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Notice: Executive Council

Adoption of a flat hierarchy and transparent, encrypted mailing-list-based internal governance

By Himadri CS  ·  August 25, 2026

Flat Hierarchy

ILLE Paris is changing the way its Executive Council is organized and communicates internally.

Until now, the Council used a hierarchy with titles such as President, General Secretary, and Head of the Executive Council. These titles were inspired by the formal legal roles commonly used for French nonprofit associations. While our future NGO registration may still require some members to hold such titles on paper for legal and administrative purposes, ILLE Paris will no longer use them to define hierarchy within the community.

For our internal governance, we are adopting a flat structure. Every person serving on the Council will simply be a Member of the Executive Council, with equal standing in its discussions and decision-making. Specific responsibilities will occasionally be assigned through temporary or functional chair positions, rather than permanent hierarchical positions. For example:

  • Event Chair: the member leading the organization of a particular event
  • Social Media Chair: the member managing ILLE Paris’ Instagram and Mastodon accounts and WhatsApp groups
  • Web Chair: the member responsible for maintaining the ILLE Paris website

Additional chairs will be created when a particular activity requires someone to coordinate it.

Encrypted mailing-list-backed Internal governance

The Executive Council has also adopted an encrypted mailing list, executive_council@ille-paris.fr, for its internal communication. Inspired by open-source mailing-list practices, discussions concerning ILLE Paris’ internal governance, including proposals, reviews, and decisions, will take place through this shared channel rather than through fragmented private conversations. While the mailing list will remain closed to the public for security and privacy reasons, it will be fully transparent and inclusive within the Council. Hence, every member will have access to the same discussions, information, and decision-making process. In this way, every Council member will have an equal stake in steering the growth and direction of ILLE Paris.

What about sensitive information?

We treat participant identity information, including passport numbers and participant lists, as sensitive information requiring restricted access and careful handling. These details are not circulated through the Executive Council mailing list.

Our public-facing address, ille_paris@protonmail.com, will continue to be used to receive such information through Proton Mail. Responsibility for handling identity-verification data will remain deliberately limited to a designated ID Verification Chair. This permanent responsibility will be held by our founder, who will continue to coordinate new-participant passport verification directly with the Embassy’s security staff. Hence, while our governance discussions are designed to be transparent across the Executive Council, access to participants’ sensitive personal information will remain strictly limited to those who need it for verification purposes.