Message from the Chair

I hope that 2024 is off to a great start for each of you!

The Board of Directors and staff kicked off the year with a board meeting in January hosted at the ICANN headquarters in Washington, D.C. In addition to the regular board meeting program, the location enabled the board and staff to meet with members and partners such as the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy (CDP). Opportunities for potential collaboration in the future were identified, and we look forward to exploring those further.

While it is important to continually foster relationships with members and partners, it is equally important to identify and invest in internal improvements. While in D.C., the Board of Directors, the Executive Director, and the Secretariat participated in a third-party facilitated discussion and training. Now that FIRST has several full-time staff, the session helped to identify how to enhance collaboration between the board and staff and properly implement the defined roles and responsibilities. It also set us on the path for beginning the process of strategic conversations that will ultimately lead to a long-term strategic and operational plan. While this is an arduous ongoing task, we are inspired by the opportunities this will create for FIRST as an organization and the improvements it will ultimately bring to the members. We look forward to being able to share more as we work through our strategic discussions.

Other areas where we are making progress include the selection of a new public relations team, and the establishment of a Standards Committee. There have also been new Special Interest Groups approved, and there are several exciting events coming up.

Planning for the annual conference is in full swing, so don’t forget to make your plans to attend! If you are a national team, the call for presentations is now open for NatCSIRT 2024 which will be held at the conclusion of FIRSTCON 2024.

We look forward to seeing you at one of the upcoming events!

Tracy A. Bills
Chair, FIRST Board of Directors

Published on FIRST POST: Jan-Mar 2024