The Internet's Policymakers

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, has a 15-member board of directors that has final say in all of the organization's decisions (there are currently two vacancies). Originally, the governance body was to consist of nine internally selected members and nine "at-large" members representing the Internet public. ICANN later underwent a large reform process that eliminated direct public representation -- and several seats -- from the board. Several of the people listed here are liaisons from ICANN advisory committees and do not have voting rights. They are not counted among the 15 board members. (www.icann.org)

Vinton Cerf, Chairman, United States: Dubbed the "Father of the Internet" for his work in developing early Internet technologies with the U.S. Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Cerf was President of the Internet Society from 1992 to 1995. In 1999 Cerf was selected by one of ICANN's three internal "supporting organizations" to serve on the ICANN board. Cerf was re-appointed in 2001. (Background | Post Profile.)

Alejandro Pisanty, Vice Chairman, Mexico: Pisanty is the Director of Computing Academic Services at the University of Mexico in Mexico City. He was selected by an ICANN supporting organization. (Background.)

Paul Twomey, Australia:Twomey is the president and chief executive of ICANN. He is the founder of Argo Pacific, an IT consulting firm. He is the former chief executive of Australia's National Office for the Information Economy and the government's special adviser for the Information Economy and Technology. (Background)

Ivan Moura Campos, Brazil: Campos has served on Brazil's National Research Council and Secretary of Science and Technology for the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. He was elected in 2000 to represent South American Internet users on the ICANN board. (Background.)

Lyman Chapin, United States: Chapin is Chief Scientist at NextHop Technologies, a software company. He was selected by an ICANN supporting organization. (Background.)

Steve Crocker, United States: A non-voting member of ICANN's board, Crocker is the head of ICANN's Security and Stability Advisory Committee. He is one of the developers of the protocols that ran the Internet's predecessor, Arpanet. He is the co-founder of CyberCash Inc. and Longitude Systems Inc. (Background.)

Mouhamet Diop, Senegal: Diop is the chief executive of Next SA, a Senegalese consulting company. He formerly worked for the country's national telecommunications company and, according to ICANN's Web site, was responsible for building the biggest IP-based network in West Africa. He also is permanent secretary of the Internet Society's Senegal Chapter and Telecom Society. (Background)

Tricia Drakes, United Kingdom: Drakes is the chairman of ISOC England. She is the director of the University of Surrey Seed Fund and formerly served as controller and company secretary for Italian International Bank plc. (Background)

Roberto Gaetano, Austria: Originally from Italy, Gaetano spent 12 years at IBM. He also joined the ICANN domain policy process a year before ICANN was founded. He is a representative of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute and serves as the liaison for ICANN's At-Large Advisory Committee. (Background)

Hagen Hultzsch, Germany: Hultzsch was a member of Deutsche Telekom's management board where he was responsible for research and development, information technology and quality. He also worked for Volkswagen, Electronic Data Systems and German research organization GSI. (Background)

John C. Klensin, United States: Klensin is an independent technology consultant. He formerly was a distinguished fellow at WorldCom and a scientist at MIT. He also was chairman of the Internet Architecture Board from 2000 to 2002. He is liaison to ICANN from the Internet Engineering Task Force. (Background)

Veni Markovski, Bulgaria: The founder of Bulgaria's second Internet service provider, Markovski is now the chairman of the country's information technology advisory committee. He also is a member of the Civil Society Bureau to the World Summit on the Information Society, a unit of the United Nations's International Telecommunications Union. (Background)

Tom Niles, United States: Niles is a 36-year veteran of the U.S. Foreign Service. He has served as U.S. ambassador to Canada, Greece and the European Union. He now is the president of the United States Council for International Business. (Background)

Michael Palage, United States: Palage is an intellectual property attorney and former chairman of the ICANN Registrar Constituency. (Background)

Hulan Qian, China: A 30-year veteran of the computer industry, Qian's other standout is developing China's dot-cn international domain. He is the chief engineer of the Computer Network Information Center at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. (Background)

Njeri Rionge, Kenya: Rionge is founder of Wananchi Online Ltd., a Kenyan Internet service provider. Rionge is a member of Kenya Internet Society and several other high-tech and African business and trade groups, as well as the Organization of Women in International Trade. (Background)

Francisco da Silva, Portugal: Da Silva is senior counsel at Portugal Telecom and a member of several European-wide telecommunications groups. He is liaison to ICANN from its Technical Liaison Group. (Background)

Mohamed Sharil Tarmizi:No biographical information available.

-- Compiled by washingtonpost.com's David McGuire