[council] GNSO Staff Support

["Denise Michel" <denise.michel@xxxxxxxxx>]

 I am pleased to announce that Marika Konings has joined ICANN's Policy
Department as a Policy Director.  Marika will be managing policy development
activities in support of the GNSO. Initially, she will be picking up
responsibility for policy development work on inter-registrar domain name
transfers and fast-flux hosting and will be managing other GNSO policy
issues as they arise. Olof Nordling has been promoted to Director, Services
Relations, reporting to Kurt Pritz, Senior VP, Services.  He is
transitioning from support for the GNSO to support for ICANN's
implementation efforts, including implementation of new gTLD and IDN-related
policy, and will be helping Marika get up to speed on GNSO support.  Marika
is based in ICANN'S Brussels office and reports to me.  She can be reached
at marika.konings@xxxxxxxxx.

Marika has an extensive background in Internet policy issues including
cyber-security, Internet privacy and other technology policy issues. Most
recently she was Director of European Affairs for the Cyber Security
Industry Alliance, an organization of security companies focused on
promoting information security, online privacy and consumer protection
policies in Washington and with the European Commission.  As director of the
European office, Marika represented the policy interests of cyber-security
companies with the Commission and other European Union institutions.
 Previously, Marika spent seven years as senior consultant for Interel
Public Affairs, a Brussels-based public affairs consultancy, where she
represented health care and technology clients.

Marika is a Dutch national, mother of two, and has a degree from the
University of Maastricht, the Netherlands, in Culture and Sciences and a
Master's Degree in European Political and Administrative Studies from the
College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium. In addition to Dutch and English,
Marika speaks Spanish, German, and better French than she admits.

Please join me in welcoming Marika to ICANN and congratulating Olof on his
new responsibilities.

Regards,
Denise