SSAC Members

Most well known as co-Founder of the domain-industry's dominant tradeshow, NamesCon and his ongoing dedication and work with the Public Suffix List (PSL), Jothan Frakes has been working with domain names and DNS since 1991. He is CEO of Plisk.com, a bespoke ICANN Accredited Registrar that caters to celebrity and creative clientele, their agents and agencies. In addition to his noteworthy work in advocating the healthy use of domain names, Jothan has recently served as Vice-Chair of TechOps for the Registrar Stakeholder Group and the Co-Chair of the CPH TechOps, and held the role of Executive Director of the Domain Name Association, with decades of dedication in a variety of volunteer roles in key policy-development and implementation team work within ICANN's community. He has held numerous executive, founder, and consultative roles with numerous domain industry companies like Verisign, Minds+Machines, Team Internet, KPMG, working with ccTLD/gTLD registries, and ICANN-Accredited Registrars and various marketplace service providers for DNS, DNSSEC and domain aftermarket/monetization services. Jothan is based in Seattle, Washington and joined SSAC in 2024.

Disclosure of Interest

1. Please identify your current employer(s) and position(s).

(a) PLISK.COM (IANA 670) ICANN Accredited Registrar-> Owner

(b) Jothan Frakes Consulting, Principle.

2. Please identify the type(s) of work performed at #1 above.

(a) Operation of an ICANN Accredited Registrar, customer service, sales, marketing, compliance, audit, accounting, technical architecture, general operations.

 (b) Typically, but not limited to, providing reports and readouts to businesses in and around the internet and domain name industry that simplify the complex and nuanced changes and evolutions around ICANN as curated for those businesses (and attention spans)- providing both Hosting (DNS/ Web/ Email services) and connectivity services.

3. Please identify any board or committee positions that you hold that might be perceived as influencing your expressed point of view, irrespective of whether they are voluntary.

Currently with (a) I am on the executive committee of the RrSG, as Vice-Chair of TechOps for the RrSG and Co-Chair of the CPH TechOps group and a member in good standing of the Registrar Stakeholder Group of ICANN. Although I place principles above personalities as a general rule in communication, and there is large evidence of participation within and beyond ICANN groups that demonstrates my approach, someone unfamiliar with me might just see RrSG and assume a bias for Registrars. I am a primary volunteer for the Public Suffix List project [https://github.com/publicsuffix/list or https://publicsuffix.org] for the last 15 years, although this is not a board or committee position, due to attrition and long-time abandonment of resourcing from browsers or other stakeholders, I filled a role in the absence of others as leading the project and representing it.

4. Please list any financial or other material relationship beyond de minimus stock ownership that you, your employer, or an immediate family member/significant other has with ICANN or with any individual, company, or other entity that to your knowledge has a current or planned financial or other material relationship with ICANN.

N/A at this time

5. Please list any business transactions that you, your employer, or an immediate family member/significant other has had with ICANN within the last 5 years.

I pay annual dues to ICANN.org as do all holding an an ICANN Registrar Accreditation in good standing, so there is financial payment to ICANN. Conversely, I have received modest travel support during that time, which has been provided as part of the volunteer work

6. Is your participation as an SSAC member the subject of any arrangements or agreements between you and any other group, constituency, or person(s)?

No.

7. Please answer “yes” or “no.” If the answer is “yes,” please describe the arrangements or agreements and the name of the group, constituency, or person(s).

If there had been a 'Maybe' button, I would have answered that it is my hope to help create a better bridge between the RrSG Executive Committee and the SSAC and work with the RrSG to create an SSAC Liaison role that currently does not exist should I be selected.

Robert Guerra is a seasoned trilingual policy and research professional with a background in medicine and digital rights. Over the past 25 years, he has focused on community building, training, and equipping organizations to leverage technology for advocacy, collaboration, and privacy protection. His expertise spans public health, harm reduction, and digital safety, with a strong emphasis on fostering secure and inclusive technological environments.

Currently, Robert serves as the Chief Technology Officer and Research Lead at the Collier Collective. In this role, he supports initiatives related to healthcare technology policy, and digital safety. He is also the founder and CEO of Privaterra.

Robert’s contributions extend to global platforms such as ICANN’s Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC), where he has played an active role in internet governance initiatives. He has represented Canada at two UN World Summits on the Information Society (WSIS) and worked with organizations like Citizen Lab and Freedom House. An Honours graduate of the University of Western Ontario and an alumnus of the Universidad de Navarra’s Faculty of Medicine, Robert combines his medical training with his technical expertise to foster impactful solutions in both public health and digital rights.

