At-Large Advisory Committee Announces New Members and At-Large GNSO Liaison

ICANN’s Board of Directors appointed Annette Muehlberg from Germany and John Levine from the U.S.A to ICANN's Interim At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) to fill European and North American region vacancies. Concurrently, the ALAC appointed Bret Fausett as the At-Large liaison to the GNSO Council.

The ALAC recommended that the Board appoint Muehlberg and Levine after undertaking a lengthy process of calling for volunteers and considering candidates. The ALAC solicited volunteers and public input, reviewed volunteers’ backgrounds and statements of interest, conducted due diligence, selected finalists for additional questioning and, after extensive deliberations, selected the recommended candidates.

After careful consideration of potential candidates for At-Large liaison to the GNSO Council, including the skills and experience needed to fill At-Large’s most critical policy position, the ALAC selected Fausett as the best candidate to serve as the At-Large liaison to the GNSO Council.

Muehlberg and Levine replace Thomas Roessler and Esther Dyson, two original members of the ALAC who were appointed by the Board in 2003. Roessler and Dyson announced in November 2004 that they were resigning from the ALAC (effective upon the appointment of their replacements) to pursue other endeavors. Roessler also served as the At-Large liaison to the GNSO Council and was replaced by Fausett in this position.

The Board unanimously approved a resolution appointing Muehlberg and Levine to the ALAC and thanking Roessler and Dyson for their service to ICANN through their membership on the ALAC. The ALAC joins the Board in thanking Roessler and Dyson and commending them for their outstanding contributions to ICANN and the At-Large community.

Muehlberg brings to the ALAC extensive experience with European and international civil society groups on a range of Internet issues. In the past decade, as the head of the Department of eGovernment and Modernization at the United Services Union, and as an elected civil society representative for the WSIS, she has worked on e-government, e-democracy, and information technology and public infrastructure initiatives with unions, technical organizations, governments and numerous user and consumer groups. She co-authored “Charter of Civil Rights for a Sustainable Knowledge Society,” and serves as a board member of MEDIA@Komm-Transfer and Network New Media.

Levine’s technical background, his writing and public speaking, and his broad user experience will benefit the ALAC and the At-Large community. He has interacted with a broad range of Internet users and, as an author of Internet books (including nine editions of “Internet for Dummies”), he has extensive experience communicating and working with a broad range of Internet users. He has been active in DNS issues since 1996 (most recently involving spam), and is currently participating in the IETF. He has a PhD. in computer science, and also is a small scale domain reseller.

Bret Fausett has been working with the ICANN community and contributing to ICANN (including the GNSO and At-Large activities) since its inception. With an end-user orientation, he helped develop a proposed structure for the DNSO (GNSO’s predecessor), served on GSNO policy task forces, and on the first ICANN Nominating Committee as an At-Large delegate. Since 2000, he has published an icann-focused weblog (http://blog.lextext.com/) in which he shares information and perspectives on ICANN’s work. Fausett is a partner with the law firm of Hancock, Rothert & Bunshoft, LLP (http://www.hrblaw.com), resident in the firm's Los Angeles office, with a practice focused on business litigation and Internet and technology law.

These individuals compliment the skills and backgrounds of the other ALAC members: (appointed by the Board on 20 January 2003) Pierre Dandjinou (Benin); Clement Dzidonu (Ghana); Izumi Aizu (Japan); Xue Hong (China); Vittorio Bertola (Italy); Erick Iriarte Ahon (Peru); Sebastián J. Ricciardi (Argentina); Wendy Seltzer (United States); and (appointed by the Nominating Committee with terms ending at the Annual Meeting in 2005) Sunday Folayan (Nigeria); Tommy Matsumoto (Japan); and Tadao Takahashi (Brazil); and (appointed by the Nominating Committee with terms ending at the Annual Meeting in 2006) Roberto Gaetano (Italy); and Jean Armour Polly (United States).

Since Regional At-Large Organizations (RALOs), which will be responsible for selecting two members of the ALAC for each region, have not yet been formed in North America or Europe, the Board is responsible for filling these ALAC vacancies.

More information on the ALAC and its members is posted on the At-Large website.

Questions regarding this announcement should be emailed to committee@alac.icann.org.