ICANN announces new CEO

ICANN under Fadi...

... will be a leaner, more professional outfit, focussed on technology and finding solutions to problems.

Having a CEO based at ICANN's headquarters should help tackle the internal back-biting and dysfunctional politics that exists both in staff and ICANN as an organization.

Difficulty may come with the more complex and diplomatic aspects of ICANN's job. The organization can be slow-moving and pig-headed, which may frustrate a CEO used to moving quickly.

A highly experienced CEO with an extraordinarily broad range, Fadi had worked for large corporates (IBM, AT&T, Ingram Micro), small, private companies (Vocado, CoreObjects) and well as started several business (Connecta, RosettaNet). Fadi has an innovative edge but at the same time has an understanding of larger bureaucracies. A computer scientist by training, his focus has consistently been on producing new technologies.

He has experience with technology standards, having started RosettaNet, a non-profit aimed at created standards for business-to-business information sharing. This business integration approach fed through to Viacore, which he also started, which aims to integrate business systems. It was bought out by IBM in 2006 and Fadi then worked at IBM for a further three years before leaving to hed up CoreObjects, which provided software to startups and left was it was bought out in 2010, becoming CEO at Vocado, which provides management software to schools.

Based in Los Angeles, and with a masters from Stanford, Fadi lives a few miles from ICANN's headquarters in Marina del Rey. Notably, Fadi worked with ICANN COO Akram Atallah at CoreObjects. If Fadi were to get the job, the roles would be repeated, with Fadi as CEO and Akram as COO.

Extraordinary range of CEO experience. Comes from a business software background. Already has a good working relationship with ICANN's current COO. Is a firm believer in the power of the Internet and standards.