Nominating Committee | Members 2007

This page contains some background biographical information about each Nominating Committee member.

Members of the Committee

Karen Banks

Karen Banks is a networking pioneer who has worked with ICTs and their application as a tool for social change since 1990.

Between 1990 and 1997 she maintained an international gateway called 'GnFido' at GreenNet, a small non-profit ISP in London, and founding member of the Association For Progressive Communications (APC). The gateway used simple 'store-and-forward' technology (fidonet and uucp) providing in many cases, the only means of cheap, efficient electronic communications to thousands of individuals, NGOs, Acadamics, Researchers and quasi-governmental departments in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe.

In 1993, along with women colleagues from APC, she formed the APC Women's Networking Support Programme (APCWNSP) which led an all women team of 40 to the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995, where they provided email and web access to over 10,000 delegates. She went on to coordinate the APC WNSP from 1996 to 2004.

She coordinated APC's participation in the WSIS process and continues to coordinate APC's participation in post WSIS activities such as the Internet Governance Forum.

She leads APC's work in the CRIS (Communication Rights in the Information Society) campaign and has recently taken up position as Network Development Manager for APC after coordinating APC's Women's Networking Support Programme for 8 years and coordinating APC's internet rights work globally, and in Europe from 1998-2001.

She remains a Director of GreenNet and is currently a trustee of Privacy International, an international privacy rights and civil liberties watchdog based in the UK, member of the civil society working group on the Commonwealth Action Programme for the Digital Divide.

She was a member of the WSIS Working Group on Internet Governance
(WGIG) and was awarded the Anita Borg Social Impact Award with the APCWNSP in 2004.

Mohamed El Fatih El Tigani Ali

Mohamed obtained a Masters degree in Computer Science with distinction from Pune University (India) in 1998.

He worked as a guest lecturer at the Interdisciplinary School of Scientific Computing Pune University (India) from Aug 1998 up to March 1999.

He also worked as a systems software engineer in Nulink Co. Ltd. (India) for one and have years where he was involved in the design and implementation of a network management system for various telecom and data network equipment.

Mohamed joined Sudan Telecom Co Ltd as a network engineer and system administrator in April 1999 where he was in charge of the foundation of the Internet Sector responsible for delivering the Internet Services to other ISPs within the country. He was also responsible for the IP address space allocation policy, Initial BGP setup & DNS systems and became the head of the enterprise networks and systems sector of the IT department in May 2002.

In February 2004, he became the head of the software development sector of the IT dept and was responsible for the development and operations of all the applications development activities for Sudatel as a telecom operator (BSS i.e. Billing & CC, Interconnection billing - OSS i.e. Mediation, OMC, Traffic Measurements, ERP i.e. GL, HR, Information Systems).

He is also a Professional Courses Instructor, technical consultant and Projects Manager for Datanet Co. Ltd., a leading solutions provider in the Sudanese market.

Mohamed is a founder and executive committee member of the Sudan Internet Society, an NGO that is responsible for the .sd ccTLD management.

Mohamed is a voting member of the Nominating Committee, and has been selected by the ALAC.

Jayantha Fernando

Jayantha Fernando is an Attorney by profession and holds a specialized Masters Degree in Information Technology & Communications Law from the University of London, completed on the prestigious British Chevening Scholarship awarded by the UK Government (2001-2003).

He commenced his career as a Judicial Intern to Senior Judge of the Supreme Court (1994/95) and thereafter was functioned as Junior Counsel in several leading Constitutional and Commercial matters primarily in the appellate Courts. In addition to his Legal practice, he was associated with the apex Government IT Policy Agency in advising the Government on the laws required for ICT growth in Sri Lanka (1995 – 2001).

He was a member of the Computer Crimes review Committee of the Sri Lanka Law Commission (1999-2000) and was the Convenor of the Computer Crimes Advisory Committee which assisted the Government in finalizing the Computer Crimes Bill, presented to Parliament and enacted as legislation in May 2007. As the Program Director person responsible for the e-Laws Program at the ICT Agency of Sri Lanka (www.icta.lk) he advises the Government in ICT policies and helped in the preparation of the Electronic Transactions Act No. 19 of 2006. He is presently advising the Government in the adoption of a Data Protection Code of Practice.

