New ICANN President and CEO Göran Marby of Sweden, Starts May 2016

But troubling reports indicate his temperament and leadership style are incompatible with ICANN's collaborative, multi-stakeholder approach to internet governance--

Göran Marby, new ICANN CEO (ICANN photo)

UPDATE: According to Wikipedia (English translation): Göran Marby - Wikipedia: "In June 2015 representatives of several telecom operators addressed extensive criticism of the way Göran Marby leads PTS, which meant that he drives authority in an unprofessional manner and autocratically. He reportedly has also acted inappropriately and threatening towards both employees and the representatives of the telecommunications industry and journalists." Reference: June 10, 2015: Sharp criticism of the Swedish Post and Telecom Agency's Director General - News (echo) | Sweden's Radio: " The Swedish telecommunications industry expressed a huge dissatisfaction with the Director General of Post and Telecom Agency, Goran Marby. Many believe that he runs authority in an unprofessional manner. The sources also say that Marby even acted menacingly in different situations... One case involves journalist Mats Sjödin , which monitors the telecommunications industry ...  'He came up to me and grabbed my shoulder, and said that "you can not ask me about my staff, because then I can be very aggressive. I can be really aggressive," and so he pushed me on the shoulder.'- I took great offense ... It was a direct threat, and that was additionally physical, says Mats Sjödin. The echo has for several weeks been trying to get an interview with Göran Marby, but he declined to respond to criticism and accusations. Yesterday, outside the Ministry of Industry, we met him briefly. But he answered with silence. After several minutes to respond to questions with silence he disappears behind the guard at the ministry... Bahnhof CEO Jon Karlung requires that the PTS Director General resigns and says that he has created a climate in which no one in the industry dares to criticize ..." (English translation)
--end of UPDATE--

ICANN  announced February 8, 2016, its new President and CEO to replace Fadi Chehade: "Göran Marby an experienced business executive and government leader has been named the next President and Chief Executive Officer of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

""I'm delighted to announce Göran as the new head of ICANN," said Dr. Stephen Crocker, Chair of the ICANN Board of Directors. "His leadership experience as a technology CEO and start up founder as well as his current experience as Director-General of the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority will be invaluable as ICANN moves towards the next chapter in its history. We conducted an extensive, global search and Göran impressed us all throughout with his shared values, operational experience and understanding of the Internet ecosystem. I'm looking forward to working with him and what I know will be his substantial contribution to ICANN and to helping ensure a stable, secure and unified global Internet."

"Marby is a Swedish citizen, currently living in Stockholm. He and his family will be relocating to Los Angeles, California the location of one of ICANN's three global hubs.

""I am very excited to be joining ICANN and joining at the start of a new era for the organization and the community," said Marby. "While I know there is much for me to learn, I am eager to work with ICANN's multistakeholder community to continue all the good work that ICANN has been doing and am very committed to implementing the community's decisions – both with respect to the IANA Stewardship Transition, but also in the myriad important areas of ICANN policy development as it fulfills its mission."

"Marby will succeed current President and CEO Fadi Chehadé whose term finishes on March 15, 2016. Marby will join ICANN in May 2016. During this time, Akram Atallah, President of ICANN's Global Domains Division will serve as acting CEO. "I am very grateful to Akram for agreeing to step into this role and providing the continuity and leadership ICANN needs at such an important time," said Dr Crocker.

"Göran Marby has more than 20 years of experience in the Internet and technology sectors. Prior to joining PTS he co-founded AppGate Network Security AB a security software company where he served as CEO between 2002 and 2009 with a focus on international customers and operations. He has held several other leadership roles in the Internet and technology sectors including as CEO of Cygate a network services company, Country Manager for Cisco in Sweden and as CEO of Unisource Business Networks in Sweden. Marby holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Gothenburg School Economics." source: ICANN press release (emphasis added)

According to his biography posted on ICANN.org:

Göran Marby brings over 20 years experience as a senior executive in the Internet and technology sector, as well as his leadership as Director General at the independent regulatory body Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (PST), where he worked closely with international organizations and standards bodies.

