ICANN meeting, Prague, June 25 to 28

01-08-2012

In Prague, Fadi Chehade introduced himself as the organisation’s new CEO, while the Intellectual Property Constituency took a look at IP issues around new gTLDs.

Fadi Chehade, a former general manager at IBM and chief executive officer of various technology companies, used his welcome speech to set out his priorities. He praised the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) for its generosity, and highlighted the role of the Internet in the Arab Spring. “It is the greatest public gift,” he said.

Chehade, who replaces Rod Beckstrom as CEO, promised that he would “build consensus”. “Inclusion starts by stepping out of the organisation and looking at it from the outside, not being inside and seeing everything our way,” he said.

He highlighted two particular areas which ICANN needs to focus on. “ICANN is an international organisation and we must strive to make it international,” he said, emphasising that international is not just a buzzword but should mean real engagement with stakeholders from around the world.


ICANN, Prague, gTLDs, Fadi Chehade

WIPR