Alan Barrett

Region

South Africa. AFRINIC

Bio for Alan Barrett

December 2023

Alan Barrett is currently a member of the ICANN Board of Directors, having been appointed by the ASO AC for a three-year term from 2021 to 2024. He is seeking reappointment for a second term, from 2024 to 2027. Within the ICANN Board, he has served on the following committees: Board Technical Committee (2021-present), Board Audit Committee (2021-present), Board Accountability Mechanisms Committee (2021-2023), Organizational Effectiveness Committee (2021-present), Board Strategic Planning Committee (2023-present). He has also served in several Board caucus groups, including the Grant Program caucus and the Next Round of gTLDs (Subsequent Procedures) caucus. He has also served a liaison to community groups dealing with IDNs, Closed Generic gTLDs, and the IANA Naming Function Review.

Alan Barrett holds B.Sc.Eng. and M.Sc.Eng. degrees from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (then called the University of Natal), Durban, South Africa. He was involved in setting up the first Internet connection for South African universities in 1990/1991. In 1993, he was a co-founder of the first commercial ISP in South Africa, then called TICSA, later Internet Africa and UUNET South Africa, where he remained until 1999. He then joined a small Internet firewall company, CEQURUX Technologies, where he remained until the company went out of business in 2007. After that, he worked as a software consultant. In 2015, he was appointed as CEO of AFRINIC, where he remained until 2019. He is now semi-retired, and maintains an interest in Internet technology and Internet governance.

He was a co-author of the 1997 proposal to create AFRINIC, served on a steering committee tasked with creating AFRINIC, and was elected to the first AFRINIC Board in 2004, where he served until 2009. He was appointed by the AFRINIC Board to the NRO NC/ASO AC, from 2004 to 2014. During the IANA stewardship transition, from 2015 to 2016, he served in the IANA Stewardship Coordination Group (ICG), as an appointee of the NRO.

Last modified on 16/09/2024