He has several international and local papers in ICT Law and lectures extensively on ICT Law and is a lecturer and examiner at the Sri Lanka Law College and is visiting faculty of University of Colombo School of Computing (www.ucsc.cmb.ac.lk) and Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Moratuwa (www.cse.mrt.ac.lk)

He has extensive overseas experience lecturing and training policy makers and government officials in ICT Legal and policy issues. He has researched and implemented Laws and Policies in the field of Telecommunications and ICT Laws in developing countries. During 2003/04 Jayantha was the Legal Advisor on Telecom and ICT Legal Reforms to the South African SADC Secretariat on a USAID funded initiative. In this capacity he has prepared a model Law on e-Commerce and Data Protection which is be adoption by SADAC. He also functions as a world wide Advisory Member to an Info-dev led program led by Centre for Democracy and Technology CDT and Internews preparing e-government toolkit for developing countries.

Jayantha also has expertise negotiating large ICT related Agreements and Telecommunications Interconnection arrangements.

He is a Member of the Board of Directors of LK Domain Registry (www.nic.lk) and a Board Director at the Sri Lanka Standards Institution (www.slsi.lk). He is helping to develop Dispute resolution principles for LKNIC domain name registry.

In March 2005, Jayantha was selected to function as the Associate Chairman of the ICANN Nominating Committee and served as the GAC representative to the NomCom in 2006.

He also serves as a member of the ICANN’s Registry Services Technical Evaluation Panel.

Jayantha serves as the Non-voting liaison of the ICANN Governmental Advisory Committee.

Ken Fockler

Ken Fockler is the President of Tenac Consulting, a company he founded in 1997 after the wrap up of CA*net Networking Inc. where he was President from 1992 to 1997.

CA*net was a Canadian federally incorporated non-profit organization of regional networks that came together to create and manage a national backbone network in Canada. Prior to CA*net Ken was with IBM Canada Ltd. and was instrumental in founding NetNorth in 1984, a coast to coast university network connected to BITNET and EARN. In 1996 he helped establish CAIP, the Canadian Association of Internet Providers, and served as the first chairman and President. He was also a founder of CIRA, the Canadian Internet Registry Authority and served on the initial board.

From 1992 to 1997 he served on the board of directors of CANARIE, the Canadian Network for the Advancement of Research, Industry and Education. He served on the board of the CA*net Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to the development and use of the Internet for the public good. He served a one-year term on the board of ARIN, the American Registry for Internet Numbers, and an additional year as an officer of ARIN in the role of Treasurer.

In 1999, Ken served on a Panel of Experts for WIPO, the World Intellectual Property Organization, for a study on domain names.

Ken served on the ICANN Board from October 1999 to September 2001. He was selected by the Address Supporting Organization.

In 1996 Ken received the Chairman's Award from CBTA, the Canadian Business Telecommunications Association, for his outstanding contribution to the Canadian Telecommunications Industry.

In Ken's consulting work he has worked with telecommunications companies such as Bell Canada and federal government departments such as Industry Canada. He also serves as a consultant to the Tralliance Corporation, the registry for dot travel.

Ken has also been involved in charitable work and has served on boards in the Toronto area including the CNIB, the Canadian National Institute for the Blind.

He is a graduate of the University of Toronto, Engineering Physics 1961, and is married with three grown daughters.

Grant Forsyth

Grant Forsyth currently works for British Telecom Global Services, as Head of Global Interconnection, based in London with a focus on Europe. Prior to moving to London in 2006 Grant was Manager of Industry & Regulatory Affairs for TelstraClear in New Zealand for seven years and prior to that he held the role of CEO of TUANZ (the Telecommunications Users Association of New Zealand) following a career in IT in NZ, UK and USA.

Mr. Forsyth was a BC representative on the GNSO Council 2000-2006 and an Internet New Zealand Council rep 2002 – 2006 (INZ is the delegated manager of the .nz domain).