Disclosure of Interest:

1. Please identify your current employer(s) and position(s): CEO, Privaterra & Chief Technology Officer & Research Lead, Collier Collective, LLC
2. Please identify the type(s) of work performed at #1 above: I serve as the Chief Executive Officer of Privaterra and concurrently hold the position of Chief Technology Officer and Research Lead at the Collier Collective. In these roles, I provide strategic leadership and support to teams and clients, focusing on critical areas such as digital safety, privacy, healthcare, and technology policy.
3. Please identify any board or committee positions that you hold that might be perceived as influencing your expressed point of view, irrespective of whether they are voluntary. I am a member of ICANN's Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC). As of April 8, 2025, I do not hold any board or committee positions outside of ICANN.
4. Please list any financial or other material relationship beyond de minimus stock ownership that you or your employer has with any individual, company, or other entity that to your knowledge has a financial or other material relationship with ICANN: Privaterra and Collier Collective do not have any financial or other material affiliations with ICANN
    
    
5. Please list any business transactions that you, your employer, or an immediate family member/significant other has had with ICANN within the last 5 years. Neither I, my employers, my clients, nor any immediate family members or significant others have engaged in any business transactions with ICANN over the past five years.
6. Is your participation as an SSAC member the subject of any arrangements or agreements between you and any other group, constituency, or person(s)? No
7. If the answer to #7 is “yes,” please describe the arrangements or agreements and the name of the group, constituency, or person(s).

Wes Hardaker works in the Internet Evangelism Team at Google, where his primary responsibility is to make the Internet better. Prior to that, he was a Senior Computer Scientist at USC's Information Sciences Institute, responsible for overseeing teams to develop and execute research ideas. He still holds a title of "Affiliated Scientist" with USC/ISI. His work focuses on cybersecurity generally, intrusion detection specifically, internet standards development and programs to enhance the DNS and other Internet protocols. He was responsible for the operation and management of the Internet’s b.root-servers.net DNS critical infrastructure and continues to participate in its operation today in cooperation with USC/ISI. He is the principal representative for USC/ISI's DNS root server in the Root Server System Advisory Committee (RSSAC) within ICANN, and serves as the RSSAC representative to the ICANN Board. Mr. Hardaker has been actively participating in the IETF open standards body that documents internet protocols for over 25 years. He has authored RFCs relating to SNMP, DNS, SMTP, and the IAB.

Disclosure of Interest:

1. Please identify your current employer(s) and position(s). USC/ISI: Senior Computer Scientist; ICANN: Board of directors; Frosted Axe Studios LLC: owner.
2. Please identify the type(s) of work performed at #1 above. USC/ISI: Academic research; ICANN: Board of directors; Frosted Axe Studios LLC: Game development.
3. Please identify any board or committee positions that you hold that might be perceived as influencing your expressed point of view, irrespective of whether they are voluntary. I do not believe that that my ICANN board position would influence my decisions, but would rather inform it from an increased perspective of viewpoints that come to the board.
4. Please list any financial or other material relationship beyond de minimus stock ownership that you, your employer, or an immediate family member/significant other has with ICANN or with any individual, company, or other entity that to your knowledge has a current or planned financial or other material relationship with ICANN. Nothing other than what is listed above.
5. Please list any business transactions that you, your employer, or an immediate family member/significant other has had with ICANN within the last 5 years. Only as a member of the ICANN board.
6. Is your participation as an SSAC member the subject of any arrangements or agreements between you and any other group, constituency, or person(s)? No.
7. If the answer is “yes,” please describe the arrangements or agreements and the name of the group, constituency, or person(s).

Russ Housley is a founder and owner of Vigil Security, LLC, where he provides computer and networking security consulting to industry and government. He has served in many different Internet-related leadership roles, including chair of the Internet Activities Board (IAB), chair of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), IETF Security Area Director, chair of the IEEE 802.10 working group. He has served as working group chair for several IETF working groups and is continuing to do so today. He is serving as the Lead IETF Representative to the Community Coordination Group (CCG), which provides advice to the IETF Trust regarding matters related to the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), and he is co-leader of the IAB-sponsored IETF-IANA Group. He is the designated expert for several IANA protocol parameter registries. He is the liaison manager for the IETF to the IEEE Standards Association, and he serves on several IETF document review teams. He is serving as a member of Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC). Mr. Housley is the co-author of two books: Planning for PKI – Best Practices Guide for Deploying Public Key Infrastructure, and Implementing Email and Security Tokens: Current Standards, Tools, and Practices. He is the author of many RFCs and contributed to many more.

