Biographies of the 2019 Nominating Committee (NomCom) Selected Nominees

Maarten Botterman

Maarten Botterman is an independent strategic advisor on Internet Governance and related issues. He has over 25 years of experience in guiding governments and major organizations on the economic, business, and societal impacts of current and future Internet innovations and technologies. During those 25 years, he participated and led more than 50 international projects and studies for governments and industries on Future Net issues. His teams included experts with advanced academic degrees from many disciplines, ranging from technology and mathematics to economics and law, from many different countries and cultures.

In 2016, Maarten was selected by the Nominating Committee to join the ICANN Board, where, amongst other things, he focused his contributions on better Board governance, increased transparency and accountability, and improvement of Board Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) interactions.

Maarten was employed as Head of Unit and Senior Advisor to the Dutch Government (1987 – 1995) and as Scientific Officer to the Communications Technology Research program that was run by the European Commission (1995 – 1999). These years brought many insights about the public interest and governance aspects of the developing global, networked knowledge society. These insights were further deepened while working for RAND Corporation, where he set up and ran an Information Society policy practice in Europe (1999 – 2006). Since, he has been working as an independent strategic advisor to governments and businesses in close cooperation with leading independent research institutions in Europe (including RAND Europe, TNO Netherlands, DTI Denmark, and Inno France). Today, Maarten is internationally recognized as a governance and future Internet expert.

Next, while advising the Dutch government and the European Commission on Internet Governance issues, he got deeply involved in ICANN's work as a Board Member and Chairman of the Public Interest Registry (2008 – 2016), and has actively participated in more than 30 ICANN meetings.

Having worked internationally since 1995, Maarten has extensive experience working with people from different national and cultural backgrounds, and is comfortable in engaging in English, German, French, and Dutch (his mother tongue). He has a reputation as being an independent, trustworthy, out-of-the-box thinker who is able to look at issues from several perspectives with strong awareness of the bigger picture.

Having served on boards, having led boards, and having reported to boards, Maarten has extensive experience with effective board governance and the responsibilities and obligations that come with a director's position on a U.S. non-profit Board. Over the years, he has been a frequent guest speaker and moderator, mostly at smart technology related events.

Maarten holds an advanced degree in business economics from Erasmus University Rotterdam. He is a certified coach and has a certificate in medical base knowledge. Both are relevant as they help in better understanding what drives people in decision making and going through life.

Maarten is based in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. He was selected by the Nominating Committee to serve on the Board for a second term, which will expire at the Annual General Meeting 2022.

Mandla Msimang

Mandlesilo ("Mandla") Msimang is a regulatory expert and entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector. Mandla has worked in the ICT sector in South Africa and across the continent. She established and ran pan-African ICT advisory firm, Pygma Consulting, for 11 years prior to joining Nozala Investments, where she is currently the Chief Executive Officer.

Mandla has been involved in the regulation of the ICT sector since 1998, when she joined the South African Telecommunications regulatory Authority (now the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa, ICASA) as the Advisor to the Deputy Chairperson of the newly established Council. During Mandla's time at ICASA (which coincided with the liberalization of the telecoms sector), she fulfilled various roles. She was the Head of the Policy and Analysis Department, responsible for universal service, economic regulation, and competition matters, when she left in 2003. At ICASA, she worked on key projects, which included the licensing of the third mobile operator, and dealt with the policy issues related to the licensing of Internet Service Providers and the introduction of the converged regulatory regime that would later govern them. Mandla also gained an understanding of a number of African markets by collaborating with regulators in the region, initially through the Communications Regulators' Association of Southern Africa (CRASA), and later as clients of Pygma Consulting.

In addition to her public sector experience, Mandla has held senior and executive management positions with a mobile operator in South Africa and a Pan African mobile broadband operator, where she gained experience on the other side of the regulatory equation dealing with regulatory and competition matters. As Managing Director of Pygma Consulting, she used her significant ICT and infrastructure sector insight and experience to assist public and private sector clients, including both established and startup mobile and broadband operators in the rest of Africa. Her roles have included strategy, operations, and policy and regulatory advice.

Mandla has worked at a global level. She has been appointed as a Regional Expert / International Expert by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) on numerous occasions, working primarily on issues relating to broadband policy, universal service and access, and ICT accessibility for persons with disabilities. She was the primary author of the ITU/ G3ict Model ICT Accessibility Policy as well as a key contributor to the South African Development Community (SADC) Toolkit on Universal Access Funding and Universal Service.

Currently, Mandla is the CEO of Nozala Investments, a Johannesburg-based women owned private equity firm. At Nozala, she is responsible for managing a portfolio that includes listed and unlisted assets across a number of sectors, including minerals and resources, and industrial and consumer services. Mandla sits on the board of directors of several of Nozala's investee companies including Divitech, a technology startup, and Lanseria International Airport. She also sits on the Board of the South African Communications Forum.

Mandla holds an MSc Regulation (Utilities) from the London School of Economics, and a Bachelor of Arts from Cornell University.