Mr. Forsyth holds an MBA from the University of Auckland and MSCE from the University of Washington.

Michael Froomkin

A. Michael Froomkin is a Professor at the University of Miami School of Law in Coral Gables, Florida, specializing in Internet Law and Administrative Law. He is a founder-editor of ICANNWatch, and serves on the Editorial Board of Information, Communication & Society and of I/S: A Journal of Law and Policy for the Information Society. He is on the Advisory Boards of several organizations including the Electronic Freedom Foundation and BNA Electronic Information Policy & Law Report.

Prof. Froomkin is a director of Out2 Meida Group, which provides hyper-local online newspapers to communites throughout the US. He is a member of the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London.

Professor Froomkin writes primarily about Internet governance, electronic democracy, and privacy. Other subjects include e-commerce, electronic cash, the regulation of cryptography, and U.S. constitutional law.

Before entering teaching, Prof. Froomkin practiced international arbitration law in the London office of Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering. He clerked for Judge Stephen F. Williams of the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit, and Chief Judge John F. Grady of the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois. Prof. Froomkin received his J.D. from Yale Law School, where he served as Articles Editor of both the Yale Law Journal and the Yale Journal of International Law. He has an M.Phil in History of International Relations from Cambridge University in England, which he obtained while on a Mellon Fellowship. His B.A. from Yale was in Economics and History, summa cum laude, phi beta kappa with Distinction in History.

Prof. Froomkin is married to University of Miami Law Professor Caroline Bradley. They have two children.

Professor Froomkin serves a voting member of the Nominating Committee, selected by ALAC's North American region.

Sanford H. George

Sanford H. George has been working in the networking and data communications field since 1977. He currently assists in the management of Los Nettos at the University of Southern California's Center for High Performance Computing and Communications. He also assists with engineering and operations on the Pacific Wave internet exchange project. He was previously at USC's Information Sciences Institute.

Prior to working at USC, Sanford spent twelve years managing the multi-protocol routing infrastructure at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology. He received seven NASA awards for his contributions to NASA research and flight projects.

He has been certified as a Cisco CCNA, CCDA, CCNP, CCDP and CSE and as a 3Com Certified Solutions Associate. Before establishing a career in the networking field, he owned and operated a sport parachuting and glider school in Northern California.

Sanford served on the ARIN Advisory Council from 2002 to 2004. Sanford's current term on the ASO AC (NRO NC) expires December 31, 2007.

Sanford serves as a voting member of the Nominating Committee, selected by the ASO constituency.

Anthony Harris

Anthony Harris has been active in the telecommunications industry since 1958, having served in managerial positions in:

1958-1969-Cable & Wireless Ltd. (Foreign Staff) in United Kingdom, Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay and Puerto Rico.
1969-1978-Western Union International Inc. (now MCI) in Argentina.
1986-1990-FTC International Inc. (New York) in Argentina.
1991-1994-McDonnell Douglas TYMNET Inc. in Argentina

Mr Harris has also held various other positions including:

1979-1983-Norpen S.A. (Argentina), Executive Vice President of a textile industry with 500 employees
1986-1994-Politronics S.A. (Argentina), Director International Commerce for a manufacturer of telephone PABX and Key Systems equipment.
1994-1997-ITT Standard Electric S.A. (Argentina), International Relations specialist,
Entrepreneur: Implemented and marketed an online trade leads portal, updated weekly (1996 to date, still in operation)

More recently Mr Harris has been an Executive Director of CABASE-Argentina Internet Services Association, non-profit entity since 1998, and Executive Director of eCOM-LAC - Latin America & Caribbean Federation for the Internet and Electronic Commerce, non-profit entity since 1999.

Mr Harris serves as a voting member of the Nominating Committee, selected by the ISP Constituency.

Wolfgang Kleinwaechter

Wolfgang Kleinwaechter is a Professor for International Communication Policy and Regulation at the Department for Media and Information Sciences of the University of Aarhus / Denmark.