Disclosure of Interest:

1. Please identify your current employer(s) and position(s): Vigil Security, LLC Founder and owner AKAYLA, Inc. President
2. Please identify the type(s) of work performed at #1 above: I consult on Internet Security and Internet Standards. My customers come from industry and government. Verisign is one of my customers. For the most part, commercial customers are handled through Vigil Security, LLC, and government customers are handled through AKAYLA, Inc.
3. Please identify any board or committee positions that you hold that might be perceived as influencing your expressed point of view, irrespective of whether they are voluntary. I have been appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Internet Society. My term begins in June 2024.
4. Please list any financial or other material relationship beyond de minimus stock ownership that you or your employer has with any individual, company, or other entity that to your knowledge has a financial or other material relationship with ICANN: None
5. Please list any business transactions that you, your employer, or an immediate family member/significant other has had with ICANN within the last 5 years. None.
6. Is your participation as a member the subject of any arrangements or agreements between you and any other group, constituency, or person(s)? Please answer "yes" or "no." Yes
7. If the answer to #7 is “yes,” please describe the arrangements or agreements and the name of the group, constituency, or person(s). As indicated above, Verisign is one of my customers. Verisign sponsors my participation in SSAC.

Matthias M. Hudobnik is a Legal Engineer and AI expert in Europol's Data Protection Function, combining his roles as a lawyer and an engineer. He focuses on AI and cyber security in operations, as well as research and innovation projects. Matthias works closely with Europol's Innovation Lab to foster innovation in law enforcement.

Previously, he worked as a Data Privacy Lead at Accenture Security and as a Researcher at the Centre for IT & IP Law at the KU Leuven. With over 20 years of professional international experience spanning various sectors, including law enforcement and judiciary, cyber security and IT consulting, law and advocacy, academia and research in Europe, and Asia.

Matthias serves as a member of ICANN’s Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC) and as the At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) Liaison to the SSAC. Previously, he was a member of the ALAC for four years and is an alumnus of ICANN’s Fellowship Program, RIPE’s Fellowship Program, and the NextGen@ICANN Program.

He is a Fellow of Information Privacy, a certified DPO, holds certifications as a CIPP/E, CIPT, and ISO 27001 Certified ISMS Lead Auditor, and has completed the CCNA 1/2/3/4 courses.

Matthias holds a Magister iuris (JD equivalent) from the University of Graz in law, with an Erasmus exchange at Tilburg Law School and obtained an engineer (BS equivalent) from the College of Electronics Klagenfurt in informatics and internet engineering.

He regularly speaks at international conferences and is author of several publications related to data protection, cyber law, cyber security, and legal tech.

Fun facts: Matthias is a multi-award-winning hackathon participant, a triathlete and multiple Ironman finisher, and is interested in emoji governance; he was the first Austrian student member of the Unicode Consortium.

Disclosure of Interest

1. Please identify your current employer(s) and position(s): I work as a Legal Engineer in Europol's Data Protection Function, combining my roles as a lawyer and an engineer.
2. Please identify the type(s) of work performed at #1 above: I am focusing on AI and cyber security in operations, as well as research and innovation projects. I collaborate closely with Europol's Innovation Lab to foster innovation in law enforcement.
3. Please identify any board or committee positions that you hold that might be perceived as influencing your expressed point of view, irrespective of whether they are voluntary: I currently hold the following board and committee positions: ALAC Liaison to SSAC, and EURALO Board Member.
4. Please list any financial or other material relationship beyond de minimus stock ownership that you, your employer, or an immediate family member/significant other has with ICANN or with any individual, company, or other entity that to your knowledge has a current or planned financial or other material relationship with ICANN: N/A
5. Please list any business transactions that you, your employer, or an immediate family member/significant other has had with ICANN within the last 5 years: N/A
6. Is your participation as an SSAC member the subject of any arrangements or agreements between you and any other group, constituency, or person(s)? No
7. If the answer is “yes,” please describe the arrangements or agreements and the name of the group, constituency, or person(s).

(07/2024)

GEOFF HUSTON AM has been closely involved with the development of the Internet for the past 30 years. In the late 1980's he was the Technical Manager at the Australian Academic and Research Network and was responsible for the pioneering work in introducing the Internet to Australia. In the mid 1990's he joined Telstra, Australia's major communications enterprise, and led their Internet Engineering group. He was Telstra's Internet Architect in the 2000's, leading the overall design effort in what was then a global IP carrier network operated by Telstra. He joined APNIC (the Asia Pacific Regional Internet Registry) in the mid 2000's as the Chief Scientist and leads APNIC's research endeavours. Geoff has been a Trustee of the Internet Society from 1992 until 2000 and served as Chair of the Board of Trustees for a two-year term term and as Secretary to the Board for much of the remainder of that time. He has been an active member of the IETF for many years and has served on the Internet Architecture Board from 1999 until 2005 and has also chaired a number of Working Groups and authored a number of RFCs. He has written three books on the Internet and is a regular column writer on various aspects of the technology, business, politics, and economics of the Internet. His current research interests include inter-domain routing, the domain name protocol, and their related security issues and the IPv6 transition.

