leaders including Google, Oracle, CA, Aetna, NTT and Ping Identity.

Agenda:

Colin Wallis from the New Zealand Government’s Department of Internal Affairs joins this episode of the Identity Matters Podcast. As the Kantara Initiative eGovernment Work Group Chair, he provides an overview of what the group is doing. He talks about how the adoption of the initial eGov Profile has spurred on development of version 2. He also discussed how the eGov work dovetails with the Kantara Interoperability Review Board (IRB), as well as work taking place outside Kantara.

Currently in Development: eGov Profile 2.0

Podcast: Download MP3 | Episode Length: 0:15:10 | Filesize: 10 MB

NOTE: This podcast was produced in collaboration with the Kantara Initiative Identity Community Update Discussion Group.

We’re happy to announce the continued leadership of Kenji Takahashi as Kantara Initiative’s Japan WG (Working Group) Chair.  Mr. Takahashi of NTT has worked with Kantara Initiative since it’s launch alongside Toshihiro Suzuki of Oracle Corporation as co-chair of the Japan WG.  Kenji also leads the Japan Discussion Group for Kantara. Both Kenji and Toshihiro have played a significant part in extending the education and adoption in the Japanese market, most recently presenting the Kantara Initiative Symposium.  Kenji also served in previous years as co-chair of the Liberty Alliance Japan Special Interest Group (SIG).

We congratulate Kenji in his continued role and look forward more great work coming from the Japan WG this year.

We’re happy to announce Bob Pinheiro as Kantara Initiative’s Consumer Identity WG Chair.  Bob has been active with Kantara Initiative since it’s inception and in previous years with Liberty Alliance chairing the Identity Theft Prevention Group.

Congratulations to Bob, we’re  looking forward to all of the excellent work to come out of the Consumer Identity WG in 2010.

You can listen to and watch the recording the UMA explained webinar presented by Eve Maler and Paul Bryan from Kantara Initiative’s UMA WG. To benefit from the increasing number of services accessible over the Web, we’re forced to “hand over the data” — data that’s sensitive, valuable, and personal — and we end up paying a price in both privacy and convenience. The new User-Managed Access web protocol promises to help web users share their data more selectively using a central digital footprint dashboard, while helping websites get access to fresher and better-quality data when they need it.  This session reviews UMA benefits, progress to date, and next steps.

Kantara Initiative holds it’s annual identity workshop at the RSA Conference, March 1, 2010, 8am-5pm.  Gain state-of-identity insight through a series of presentations, panels & demonstrations of common Cloud/SaaS scenarios from diverse market leaders.

Title: Technology, Policy, and Compliance for Identity Services in 2010 & Beyond

What: Kantara Initiative’s RSA Security Pre-Conference Workshop

When: Monday, March 1, 2010, 8:00am-5:00pm, Room 301

Where: Moscone Center, San Francisco, CA, USA

2010 brings new opportunities for identity services in the enterprise & consumer markets. This workshop is designed to equip attendees with the vital information required to ensure success in employing the right identity management approach with the proper considerations. Recent developments in identity assurance, multi-protocol interoperability, liability models, usability, privacy-enablement and identity services certification will be spotlighted by key market leaders including Google, Oracle, CA, Aetna, NTT and Ping Identity.

Register now for our free workshop using the code: 1310KANEXPO for the Expo only pass and select Kantara Initiative from the ‘Registration Package’ page. This pass only allows access to Kantara Initiative workshop on March 1. Read details about the Conference events March 1-5.

Agenda:

At the request of our friends to the north, we’re pleased to share this announcement from the Government of Canada. Here it is verbatim in both English and French. Note the reference to Kantara Initiative in the 3rd paragraph. We strongly endorse and recommend you participate in this consultation, if at all possible.

Please read the full announcement below. Also, for more information directly from the MERX site please visit: http://bit.ly/9GQ8Qq

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Government of Canada Industry Consultation on Cyber Authentication Renewal Program

Industry Consultation: February 16, 2010
Optional One-on-one Sessions: February 16 – 18, 2010
National Capital Region

In collaboration with the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS), Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) is inviting representatives of private-sector organizations to participate in consultations on the Cyber Authentication Renewal Program.

The Government of Canada (GC) is investigating solutions that would allow individuals the option of using their existing credentials in order to gain online access to government programs and services. This proposed approach would provide flexibility to both departments and agencies, and to individuals who access these services. It would allow departments and agencies to use credentials that are appropriate to the sensitivity of their service offerings, while allowing individuals to choose the credential they wish to use to access any online GC services.