He has studied Communication, International Law and International Relations at the University of Leipzig (B.A. 1971, M.A. 1974, Ph.D. 1981). His Academic Teaching Experiences includes Institute for International Studies, University of Leipzig (until 1991), Department for Communication, University of Tampere (1991/1992 and again since 2005), School of International Services, American University, Washington, D.C, (1992/1994) and Department for Media and Communication Studies, University of Oerebro (2002/2003). Since 1998 he teaches a full Course on "Internet Policy and Regulation" at the University of Aarhus.

From 1994 to 1998 he was the Chairman of the Management Board of the "Inter-Regional Information Society Initiative" (IRISI) of the European Commission in Brussels and coordinated the regional "Saxonian Information Initiative" (SII) of the government of the Free State of Saxony in Germany.

He is involved in Internet Governance issues since 1997 and has participated in various capacities in all ICANN meetings since its first meeting in Singapore (1999). He was a member of ICANN Membership Information Task Force and was elected as member of the Steering Committee of At Large (2001/2002). In the WSIS process he was a member of the Civil Society Bureau and co-chaired the Internet Governance Caucus in 2002 and 2003. In 2004 he was appointed by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan as a member of the UN Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG).

He is a member of the International Council of the "International Association for Media and Communication Research" (IAMCR) and served as the president of the IAMCR Law Section between 1988 and 1998. He was a member of the Parliamentarian Media Council and the Media Law Commission of the German Democratic Republic (1989/1990) and Corresponding Member of the German UNESCO Commission (1991/1999). He is the Co-Founder and Member of the Board of the Media City Leipzig e.V., Leipzig, Germany (since 1990) and of the ICANN Studienkreis (since 2000).

He was Member of the Programme Committee for INET 2002, Internet Society, Washington D.C. and a Key-Note Speaker, Panelist, Moderator and Rapporteur of numerous international conferences on the Information Society, Information Law and Internet Governance, inter alia UN, ITU, EU, Council of Europe, OECD, UNESCO, UNICTTF, Global Business Dialogue on eCommerce. PTC and others.

His research work includes more than 100 international publications, including 5 books, on issues of Broadcasting Legislation, Global Information Society, Internet Governance and WSIS. Recent articles has been published in "Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review", "Development", "Telecommunication Policy", "info" and "Gazette". His two latest books has been "The World Summit on the Information Society: From the Past into the Future", UNICTTF, New York 2005 (with Daniel Stauffacher) and "Power and Money in Cyberspace: How WSIS Frames the Future of the Information Age" (Heise Publisher 2004 / in German). He served also a member of several advisory boards of scientific journals, including "Transantional Data and Communication Report" (until 1996), Computer Law and Security Report (until 1999), The Journal of Media Law and Practice (until 2001) and "Gazette" (since 1992).

Wolfgang serves as a voting member of the Nominating Committee, selected by ALAC.

Lucy Lynch

Lucy Lynch was recently hired as the Director of Technical Projects for the Internet Society (ISOC). Prior to moving to ISOC she worked at the University of Oregon (UO) as part of the Academic Computing and Network Applications group. During her years at the UO she worked with the Network Startup Resource Center (NSRC), The Oregon RouteViews Project, and the UO Multicast Team. She was been an active participant in both the North American Network Operators Group (NANOG) and the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and is just completing a term as Chair of the IETF Administrative Oversight Committee (IAOC).

Lynch holds a Master's degree in Mass Communications from the University of Oregon and has a long history of service in non-profits ranging from Mental Health to a Hands-on Science Museum. She has been a grant writer, project manager, and a computer programmer. She also once managed the Flying Karamazov Brothers (http://www.fkb.com/) and hopes to put that experience to good use as a member of the NomCom.

Bill Manning

Bill Manning was a contributing scientist on Neustar's UltraDNS, and served on the research staff at USC's Information Sciences Institute under Jon Postel. His primary technical interests have been in network operations and naming systems.

