Michael M. Roberts

Michael M. Roberts was the first President and CEO of ICANN, serving from October 1998 until March 2001. His farewell remarks were given at the ICANN Public Forum held in Melbourne on 12 March 2001.

He is a policy consultant in the field of Internet technology, services and product development, with a specialization in research and education. Prior to taking on the start-up of ICANN, he was Vice President at EDUCOM, a consortium of 600 universities and colleges with interests in information technology, where he was responsible for networking and telecommunications programs, including the development of public policy positions in information technology on behalf of EDUCOM members. He was for a number of years staff director of the EDUCOM Networking and Telecommunications Task Force, a group of sixty universities and corporations with common networking interests.

He was an organizer and the first director of Internet2, a project of more than one hundred American universities to plan, integrate and deploy an advanced broadband network and applications for research and education. He was also one of the founders and the first Executive Director of the Internet Society, whose purpose is to promote the use of the Internet and guide its further development as a foremost means of national and international communication.

Prior to joining EDUCOM, he was at Stanford University where he was Deputy Director of Information Technology Services, with executive responsibilities in Stanford's computing, communications, and information systems programs. During 1983-86, he directed the university's telecommunications modernization project, which installed a large digital voice switch and extensive fiber optic network facilities.

Mr. Roberts is a liberal arts graduate of Stanford and holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

As ICANN President, Roberts also served as a member of its Board of Directors.