Rod Beckstrom, ICANN’s President and CEO, is to step down from his position after his three-year term with the nonprofit organization. The term expires on 1 July 2012 and the parties do not plan to extend it.
Rod Beckstrom has held his position since 1 July 2009 and under his leadership the organization has demonstrated various notable accomplishments. For example, in 2009 the ICANN negotiated and signed the Affirmation of Commitments, an agreement with the US Government, which allowed ICANN to obtain a multinational status and solidify its independence of other organizations, including government ones. Also, during Rod Beckstrom’s term in office ICANN implemented DNSSEC, the DNS security technology. The launch of the first internationalized domain names proved ICANN’s another notable accomplishment under Beckstrom’s watch. A program to launch new generic top-level domains was also implemented under the watchful eye of the current ICANN’s President and CEO.
“I am incredibly proud of ICANN’s achievements throughout my tenure,” said Beckstrom. “In two short years we have advanced this organization to a new level of professionalism and productivity, and turned it into a genuinely multinational organization that will serve the world community long after my time here.”
Steve Crocker, Chair of ICANN’s Board of Directors, noted that the Board of Directors fully supported Rod Beckstrom through all his plans and was committed to continuing the collaboration that had produced so many benefits for ICANN and for the global Internet.