At Texas Instruments, Bill was responsible for the deployment of IP networking first in the Semiconductor division and then throughout the corporation. He then joined Rice University to become the lead engineer for the NSFnet's SESQUINET regional network. Based on his responsibility and performance in handling the migration of SESQUINET and MIDnet from the NSFnet to commercial networks, he was asked to assume a role in the NSFs Routing Arbitor project at ISI.

He is active in the IETF, and has been active in the DNS and Routing working groups as an active participant, working group chair and code developer. Bill was responsible for specifying the method for adding NSAP support to the DNS, and then developed and implemented a plan to expand the Internet root server system to add four new nodes ... J, K, L, and M.

He is a Trustee of ARIN (American Registery for Internet Numbers) and is the managing partner in EP.NET, a private consultancy. He is a member of the Root Server System Advisory Committee and has responsibility for one of the root nameservers.

Karsten Meinhold

Karsten Meinhold joined Siemens AG in 1973. He has worked in several business groups, departments, and functions with responsibilities for telecomm legislation and regulation since 1990. He is active in several national (German) and international associations (mainly EU level). Karsten has been involved in standardisation issues, in particular at the governance level, for about 15 years. 4 years of GA Vicechairman and 4 years of GA Chairman in ETSI, ended Nov 2006. He has a university degree and diploma in Physics.

Karsten Meinhold has been appointed to the NomCom by the Technical Liaison Group.

Russ Mundy

Russ Mundy is a Principal Networking Scientist at SPARTA, Inc. His primary responsibilities include research in the areas of Internet infrastructure security, network security, and protocol development. In his current position, he is primarily responsible for several Internet infrastructure security, remote network management and protocol development projects. These efforts include initial research and development, prototype software development, and operational deployment of emerging Internet infrastructure security technologies. In addition to his internal responsibilities, Mr. Mundy is a member of the ICANN Committee on Security and Stability for the Internet, the ICANN Registry Services Technical Evaluation Panel and is an active participant in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Russ has over thirty years experience with development, implementation and operation of numerous networking and computer systems. Prior to this position, Mr. Mundy was the Chief Scientist for the first large-scale operational use of Internet technology, the U.S. DoD's Defense Data Network.

Mr. Mundy serves as a non-voting member of the Nominating Committee, selected by the SSAC.

Lucy Nichols

Lucy Nichols is an attorney specializing in Intellectual property. She currently holds the position of Global Director of IPR, Brand Protection for Nokia Corporation and is responsible for managing the company's Trademark, Product Design and Enforcement teams.

Ms. Nichols attended the University of Texas where she earned an undergraduate degree in Political Science and Georgetown University Law Center in Washington D.C. where she was awarded a Juris Doctorate degree in 1990.

Ms. Nichols was in private law practice in Washington D.C. and New York City prior to joining Nokia in 2000. She is a recognized expert in intellectual property issues and is a frequent speaker at international conferences.

Ms. Nichols is on the Board of Directors for the International Trademark Association.

Ms Nichols is a voting member of the Nominating Committee, selected by the Intellectual Property constituency.

Adam Peake-Associate Chair

Adam Peake is a senior researcher at the Center for Global Communications (GLOCOM), Tokyo. He works on projects related to telecommunications, Internet and broadband policy, network and information security policy and trends, and follow-up activities for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). Adam has been working on Internet policy related projects in the Asia Pacific region since the mid-1990s, and has been active in policy-making activities for Internet resource allocation since that time.

He was a participant in the G8 Dot Force, which made recommendations to the Group of Eight nations for action to address the "digital divide". He is currently a member of the UN Secretary-General's Advisory Group on the Internet Governance Forum (IGF).
Before coming to Japan in 1989, Adam was employed at British Telecom as a project manager working on the interconnection of Other Licensed Operators (cellular radio, radio paging and competitive telephony carriers.)