Ihab Osman

Ihab I. Osman is a multicultural business leader, senior executive, and board director with more than 25 years of successes and failures in starting, acquiring, building, transforming, growing, restructuring, turnaround, exiting, and dissolving public and private corporations and nonprofit organizations in the U.S., Africa, and Middle East.

Ihab is the Chair & President of the U.S.-Sudan Business Council in Washington and was previously the President and Chief Executive Officer of Sudatel Telecom Group, with operations in five different African countries, and a TMT Private Equity Senior Advisor based in the Middle East. Before moving to the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region, Ihab was with GE and IBM in New York and spent seven years with Verizon Communications in Atlanta, Dallas, and Seattle.

Ihab has extensive board experience with both publicly listed and private corporations, mostly in the telecom and technology sector, as well as a number of nonprofit organizations in many parts of the world. He also founded the Impact Hub Khartoum.

Ihab holds a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University, a Master of Business Administration from Oxford University, and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the New York Institute of Technology. He has lived in six countries and traveled to more than 100.

Lise Fuhr

Lise Fuhr, Director General, European Telecommunications Network Operators' Association (ETNO)

Lise has been ETNO's Director General since January 2016. At ETNO, she leads and oversees all activities and is the main external representative of the Association. On behalf of the Association, she is also a Board and an Administrative Committee member in the European Cybersecurity Organisation (ECSO). Lise has also been reappointed to the Internet Society Public Interest Registry Board of Directors for a three-year term as of May 2019.

Prior to joining ETNO, she was the Chief Operating Officer of DK Hostmaster and Danish Internet Forum (DIFO), the company managing the .dk domain name. In the period between September 2014 and December 2015, she also chaired the Cross Community Working Group for the IANA Stewardship Transition, building on her strong network within the Internet community. Lise has more than 20 years of experience in the telecoms industry. She started her career at the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (1996-2000) where she wrote and implemented regulation for the telecommunication markets. Lise worked for telecoms operator Telia Networks (2000-2009), where she led various teams dealing with issues as diverse as interconnection agreements, mobile services, and industry cooperation.

Thomas (Tom) Dale

Tom is an independent consultant with extensive experience in Internet governance and public policy. He has served in senior Australian government positions dealing with Internet and information and communication technologies (ICT) policy and regulation at the national and multilateral level, which included representing Australia in ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) and in the work of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), International Telecommunications Union (ITU), and Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). From 2013 to 2018, Tom managed independent secretariat policy and support functions to the GAC. He has been an active participant in the ICANN community since 2001. Tom has also worked on consulting projects with the Australian Continuous Improvement Group, dealing with government media and telecommunications programs. He is based in Canberra, Australia.

Carlton Samuels

Carlton works principally as an international consultant focused on matters pertaining to technology in development in the areas of information and communication technologies (ICT) policy development, technology strategy, regulation, business process development, re-engineering, and ICTs in education.

Carlton has an extensive portfolio of volunteer work in the areas of Information and Communications Technologies for Development (ICT4D), public policy for technology matters, Internet governance, and education management. His volunteer work portfolio in Names and Numbers policy matters includes inaugural Secretariat for the Latin American and Caribbean Islands Regional At-Large Organisation (LACRALO), two terms on ICANN's At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) and as its elected Vice Chair, Chair of the At-Large Working Group for WHOIS, Co-Chair of the Cross-Community chartered Applicant Support Working Group, and Co-Chair of At-Large Registration Issues Working Group. These were paired with service on numerous ICANN Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) policy development working groups and implementation review teams. Carlton has served as a member of the ICANN Board-appointed Strategy Panel on ICANN's Role in Internet Governance Ecosystem and the Expert Working Group (EWG) on Next Generation Registration Data Services. He also served as a member of two Review Teams: Competition, Consumer Trust and Consumer Choice and the Registration Data Services [WHOIS2].

Dr. Abdulkarim Oloyede

Dr. Abdulkarim Oloyede is currently a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Telecommunication Science at the University of Ilorin, Nigeria and a Post-Doctoral Researcher in Telecommunications at the University of York, UK. He is also the Head of the Radio and TV unit of the Kwara State University, Chair of the Board of Directors for the Aspire group of schools and a member of the Board of Directors of the welfare microfinance bank in Nigeria.

Abdulkarim has published over 50 academic papers in the field of Telecommunication and related fields in reputable journal and conferences around the world. He is also currently a holder of the prestigious Rutherford Commonwealth fellowship, carrying out research on Cost-Effective Telecommunication Deployment for Developing Countries. This research is mainly focused on Africa and aims to examine the cost of different technologies for cost-effective deployment of such technology (in rural Africa in particular). Abdulkarim is also currently the Co-Chair for the Policy Development Working Group (PDWG) of African Network Information Center (AFRINIC). He represents Nigeria at various meetings of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and is now the Vice-Chairman representing Africa on the ITU-D Telecommunication Development Advisory Group (TDAG). He is also a Vice Rapporteur for the ITU study question 5/2 for the 2018-2022 study cycle, a member of the Root Server System Advisory Committee (RSSAC) Caucus, and the Co-Chair for the African Regional At-Large Organization (AFRALO) Hot Topic working group. He was an ICANN fellow at ICANN61 and an ISOC fellow at the IETF 101 and ITU Plenipotentiary 2018 conference. He was also appointed as a member of the Implementation Committee for the ICT University of Nigeria by the Nigerian government in 2017, and has also previously served on the Vice-Chancellor selection and appointment panel for The University of York, UK, and University of Lagos, Nigeria.

