Goran Marby, the director-general of the Swedish Post and Telecom authority, was named the next president and CEO of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Marby will succeed existing president and CEO Fadi Chehade whose term finishes on 15 March.
Besides acting as director Sweden's telecom authority, Marby was a technology CEO and start-up founder. PTS said Marby has handed his request to be relieved from his role at PTS to the Swedish government. Marby will join ICANN in May and relocate to one of the organisation's three global hubs in Los Angeles. Until he takes up the job, Akram Atallah, President of ICANN's Global Domains Division will serve as acting CEO.
Prior to joining PTS Marby co-founded AppGate Network Security, a security software company where he served as CEO from 2002 to 2009. He previously worked as CEO of Cygate, a network services company; Country Manager for Cisco in Sweden and as CEO of Unisource Business Networks in Sweden.
Marby's appointment comes at a crucial point in the governance of ICANN, as the US prepares to hand over management of the web names and numbering system to an independent body. ICANN released in January a staff report and summary of public comments on its proposed new governance structure and hopes to finalise the new organisation at a meeting in early March in Morocco. The aim is to transition to the new system by September, when the current US contract expires.