The GC is considering basing its accreditation framework initially on the Kantara Initiative’s* Service Assessment Criterion and Assurance Assessment Scheme.

The GC is inviting industry organizations to participate in a consultation on February 16, 2010, to validate and refine its approach to electronic authentication, and to gather information on how it will solicit and accredit external credential service providers – using a federated model. The industry consultation will be followed by optional one-on-one sessions beginning the afternoon of February 16, 2010 and concluding by close of business February 18, 2010.

For further information, please send an email to ConsultationSPTI.ITSSConsultation@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca, or visit the event posting on MERX.

*The Kantara Initiative (http://kantarainitiative.org) is a group of individuals, developers, organizations, governments, and technology providers that, in 2009, amalgamated several long standing foundations and associations from the identity community. The goal of the Kantara Initiative is to harmonize and coordinate the actions of this community to help ensure secure, identity-based, online interactions while preventing misuse of personal information.

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Consultations auprès de l’industrie sur le programme de renouvellement de l’authentification électronique du gouvernement du Canada

Consultations auprès de l’industrie : 16 février 2010
Séances individuelles facultatives : 16 au 18 février 2010
Région de la capitale nationale

Travaux publics et Services gouvernementaux Canada (TPSGC), en collaboration avec le Secrétariat du Conseil du Trésor (SCT), invite les représentants des organisations du secteur privé à participer aux consultations sur le programme de renouvellement de l’authentification électronique.

Le gouvernement du Canada est à la recherche de solutions qui donneraient aux utilisateurs la possibilité d’utiliser leur justificatif existant afin d’accéder en ligne à des services et à des programmes gouvernementaux. Cette approche proposée offrirait de la flexibilité aux ministères, aux organismes et aux utilisateurs. Elle permettrait aux ministères et aux organismes d’utiliser des justificatifs appropriés en fonction de la sensibilité des services offerts, tout en permettant aux utilisateurs de choisir le justificatif qu’ils veulent utiliser pour accéder à tous les services gouvernementaux en ligne.

Le gouvernement du Canada envisage tout d’abord de fonder son cadre d’accréditation sur les Service Assessment Criterion (critères d’évaluation de service) et l’Assurance Assessment Scheme (programme d’évaluation de l’assurance) de l’initiative Kantara*.

Le gouvernement du Canada invite les organisations de l’industrie à participer à des consultations le 16 février 2010 pour valider et préciser son approche à l’égard de l’authentification électronique et pour recueillir des renseignements sur la manière dont le gouvernement sollicitera et accréditera les fournisseurs externes de services de justificatifs en utilisant un modèle fédéré. Les consultations menées auprès de l’industrie seront suivies de séances individuelles facultatives qui commenceront le 16 février 2010 en après-midi et se termineront à la fermeture des bureaux le 18 février 2010.

Pour obtenir de plus amples renseignements, envoyez un courriel à l’adresse ConsultationSPTI.ITSSConsultation@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca, ou visitez le site du MERX pour l’annonce d’évènements.

*L’initiative Kantara (http://kantarainitiative.org)est un regroupement de gens, de développeurs, d’organismes, de gouvernements et de fournisseurs de technologie qui, en 2009, a fusionné plusieurs fondations et associations de longue date de la communauté d’identité. L’objectif de l’initiative Kantara est d’harmoniser et de coordonner les actions de cette communauté pour faire en sorte que les interactions en ligne sont sécuritaires et basées sur l’identité en plus de prévenir l’utilisation malveillante des renseignements personnels.
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In this episode of the Identity Matters Podcast, Eve Maler presents an overview of the User Managed Access (UMA) Work Group. Eve, the UMA WG chair, starts off with background of the group working within the Kantara Initiative and defines the problem space. She then provides an overview of the process the group is taking as well as where they are in their roadmap toward delivering a specification to the IETF.

From the UMA charter: The purpose of the UMA work at Kantara is to develop a set of draft specifications that enable an individual to control the authorization of data sharing and service access made between online services on the individual’s behalf, and to facilitate the development of interoperable implementations of these specifications by others.

Podcast: Download MP3 | Episode Length: 0:27:41 | Filesize: 18.5 MB

NOTE: This podcast was produced in collaboration with the Kantara Initiative Identity Community Update Discussion Group.