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Current Professional Activities

In 2007 I ended a 7-year span of employment with Internews Network, working in the area of Internet and ICT policy, with direct application in field projects in about 20 developing countries. The objective of these initiatives was to assist countries in redefining and evolving their policy environment — their legal system, their regulatory structure, and related policies — so that the benefits of the Internet, as well those deriving from related ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies) can be more rapidly and more fully realized by all sectors of society. 

Since then, I have been involved for the most part with both the Internet Governance Forum series established in 2006 and with ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. I'm also involved in networking efforts in my region of Vermont and for my town, Woodstock. I am nearing the end of my third three year term as a member of the Board of Directors of ICANN. My involvement in IGF and in ICANN have been fulfilling and have continued my involvement with the evolution and spread of the Internet for development. I have also been a consultant for the Web Foundation during this time, and I have completed authoring and editing a book for them, Accelerating Development Using the Web: Empowering Poor and Marginalized Populations. I recently completed a paper on estimating the costs of spam incurred by Mail Service Providers for M3AAWG (Messaging Malware Mobile Anti-Abuse Working Group).

In addition, I involve myself in a variety of consulting assignments, and am looking from time to time for new and interesting projects. I look for activities that meet the following criteria:

  • Are the objectives of the activity worthwhile?
  • Are there good people with whom I will be working?
  • Is the compensation — psychic, monetary, or the combination — adequate?
  • Is it enjoyable? Will it be fun?
  • Will I have a role where I will provide unique added value and have an influence over decisions?

I expect to continue to maintain an active involvement with my profession, engaging in a mix of entrepreneurial activity and pro bono contributions. These activities rest on a base of computing, networking, and communications technologies and are relevant for education and for economic and social development.

I remain committed to helping to spread the Internet to and within developing countries and developing regions of the world and helping people to exploit it, thereby improving education, government, health practice and services, and opportunities for local entrepreneurship activity. This blend of activities continues the work in developing countries that I've been involved in more or less continuously since 1973. (A partial list of those activities in countries appears under the "Countries' tab.)

My current and recent professional involvement includes the following activities:

  • Member, Board of Trustees, Internet Society, 2020-2023. Chair, Nominating Committee, Member, Finance, Governance and PIR Board Committees
  • Member, Subsequent Procedures Working Group, ICANN
  • Member, proposal review group for European Commission initiative, the Next Generation Internet (NGI)
  • Reviewer ISOC Beyond the Net proposals, Internet Society, 2020
  • Expert witness in domain name industry arbitration case (.web)
  • Member, Board of Directors, ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), 2009-2018
  • Member, Internet Hall of Fame and member, Selection Committee for new inductees
  • Member, Advisory Board, European Quantum Internet Alliance, Technical University of Delft, Netherlands
  • Member, Advisory Group, Fuxi Institute, Beijing, China
  • Session organizer, IGF-USA virtual conferences
  • Chair, Internet Collaboration Group
  • Member, ISOC Washington DC Chapter Executive Council, The Internet Society
  • IEF Fellow and discussion leader, State of the Net 2016 Conference, Washington DC, January 19, 2016
  • Member, Governing Board and Executive Committee, ECFiber (East Central Vermont Fiber Initiative, 2013-2019
  • Founding member, Woodstock Internet Caucus
  • NATO Project Co-Director, ""Extending the Tajik NREN (National Education and Research Network) into the Regions," 2010-2017
  • Consultant, World Wide Web Foundation program on use of the mobile web for society, and author/editor, Accelerating Development Using the Web: Empowering Poor and Marginalized Populations
  • Senior Advisor on Global Internet Policy, Center for Democracy and Technology
  • Member of the Association for Computing Machinery and the Internet Society.
  • Reviewer for project and fellowship proposals for various organization
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