Atallah: We assumed a lot of things were being taken care of

ICANN's COO and acting CEO talks TAS, digital archery, his old friend the new CEO and how he will make the organization function better

Akram Atallah: ICANN needs to raise itself to the next level. Photo: ICANN

Akram Atallah has had a rough couple of years. When he was brought in as Chief Operating Officer for ICANN in September 2010, the organization was getting used to a new CEO and had just lost its CFO as well as a number of other key executive positions.

Just two months later an independent report into the organization's accountability and transparency recommended a number of significant operational changes. Four months after that, the organization's Board approved the rules for its largest ever project - the introduction of thousands of new Internet extensions - but left a significant number of operational issues undecided.