Dr Madanmohan Rao

Dr. Madanmohan Rao, a consultant and writer from Bangalore, is a research consultant at the Asian Media Information and Communication centre (AMIC). He is the editor of three book series: "The Asia Pacific Internet Handbook", "The Knowledge Management Chronicles" and "AfricaDotEdu" (McGraw Hill). He is also editor-at-large of DestinationKM.com and contributor to the Poynter Institute blog on new media trends. Madan was on the international editorial board of the recently published book, "Transforming e-Knowledge."
Madan was formerly the communications director at the United Nations Inter Press Service bureau in New York, and vice president at IndiaWorld Communications in Bombay. He graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology at Bombay and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, with an M.S. in computer science and a Ph.D. in communications. He is currently the director of the InfoComm Observatory at the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore.

Madan is a frequent speaker on the international conference circuit, and has given talks and lectures in about 50 countries around the world. He has worked with online services in the U.S., Brazil, and India. His articles have appeared in DestinationKM.com, The Economic Times, Electronic Markets magazine, Economic and Political Weekly, and the Bangkok Post. Madan is on the board of directors/advisors of numerous content and wireless services firms in Asia. He also participates in consultations at UNESCO, IDRC, and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) foundation in India and Nepal.

He is the conference chair for India Internet World, India's largest annual Internet business conference, and serves on the conference committees of trade show group Messe Frankfurt in Germany, Singapore-based Asian Media Information and Communication Centre, and the global Internet Society.

Madan serves as a voting member of the Nominating Committee, selected by the ALAC.

Jose Luiz Ribeiro-Filho

Jose Luiz Ribeiro-Filho has a Ph.D. in Computer Science from London University and a M.Sc. from Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Brazil. As a senior researcher at Computing Center at UFRJ he worked in several research projects in the Computer Architecture and Networking areas.

Between 1996 and 2000 José Luiz was in charge of the Brazilian Research and Education Network, sponsored by the Ministries of Education and Science and Technology. He was also member of the Board of the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.Br) and chair of the Internet Engineering Working Group under the CGI.Br back in 1995 to 1997.

Jose Luiz has participated in the early stages of ICANN creation during the public consulting sessions in Buenos Aires, representing the Brazilian government, coordinated a session for the creation of the DNSO in Monterey (Mexico), and has attended several ICANN meetings (up to the year 2000).

In Latin America, he was also involved in the creation of the LACNIC back in 1999 – 2000 and in the organization of several international meetings in region for the Internet community as well as ISOC training seminars.

Currently working as a consultant for RNP, he is in charge of a nationwide project (Redecomep) which is deploying optic fiber networks on 27 Brazilian metropolitan regions for the use of the local Universities and Research Centers. He also supervises other network infra-strutucture projects in areas such as Telemedicine, Digital Cities, etc. for RNP.

Sebastian Ricciardi

Sebastian Ricciardi holds a bachelor’s degree in law from the Buenos Aires University (Universidad de Buenos Aires UBA) and a master’s degree in business administration (MBA) from the Universidad del CEMA. He has almost 10 years of experience in the consumer industry, covering different managerial positions. In 1999, he founded a technology company, working in wireless applications and marketing of new services. He is currently affiliated with Jauregui & Associates, a specialized law firm based in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Ricciardi is the Vice President of the Internet Society Argentinian chapter.
He was recently selected to participate in the ISOC WSIS Ambassador program, working with ISOC chapter members from around the world in the prepcom and the Tunis phase of WSIS. He's also member of the Public Interest Registry Advisory Council.

Ricciardi has been working with ICANN´s At-Large Advisory Committee since 2002, when he was appointed by the ICANN board. His responsibilities over the past years have included outreach activities among the Latin America communities and policy work. The ICANN At-Large Advisory Committee appointed him to the WIPO2 Assistance Group and the Transfers Assistance Group, amongst other tasks.

Ricciardi serves as a voting member of the Nominating Committee, selected by ALAC.

George Sadowsky - Chair

George Sadowsky received an A.B. degree in Mathematics from Harvard College and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Economics from Yale University.

After spending 1958-1962 as an applied mathematician, his career concentrated on applying computers to economic and social policy, leading academic computing and networking organizations, and making the Internet useful throughout the world. During 1966-1970 he founded and directed the Computer Center at the Brookings Institution in Washington; from 1970-73 he did economic research at the Urban Institute leading to his Ph.D, dissertation on the subject of micro-analytic simulation of the household sector.

