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Chair’s Blog: Recap of the March Board Workshop and ICANN79

21 March 2024
By
Tripti Sinha

Tripti Sinha

ICANN Board Chair

Tripti Sinha is Assistant Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at the University of Maryland (UMD) in the Division of Information Technology. She leads Advanced Cyber Infrastructure and Internet Global Services (ACIGS) and the Mid-Atlantic Crossroads (MAX). She has over three decades of progressive experience in Internet and Cyber-Infrastructure technologies. Her wide-ranging experience includes leadership positions in engineering, operations, finance, governance, advocacy and policy. In her current role, she is the chief executive of the MAX, which operates a high-performance regional research and education (R&E) 100G network for advanced cyber-infrastructure services and research. She is also responsible for UMD's High Performance Computing service and strategy. Tripti is active internationally as the executive and operational head of UMD's global operation of DNS root services. She previously served as Co-Chair of ICANN's Root Server System Advisory Committee (RSSAC) from 2015-2018.

In the United States, she is very involved in the Internet2 community on activities related to the US national R&E Internet backbone. She is also Chair of the Board of Directors of The Quilt whose mission is to provide advocacy for research and education networking on the US national agenda. She has served on many other non-profit and private sector technology advisory boards.

Tripti has an undergraduate degree in Computer Science from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts and did graduate work in Computer Science at the University of Maryland. She was born in India and lives in the United States. As a child and young adult, she moved back-and-forth between the USA and India which gave her an appreciation for global pluralism. She is proficient in English and Hindi, and has an understanding of Punjabi, Urdu and the ancient Sanskrit language. Tripti has a keen interest in Information and Communication Technology innovation, entrepreneurship, governance and policy, and international affairs. Tripti was nominated to serve on the ICANN Board of Directors by the Nominating Committee in 2018.  Her term will expire at the Annual General Meeting 2024.

Last week, ICANN's annual three-meeting cycle began on a high note with a successful ICANN79 Community Forum, which took place in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and online. To everyone who joined us in person and virtually, I am grateful for your participation and your dedication to ICANN's mission.

As usual, the ICANN Board held a three-day workshop ahead of the Public Meeting. The Board advanced several areas of our work during the March Board Workshop and ICANN79:

Strategic Plan: The Board is developing the draft strategies for the next ICANN Strategic Plan. During the workshop, we engaged in a brainstorming session, which generated potential strategies based on the insights gained through the Environmental Scan and Analysis Phase of the process. At the ICANN79 community consultation session, Board members engaged with the community and received valuable feedback on the themes that are guiding the strategy development and working draft vision statement for the fiscal year 2030.

Next Round: The Board reviewed the Generic Names Supporting Organization's (GNSO) draft supplemental recommendations on the New Generic Top-Level Domain Program: Next Round, ahead of the community consultation session at ICANN79. We also discussed the draft recommendations, among other topics, with the GNSO Council during our joint session.

Grant Program: The Board received an update on the status of the ICANN Grant Program, including an overview of the upcoming milestones and outreach campaign. In addition, the Board discussed a proposed update to Recommendation 7 of the Cross-Community Working Group on New gTLD Auction Proceeds, which I then shared with the group's chartering organizations via letter.

During the ICANN79 Public Board Meeting, the Board approved the allocation of $10 million from the 2012 New gTLD Program Auction Proceeds to fund successful applications from the ICANN Grant Program's first call for submissions, which will be published at the end of March.

IANA: The Board held a productive discussion with the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) team on the process for delegating or transferring country code top-level domains, including the factors considered when assessing transfer requests.

RDRS: The Board received an update on the recently launched Registration Data Request Service (RDRS), including an overview of the outreach and engagement efforts and highlights from the latest monthly metrics report.

PPSAI: The Board reviewed the work in progress to charter the implementation project for the outstanding Privacy and Proxy Services Accreditation Issues (PPSAI) recommendations, including the areas affected by policy and other changes in the landscape since the PPSAI policy recommendations were adopted in 2016.

ODP Consultation: The Board discussed the major themes identified in the feedback on the Operational Design Phase (ODP), including the scope, timing, and transparency, and reviewed the additional planned activities to complete the community consultation.

Overall, it was a productive Board Workshop and Public Meeting. The Board is committed to meeting our goals and achieving our mission, in close collaboration with the ICANN community. As we have learned, we are stronger, and more agile when we work as one.

Going forward, we will continue to overcome obstacles and work together to ensure a secure, stable, and unified global Internet.

Authors

Tripti Sinha

Tripti Sinha

ICANN Board Chair
Tripti Sinha

Tripti Sinha

ICANN Board Chair

Tripti Sinha is Assistant Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at the University of Maryland (UMD) in the Division of Information Technology. She leads Advanced Cyber Infrastructure and Internet Global Services (ACIGS) and the Mid-Atlantic Crossroads (MAX). She has over three decades of progressive experience in Internet and Cyber-Infrastructure technologies. Her wide-ranging experience includes leadership positions in engineering, operations, finance, governance, advocacy and policy. In her current role, she is the chief executive of the MAX, which operates a high-performance regional research and education (R&E) 100G network for advanced cyber-infrastructure services and research. She is also responsible for UMD's High Performance Computing service and strategy. Tripti is active internationally as the executive and operational head of UMD's global operation of DNS root services. She previously served as Co-Chair of ICANN's Root Server System Advisory Committee (RSSAC) from 2015-2018.

In the United States, she is very involved in the Internet2 community on activities related to the US national R&E Internet backbone. She is also Chair of the Board of Directors of The Quilt whose mission is to provide advocacy for research and education networking on the US national agenda. She has served on many other non-profit and private sector technology advisory boards.

Tripti has an undergraduate degree in Computer Science from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts and did graduate work in Computer Science at the University of Maryland. She was born in India and lives in the United States. As a child and young adult, she moved back-and-forth between the USA and India which gave her an appreciation for global pluralism. She is proficient in English and Hindi, and has an understanding of Punjabi, Urdu and the ancient Sanskrit language. Tripti has a keen interest in Information and Communication Technology innovation, entrepreneurship, governance and policy, and international affairs. Tripti was nominated to serve on the ICANN Board of Directors by the Nominating Committee in 2018.  Her term will expire at the Annual General Meeting 2024.

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