Disclosure of Interest:

1. Please identify your current employer(s) and position(s). APNIC, Chief Scientist
2. Please identify the type(s) of work performed at #1 above. Regional Internet Registry
3. Please identify any board or committee positions that you hold that might be perceived as influencing your expressed point of view, irrespective of whether they are voluntary. none
4. Please list any financial or other material relationship beyond de minimus stock ownership that you, your employer, or an immediate family member/significant other has with ICANN or with any individual, company, or other entity that to your knowledge has a current or planned financial or other material relationship with ICANN. None
5. Please list any business transactions that you, your employer, or an immediate family member/significant other has had with ICANN within the last 5 years. APNIC has executed a cooperative research agreement with ICANN.
6. Is your participation as an SSAC member the subject of any arrangements or agreements between you and any other group, constituency, or person(s)? No
7. If the answer is “yes,” please describe the arrangements or agreements and the name of the group, constituency, or person(s).

04/2024

Layal is a technologist and the CEO and co-founder of Moubarmij, as well as the co-chair of the ICANN Middle East Space. With a background in architecture and design, she transitioned to technology after graduating. Layal has significant expertise in digital security technology and digital transformation, specializing in the design and deployment of comprehensive digital security strategies and frameworks on a global scale.

Her work includes formulating robust cybersecurity measures and conducting digital forensic investigations to safeguard data integrity. Layal has held advisory positions at Codi Tech and ISOC Lebanon Chapter. In 2019, she was a speaker at the MIT SciTech Conference, sharing insights on emerging technologies and their applications.

In recognition of her contributions to the field, Layal was honored as one of the seven women ‘Who Rule the Web’ by the British Council and the World Wide Web foundation on the 30th anniversary of the Web. She recently completed her Executive MBA from the Quantic School of Business and Technology, graduating with honors.

Disclosure of Interest

1. Please identify your current employer(s) and position(s): 

        Moubarmij B.V. - Owner

2. Please identify the type(s) of work performed at #1 above.
   

          Overall management of the company.

           I oversee product, operations, marketing, and tech teams.

3. Please identify any board or committee positions that you hold that might be perceived as influencing your expressed point of view, irrespective of whether they are voluntary.

          None at the moment

4. Please list any financial or other material relationship beyond de minimus stock ownership that you, your employer, or an immediate family member/significant other has with ICANN or with any individual, company, or other entity that to your knowledge has a current or planned financial or other material relationship with ICANN.

            None. 

5. Please list any business transactions that you, your employer, or an immediate family member/significant other has had with ICANN within the last 5 years.

         None. Except for acceptance to fellowships with ICANN

6. Is your participation as an SSAC member the subject of any arrangements or agreements between you and any other group, constituency, or person(s)?

          No

7. If the answer is “yes,” please describe the arrangements or agreements and the name of the group, constituency, or person(s).

Presently: Internet of things Association (Russia), director. Use to serve as ALAC liaison to SSAC util 2024. Past: engineer RIPN.RU, director of ccTLD .RU registry Work in the past with ICANN SO/ACs: ccNSO, gNSO, Atlarge

30+ years of experience on the domestic and international telecommunications markets. Professional interest and specialization: IDN marketing, registry operations, IoT & security, digital objects / digital twins' identification, industrial platforms and data models, Hi-load and distributed IT systems.

Disclosure of Interest:

1. Please identify your current employer(s) and position(s): 

   Internet of things Association, director

2. Please identify the type(s) of work performed at #1 above: business, regulatory and technology expertise for IoT professional community 

   Managing IoT community, NGO

3. Please identify any board or committee positions that you hold that might be perceived as influencing your expressed point of view, irrespective of whether they are voluntary.
   

   None

4. Please list any financial or other material relationship beyond de minimis stock ownership that you or your employer has with any individual, company, or other entity that to your knowledge has a financial or other material relationship with ICANN: 

   None

5. Please list any business transactions that you, your employer, or an immediate family member/significant other has had with ICANN within the last 5 years.
   

   None

6. Is your participation as an SSAC member the subject of any arrangements or agreements between you and any other group, constituency, or person(s)? Please answer "yes" or "no." 

   No

7. If the answer is "yes," please describe the arrangements or agreements and the name of the group, constituency, or person(s): I serve as the ALAC liaison to the SSAC.