During 1973-86 at the United Nations, he supported the transfer of information technology to developing countries. He has done work in about 50 developing countries and continues to do so. Among other things, he introduced the use of microcomputers for census data processing in Africa in 1979, and he worked in China during 1982-1986s supporting the computing activities of the 1982 Census of Population and Housing.

From 1986 to 2001, he directed academic computing and networking activities, first at Northwestern University and then at New York University. He has been a consultant to the U.S. Treasury Department, the U.S. Congressional Budget Office, UNDP, the Swiss Government, and a number of foundations. He was a Board member of AppliedTheory Corporation and was a Trustee of the Corporation for Research and Educational Networking (CREN) and the New York State Educational and Research Network (NYSERNet). He was actively involved in World Bank activities during 1996-2002 as a member and Coordinator of the Technical Advisory Panel for the infoDev program, as well as in UNDP and USAID activities. In 1994, he and Larry Landweber formulated the USAID's Leland Initiative for Internet connectivity in 20 African countries. He has been a member of the Internet Society Board of Trustees (1996-1999 and 2000-2004) and has served ISOC as Vice President for Conferences (1996-1998) and Vice-President for Education (1998-2001). He headed a group of ISOC volunteers who defined and conducted the ISOC Developing Country Network Training Workshops from 1993 through 2001. He has written and lectured extensively on ICTs and development.

From 2001-2005, he was the Executive Director of the Global Internet Policy Initiative (GIPI), which directed Internet policy reform projects in 16 developing countries, and also served as the Senior Technical Adviser within USAID's dot-GOV program. He now works on projects in the area of ICT for development. (see http://www.georgesadowsky.com for more information).

Mr Sadowsky served as the non-voting Chair of the Nominating Committee in 2005 and was special adviser to the Chair in 2006 until the Chair’s resignation at which time Mr Sadowsky was appointed Chair. Mr. Sadowsky has been appointed Chair of the 2007 Nominating Committee.

Paul Stahura

Paul Stahura is the President and COO, and a member of the board of directors of Demand Media, Inc. (www.demandmedia.com). Demand Media is the parent company of eNom, Inc. After the Demand Media acquisition Paul remains the CEO of ENom, (www.enom.com) an ICANN accredited registrar and leading provider of domain name registration, hosting and other online services. eNom is a member of the Registrars Constituency, and Paul is a member of the ICANN Whois Task Force.

Paul comes from an engineering and business background, with Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in electrical engineering from Purdue University, and has over twenty years experience in the software development industry, with the most recent ten of those years spent in the Internet and DNS space.

In 1997, with one small computer on an ISDN line, Paul launched eNom, Inc. out of his garage in Redmond, Washington. Now, seven short years later, Paul and his team have taken eNom from start-up to the largest and most active domain distribution reseller network in the domain industry, with over 8.5 million domain names on the eNom platform. Recognized as the second largest domain name registrar in the world, eNom has also won various industry awards; for example, as the best registrar for resellers from Name Intelligence five years running.

Prior to eNom, Paul was a Principal in a company that performed consulting services for Fortune-500 clients with enterprise-wide development, database, and complex system architecture and PM needs. Paul and his partners sold the 60-employee company in 2000.

Paul, known for his creative technical ideas, business collaborations and friendly approachable nature, continues to set the technological and business directions for eNom while residing in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with his wife and three children.

Paul is a voting member of the Nominating Committee, selected by the Registrars Constituency.

Ken Stubbs

Ken Stubbs has provided consulting services to various clients for over 25 years, with a principle focus on the development of marketing strategies and operational and organizational structures. Previously, Mr. Stubbs worked for KPMG and Ernst & Young specializing in accounting systems and operations management consulting with special emphasis on travel, retail, and real estate industries.