Prior to this, he served as CEO and founder of Appgate, a Swedish security software company (now Cryptzone in the U.S), where he grew the organization to a global company with customers in 35 countries and operations in the U.S.

Before his seven years at Appgate, he was CEO for the advanced networks company Cygate Group (now owned by TeliaSonera) where he spearheaded operations in five countries with revenues in the range of 120 million euros. And as Country Manager for Cisco in Sweden, Marby led sales of all products and services.

He currently serves on several Boards including: The Swedish Broadband Forum, The Swedish E-identification Board and the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC).

Marby, age 53, holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance from the University of Gothenburg, School of Business, Economics and Law, and is married with three kids. He is fluent in English and Swedish and is a Swedish national.


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DISCLAIMER

The Internet: Who runs it, What is it, Where is it?

Vox has some great articles and series about the Internet and related topics:

Who runs the internet? - Everything you need to know about the internet - Vox: Who runs the internet?
"No one runs the internet. It’s organized as a decentralized network of networks. Thousands of companies, universities, governments, and other entities operate their own networks and exchange traffic with each other based on voluntary interconnection agreements.The shared technical standards that make the internet work are managed by an organization called the Internet Engineering Task Force. The IETF is an open organization; anyone is free to attend meetings, propose new standards, and recommend changes to existing standards. No one is required to adopt standards endorsed by the IETF, but the IETF’s consensus-based decision-making process helps to ensure that its recommendations are generally adopted by the internet community. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is sometimes described as being responsible for internet governance. As its name implies, ICANN is in charge of distributing domain names (like vox.com) and IP addresses. But ICANN doesn’t control who can connect to the internet or what kind of information can be sent over it." (read more at link above)

More Vox articles:

What is the internet? - Everything you need to know about the internet - Vox

Where is the internet? - Everything you need to know about the internet - Vox

Beyond net neutrality: The new battle for the future of the internet - Vox

40 maps that explain the internet (Vox)

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New gTLD domain names, exorbitant prices, ICANN Incompetence

From the ICANN "you can't make this stuff up" department --

Takeaways From Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) 49 in Singapore | The National Law Review: "ICANN used the term "technical glitch" to excuse its delays in publication of TLD startup data cutting into the 30 days' notice that brand owners are supposed to receive prior to each new gTLD launch. In addition, the ICANN Contractual Compliance Department expressed an inability to take any remedial action against new gTLD applicants advertising exorbitant domain name prices to vitiate sunrise protections or pre-registration programs that sidestep fulsome trademark claims notices. Such practices are best evidenced by Vox Populi Registry Inc., an applicant for the .SUCKS gTLD, which plans to charge $25,000 for each premium sunrise registration."


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ICANN, failure to be responsive, how an organization self-destructs

ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, is a California nonprofit organization formed on September 30,1998, that coordinates the Internet's global domain name system, under authority granted to it by the United States government. But the US government failed to exercise any real oversight of ICANN from the beginning, and ICANN was not accountable to anyone but its own insular board of directors. Now that the US role in internet governance is soon coming to an end, what will happen to ICANN? ICANN was never responsive to anyone other than its own insiders and special interests, ICANN failed to listen to objections over .xxx and the mindless expansion of generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) -- read the report to the US Congress discussed at the link below which you can read here (pdf) --

expVC | expvc.com | domain name news: CRS Report To Congress On Internet Governance: ".... ICANN's actions in regard to the .xxx top-level domain and gTLD expansion led governments to argue for increased governmental influence on ICANN in light of ICANN's failure to be responsive to the concerns that were raised in regard to both initiatives...."

ICANN was warned. But when you have the US government giving you cover and immunity, it is very easy to be unaccountable, and unresponsive.


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