ICANN Announcements

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ICANN Elects Dr. M. Stuart Lynn as New President and CEO

23 January 2001

January 23, 2001 (Marina del Rey, California, USA) - The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced today that the Board of Directors has elected Dr. M. Stuart Lynn to succeed Michael Roberts as President and Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Lynn will take office at the conclusion of the Board's next meeting in Melbourne, Australia, March 10-13, 2001. Mike Roberts, ICANN's current President and CEO, has held the position since October 1998 and has overseen the start-up of the organization.

Dr. Lynn has had a distinguished career in computing and information technology that dates back almost four decades. His most recent position until his retirement in 1999 was as Associate Vice President for Information Resources and Communications for the University of California Office of the President where he served as chief information officer for the combined University of California system. Dr. Lynn also served as President and Chairman of the Board of the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC).

"We are incredibly fortunate to have found someone with Stuart Lynn's extensive and varied technical and managerial background to succeed Mike Roberts," said Vint Cerf, Chairman of the ICANN Board of Directors. "Dr. Lynn will bring the energy, experience and skills needed to forge consensus from the diversity of Internet constituencies that have interest in ICANN and its work. I look forward to working with Stuart, the Board and the ICANN staff during the coming year." Cerf also served as the chairman of the Executive Search Committee.

The election of Dr. Lynn concludes a global executive search process that began in November 1999 and included consideration of more than 300 members of the global Internet community. That input resulted in an impressive slate of qualified candidates from each of ICANN's five global regions.

"I am honored to have been chosen for such a unique and challenging position and look forward to working with all of the members of the Internet community around the world to achieve ICANN's technical mission," said Dr. Lynn.

Dr. Lynn has also held positions at Cornell University, UC Berkeley, Rice University, Baylor College of Medicine, IBM and Chevron. Over the course of his career he has been active in several professional organizations including the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the American Federation of Information Processing Societies. In 1994, he was elected a Fellow of the ACM. In addition, he has served on numerous boards of directors, advisory committees and as a consultant to academia, government and industry.

Dr. Lynn holds a M.A. and Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of California at Los Angeles and a B.A. and M.A. in Mathematics from Oxford University. A British citizen by birth, Dr. Lynn is now a citizen of the United States and resides in Palm Springs, California with his family.