Happy Holidays, Joyeuses Fêtes, Felices Fiestas, Trevlig Helg, 幸せな休日, Forhe Feiertage, and Prettige feestdagen!

As 2013 comes to a close, I wanted to take a moment to thank each of you for your hard work and commitment to the Identity Management industries and specifically to Kantara Initiative. You have supported some amazing accomplishments this year!  

The size of the Kantara Initiative Board of Trustees has more than doubled in the last 10 months - a very clear indicator of the trust in Kantara Initiative as a transformative, innovative, and influential organization. Our Membership has grown over the last year. We've welcomed new organizations and enjoy a continued relationship with many long time Members.  

You have evolved the Identity Assurance Framework to build a path toward service component market recognition.  While there's more work to do, the Identity Assurance work has helped to bridge and harmonize governments, commercial, and citizen services. We have doubled the number of Approved CSPs. You have supported relationships with many liaisons and across a number of NSTIC pilots. Identity Relationship Management and the many innovations of the work groups have been well recognized this past year. The Leadership Council has engaged with all of the WGs to ensure each charter is clear and captivating. 

These are just some examples of what makes Kantara Initiative a unique community of international peers doing really big things in identity. We wish everyone a happy and safe holiday and look forward to all we'll accomplish in 2014!