The Structure of the GNSO Council
The 21 members of the Council govern policy development in the GNSO. Stakeholder Groups appoint 18 of its members. For voting purposes, the Council has two houses, like the US Congress or the British Parliament.
The Contracted Parties House (CPH) holds the Registries and Registrars Stakeholder Groups, while the Non-Contracted Parties House (NCPH) holds the Commercial and Non-Commercial Stakeholder Groups.
ICANN's Nominating Committee appoints three Council members, two of which are voting members assigned to each House. The third appointee is an advisor to the Council as a whole.
The Council also includes formally appointed but non-voting Liaisons and Observers from other groups within ICANN. This elaborate system provides checks and balances so no single interest group can dominate the Council.
GNSO Council Leadership | |||
Greg DiBiase Vice-Chair, CPH – NA (AGM 2023) | Sebastien Ducos Chair – AAPAC (AGM 2023) *** | John McElwaine Vice-Chair, NCPH – NA (AGM 2023) | |
Contracted Party House {6+1} | Non-Contracted Party House {12+1} | ||
Registries
Kurt Pritz NA Sebastien Ducos AAPAC Nacho Amadoz EU | Registrars
Antonia Chu AAPAC Greg DiBiase NA Theo Geurts EU | Commercial
Marie Pattullo EU Mark Datysgeld LAC Intellectual Property Interests John McElwaine NA Susan Payne EU Internet Service and Connection Providers Osvaldo Novoa LAC Thomas Rickert EU | Non-Commercial
Wisdom Donkor AF Stephanie Perrin NA Manju Chen AAPAC Bruna Martins dos Santos LAC Farell Folly AF Tomslin Samme-Nlar AAPAC |
GNSO Council NomCom Appointees | |||
Desiree Miloshevic NCA CPH- EU (AGM 2025) | Anne Aikman Scalese NCA, non-voting – NA (AGM 2024)* | Paul McGrady NCA NCPH – NA (AGM 2025) |
GNSO Council Liaisons/Observers | |||
Everton T. Rodrigues ccNSO liaison – LAC** | Jeffrey Neuman GNSO Liaison to the GAC – NA** | Justine Chew ALAC Liaison – AAPAC ** |
1 Completed Darcy Southwell's term, started own term AGM 2021
2 Completed Philip Corwin's term, started own term AGM 2019
3 Completed a one-year term 2020 – 2021, started two-year term AGM 2021
Legend
{} Voting
[] Non-Voting
* Non-Voting Liaison – Counted as a Member
** Observer – Not Counted as a Member
*** The GNSO Council Chair is elected for a one year term
AGM = Annual General Meeting
Regions
- AF = Africa
- NA = North America
- EU = Europe
- LAC = Latin America/Caribbean
- AAPAC = Asia/Australia/Pacific