ICANN have announced that ICANN President and CEO will leave the organisation at the end of his term on 1 July 2012. Beckstrom has been considered a somewhat controversial appointment with him not seeing eye-to-eye with many people both within the organisation and in the domain name world. It was often rumoured he had a frosty relationship with several board members and senior staff. Under his tenure there has been a sweeping of the broom through ICANN with many long term, and not so long term, employees leaving. It could be asked whether they were pushed, did they see the writing on the wall and left before they were pushed, or did they leave for better or new opportunities. It could also be asked whether Beckstrom also left before his term ended or whether he was pushed. In their announcement, ICANN noted Beckstrom will continue to fulfil 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. The announcement was first made via Twitter, a point noted by Michele Neylon on his Internet News blog . Possibly unusual, but then possibly reflecting the growing importance and popularity of social networking. Beckstrom’s Twitter announcement said “I have decided to wrap up my service at ICANN July 2012. Press release soon.” ICANN will now begin a search for a replacement President and CEO and while there are no obvious successors, Jeff Moss, currently ICANN Chief Security Officer and also known as The Dark Tangent, and founder of the Black Hat and DEF CON computer hacker conferences, could be a candidate, especially if security issues were foremost in the organisation’s mind. But the board is sure to look widely and globally for a successor with security concerns being one but several issues the organisation has to grapple with. Taking into account concerns from several developing countries that ICANN does not adequately represent their interests could also be a consideration. Beckstrom only served one term and it was often wondered how long he would serve. That he has not appointed to a second term is not a surprise to many. But it is also worth noting that only one President and CEO, Paul Twomey, has completed more than one term in the organisation’s eleven year history. “I am incredibly proud of ICANN’s achievements throughout my tenure,” Beckstrom said in a statement. “In two short years we have advanced this organisation to a new level of professionalism and productivity, and turned it into a genuinely multinational organisation 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 internationalised domain names under his watch has allowed millions of Internet users to access the Internet entirely in their primary language script. “I can summarise 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 organisations.” 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 emphasised his commitment to bring the contract renewal to a successful conclusion. “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,” said Steve Crocker, Chair of ICANN’s Board of Directors. “I remain committed to leading this critical organisation with the utmost dedication, and to living up to our common vision: One world, one Internet,” Beckstrom said.
