[council] Rod Beckstrom to leave ICANN at the end of his term

["Bruce Tonkin" <Bruce.Tonkin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello All,

From:  http://www.icann.org/en/news/releases/release-16aug11-en.pdf

August 16, 2011

BECKSTROM TO LEAVE ICANN AT END OF HIS TERM

Rod Beckstrom will continue to fulfill his term as ICANN's President and
CEO, which will be completed on 1 July 2012. He has held this position
since 1 July 2009.

"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."

Beckstrom has had many notable accomplishments at ICANN. They include
the negotiation and signing of the Affirmation of Commitments, the
historic 2009 agreement with the US Government that moved ICANN's
oversight from one government to the world, and the signing of the
Internet's root with DNSSEC. The introduction of internationalized
domain names under his watch has allowed millions of Internet users to
access the Internet entirely in their primary language script.

"I can summarize my time here in four words: strong execution, great
teambuilding," he said. "We have built a world-class executive team, and
elevated ICANN's stature through strategic relationships with
governments, businesses, top technology firms and international
organizations."

A program to launch new generic top-level domains - a major change to
the domain name system - was approved in June and will launch in the
next year. ICANN's agreement with the US government - the IANA functions
contract - expires in March, and Beckstrom emphasized his commitment to
bring the contract renewal to a successful conclusion.

Steve Crocker, Chair of ICANN's Board of Directors, said: "The Board of
Directors fully supports Rod through the completion of his July 2012
term and is committed to continuing the collaboration that has produced
so many benefits for ICANN and for the global Internet."

Beckstrom continued: "I remain committed to leading this critical
organization with the utmost dedication, and to living up to our common
vision: One world, one Internet."