Fadi Chehadé Delivers Keynote Address at AfricaMIG, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | 7 March 2013

• Listen to Fadi's keynote [MP3, 56.8 MB]

The Africa MIGworks Event in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | 7 March 2013

Part One

Part Two

CEO Prioritizes Registrar Agreement and Establishment of Trademark Clearinghouse

22 October 2012 - Toronto, Canada… ICANN President and Chief Executive Officer, Fadi Chehadé says he is prioritizing efforts to reach a resolution with domain name registrars in the on-going negotiations to achieve a Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA).

Chehadé said he will also become personally involved in ICANN's efforts to establish a Trademark Clearing House prior to the introduction of new generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs) in 2013.

"I'm going to be inserting myself personally in both these issues," said Chehadé. "I've already discussed this with the community and there's frankly universal agreement that if I participate personally in these activities, I could help us come to hopefully reasonable conclusions that we can all bank on in moving forward to next year and with the new gTLDs"

The chief executive made the comments during a video interview at the close of the organization's 45th public meeting in Toronto. 1,800 People from around the world registered for the meeting, making it the second largest in ICANN history.

During the same video interview, Board Chair Dr. Stephen Crocker said his take-away from the Toronto meeting was "progress across every front."

To view the video interview with the CEO and Board Chair, go here: http://www.icann.org/en/news/press/kits/toronto45/video-post-meeting-19oct12-en.htm

To download high resolution photos of ICANN's Toronto Meeting, go here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/icann/collections/72157631775838695/

Africa Initiative Unveiled at Toronto Meeting

15 October 2012 - Toronto, Canada… Leaders of Africa's Internet community have unveiled a comprehensive plan designed to dramatically increase African involvement in ICANN's multi-stakeholder model.

The initiative was presented to ICANN during the organization's 45th public meeting in Toronto, Canada by the Africa Strategy Working Group (ASWG). It was formed after ICANN's new President and Chief Executive Officer, Fadi Chehadé encouraged a stronger voice from the African continent in ICANN's multi-stakeholder model.

"When we met three months ago at the ICANN meeting in Prague, I felt a sense of frustration at our inability to come together and move the Africa agenda forward," said Chehadé. "It's incredible what this working group has achieved in such a short period of time by engaging with many concerned groups and individuals through the multi-stakeholder process."

"We employed a bottom-up, open and public process in developing this initiative," said Nii Quaynor of Ghana, a well-respected Internet leader in Africa and Chair of the ASWG. "We think this plan will lead to dramatically increased African participation in ICANN and greater presence for the organization on the African continent."

The plan was written with the input and broad support of ICANN's African community, Africa's Regional Registry for Internet Number Resources (AFRINIC) and other influential African organizations involved in the Internet ecosystem.

To read the press release, go here: http://www.icann.org/en/news/press/releases/release-16oct12-en.pdf [PDF, 200 KB].

New CEO Details Organizational Plans

Fadi Chehadé today officially assumed the position of President and Chief Executive Officer of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). He assumed his position two weeks ahead of his planned start date.

Chehadé's appointment as CEO had been announced on 22 June, though he was not expected to assume his role until 1 October. Chief Operating Officer (COO) Akram Atallah had been serving as the interim CEO and will now reassume his role as COO.

Today Chehadé thanked Atallah for assuming the top spot during the summer and then, during a staff meeting, he explained his plans for the future and the makeup of his leadership team.

For more details, see the news release: http://www.icann.org/en/news/press/releases/release-14sep12-en.pdf [PDF, 214 KB]

ICANN Awarded Contract to Continue to Perform IANA Functions

ICANN will continue to perform the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions following the award today of a new contract by the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).

The IANA functions involve the global coordination of unique identifiers that keep the Internet running smoothly. These include (1) the coordination of the assignment of technical Internet protocol parameters; (2) the administration of certain responsibilities associated with the Internet Domain Name Service (DNS) root zone management; (3) the allocation of Internet numbering resources; and (4) other services related to the management of the ARPA and INT top-level domains (TLDs).

The new contract term begins 1 October 2012. "This is the longest IANA functions contract we've ever had, running for a period of three years with two 2-year renewal options," said Jamie Hedlund, Vice President of North America. "This contract reflects the input of the stakeholders from around the globe and serves as an affirmation of support for ICANN and the multi-stakeholder model."

"We are honoured by the awarding of this contract and we are committed to performing the IANA functions at the highest possible level," said Akram Atallah, ICANN President and Chief Executive Officer. "We look forward to continuing our work with the multi-stakeholder community to ensure that we operate effectively, transparently and in the global public interest."

News of the award of the contract came the day after the closing of ICANN's 44th public meeting in Prague, Czech Republic. It was the largest public meeting in the organization's history with 1,821 registered attendees.

Issues of Interest to Journalists

New gTLDs  |  Internationalised Domain Names  |  Fast-track IDN ccTLD Activities  |  IPv6  |  Affirmation of Commitments

What Is ICANN?

To reach another person on the Internet you have to type an address into your computer – a name or a number. That address has to be unique so computers know where to find each other. ICANN coordinates these unique identifiers across the world. Without that coordination we wouldn't have one global Internet.

ICANN was formed in 1998. It is a not-for-profit public-benefit corporation with participants from all over the world dedicated to keeping the Internet secure, stable and interoperable. It promotes competition and develops policy on the Internet’s unique identifiers.

ICANN doesn’t control content on the Internet. It cannot stop spam and it doesn’t deal with access to the Internet. But through its coordination role of the Internet’s naming system, it does have an important impact on the expansion and evolution of the Internet.