Since 1994, Mr. Stubbs has consulted on Internet business development strategies for the development of both commercial as well as non-profit web sites. Mr. Stubbs is also the former Chairman of the Executive Committee of CORE (3 years) and has testified before both the United States House Commerce as well as the House Judiciary Committees as an expert on Internet development and commerce.

Mr. Stubbs has been an active participant in ICANN activities since it's inception, participating as a member of the Names Council, (serving as its chairman for 2 terms) representing both the Registrar as well as Registry constituencies. He was a member of the working group which formulated the UDRP and has been an active member of numerous task forces over the last 5 years. He has also been active participant in the World Summit on the Information Society and United Nations ICT Task Force. Mr. Stubbs is a graduate with "Distinction" in Business from California State University at San Diego and is a Certified Public Accountant..

He is currently serving as the GTLD representative to the GNSO Council and has been a member of the Council since its inception in 1999. He is a Director of Afilias Registry as well as a member of the Afilias Board of Director's Executive Committee.

Mr Stubbs is a voting member of the Nominating Committee, selected by the gTLD Registrars Constituency.

Christopher Wing To

Christopher obtained a Bachelor of Honours Degree in Manufacturing Systems with Electronics from Glasgow Caledonian University and a Bachelors of Honours Degree in Law from City University of Hong Kong. He also holds a Masters Degree in Arbitration and Alternative Dispute Resolution from City University of Hong Kong and a Masters Degree in Commercial Law from the University of Northumbria.

In May 2003, Christopher was elected by internet users to serve on the Hong Kong Internet Registration Corporation Limited and the Hong Kong Domain Name Registration Company Limited as a Director and in September 2004 he was elected as Chairman of the Board.

In 2001-2002 he was awarded Director of the Year by the Hong Kong Institute of Directors for his strive towards excellence in Corporate Governance and is currently the President of the Institute of Compliance Officers and a Council member of the Hong Kong Institute of Directors. He has been nominated by his peers as one of the world’s leading practitioners in Commercial Arbitration – The International Who’s Who of Commercial Arbitrators of 2005 and 2006, and is on the panel of arbitrators of various leading arbitration centres around the world. He is currently the Chairman of the Inter-Pacific Bar Association Dispute Resolution and Arbitration Committee and Secretary-General of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre and the Asian Domain Name Dispute Resolution Centre.

He actively lectures at local and overseas universities in the areas of Corporate Governance, Business, Engineering and Law and holds Adjunct Professorships in Engineering and Law at City University of Hong Kong. Since 2005 he has been an advisor to Shantou University in the Mainland of China. He is a member of the Appeal Boards Panel for Education and is a member of the Qualifications Framework working sub-group on Aircraft Engineering works in Hong Kong. Christopher is also a member of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants Ethics and Complaints Oversight Committees. He has written articles and books in areas such as Corporate Governance, Negotiation, Mediation, Arbitration, Intellectual Property, Domain Names Disputes and Ecommerce.

Christopher was appointed as a Member of the Preparatory Committee and subsequently Director for the Research and Development Centre for Logistics and Supply Chain Management Enabling Technologies by the Commissioner of Innovation and Technology of the Hong Kong Government. He is a member of the Hong Kong Government Internet Infrastructure Liaison Group and is a member of the Appeal Board Panels in Amusement Rides (Safety) and Lifts and Escalators (Safety) appointed by the Hong Kong Government.

He is a Fellow of various learned societies including the Institution of Engineering and Technology (previous known as IEE), Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, Hong Kong Institute of Arbitrators, Singapore Institute of Arbitrators and the Hong Kong Institute of Directors. He is also a Member of the Hong Kong Computer Society, Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, Hong Kong Corporate Counsel, Society of Construction Law, Intelligent Transport Systems, Hong Kong Mediation Council and an Associate Member of the Royal Aeronautical Society.

He is a Chartered Electrical Engineer and is currently a Registered Professional Engineer in the Disciplines of Information, Electronics and Manufacturing.

Christopher actively participates in many civic associations including charities, non-profit entities and learned associations both inside and outside of Hong Kong.

Christopher is a voting member of the Nominating Committee, selected by the ccNSO.