Justine Chew

Justine Chew is an Advocate & Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya, practicing mainly in the areas of commercial dispute resolution and corporate advisory. She has practiced in Malaysia since 2011. Prior to legal practice, Justine was with the Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP), joining the then premier multistakeholder network in the area of information and communication technologies (ICT) for development in 2006. Thereafter, she went on to head various portfolios for the Network, including Membership and Partnership, Communication and Technology, and briefly, Programmes. She eventually became GKP's Deputy Executive Director in 2008 and assumed management oversight for the Network's Secretariat in Kuala Lumpur.

Justine's involvement with ICANN began through her service on the ICANN At-Large new gTLD Review Group in 2012, and continues to this day through active engagement in several past and present Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) policy development process (PDP) working groups, including the GNSO New gTLD Subsequent Procedures Policy Development Process (PDP) Working Group. Justine's contributions to the At-Large community since becoming an individual unaffiliated member of the Asian, Australasian and Pacific Islands Regional At-Large Organization (APRALO) in 2017 have gained her steady recognition as an At-Large policy advocate and regional leader, strengthened by her selection by the Nominating Committee for appointment as the At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) Representative for the Asian, Australasian and Pacific Islands region.

Justine is also a Council Member of Badan Warisan Malaysia (The Heritage of Malaysia Trust) as well a member of its Board of Directors, and maintains memberships to the Malaysian Bar, the Malaysian Institute of Management (MIM), and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).

Carlos Raul Gutierrez

Carlos Raul Gutierrez studied economics in Germany and the U.S. and has an extensive professional network. He advises on international regulatory standards and policy development in Telecoms, Spectrum & Internet Addressing Resources in the public-private interface, with an emphasis in competition.

Gutierrez served as Telecom Commissioner at SUTEL in Costa Rica from 2009 - 2013. There, he was instrumental in the design and execution of the first spectrum auction in the 800, 1´800 and 2´100 MHz Bands for mobile wireless services in 2010, the design and implementation of the trust Fund for Universal Broadband Access in 2011-2012, the standard search, choice, and project design of the digital TV implementation, and the was a member of the COMTELCA working group on regional regulation for carriers of carriers. He served as Chair of the group of Latin American and Caribbean Telecom Regulators, REGULATEL, from 2012-2013.

Gutierrez negotiated and signed MoUs on training and information exchange, which were negotiated with European (BEREC), U.S. American (FCC), and Caribbean CTU regulators, Latin American Competition Authorities, and ICANN.

He is Co-Founder of the local ISOC Chapter that joined ICANN's Latin American and Caribbean Islands Regional At-Large Organization (LACRALO) as an At-Large Structure (ALS) in 2011 and Not-for-Profit Operational Concerns (NPOC) in 2014.

Gutierrez was Costa Rica's representative to ICANN's Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) during the evaluation and delegation of new Top-Level Domains (Domain Name System - DNS expansion 2012-2014), LACRALO member, NPOC member and Councilor to ICANN's Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) (2014 - to date).

He is a member of two of ICANN's External Reviews/Reports as part of its accountability framework: The Second Accountability Review (ATRT2 - 2014) and the First Competition Review (CCT - 2016-18). He served as Co-Chair of the Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO)-GNSO Cross Community Working Group (CWG) on Geographic Names at the top level. Since 2014, Gutierrez has been Councilor to ICANN's GNSO Council. He was elected as Policy Chair for the NPOC for 2019-2020 and was a Guest Lecturer at the 44th, 45th, and 46th PURC/World Bank International Training Program on Utility Regulation and Strategy from 2018-2019 at the Warrington School of Business at University of Florida.

He earned his Master's degree in Economics from the Hamburg University in 1983 (Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Fellow) and his Master's Degree in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University (Fulbright Fellow) in 1988. Gutierrez holds dual Costa Rican and Swiss citizenship.

Marie-Noémie Marques

Marie-Noémie is currently responsible for Internet Governance issues at the Orange Group. She has been involved in the Internet Governance Forum at global and regional levels, and at ICANN meetings since 2016. She is also tasked with handling trade negotiations in dealing with corresponding regulatory issues, with a particular focus on the digital economy and its current challenges.

Marie-Noémie has over twenty-five years of experience in dealing with regulatory electronic communication issues that involve a variety of stakeholders. She has contributed to the elaboration on a number of policy matters relating to the digital environment at Orange, France Telecom and Wanadoo.

Since 2016, Marie-Noémie has been a member of the ISPs and Connectivity Providers Constituency Constituency (ISPCP). She has also contributed to discussions in the Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability (CCWG Accountability) - Diversity Sub-Group. She has a diploma in Science and Techniques of Information and Communication, an advanced study degree in Spanish, and a PhD in the History of International Relations from La Sorbonne University, Paris.