Maemura Akinori
MAEMURA Akinori was selected by the ASO AC to serve on Seat 10 on the ICANN Board of Directors for a three-year term from October 2016 – October 2019.
MAEMURA Akinori (surname, first name) is currently General Manager of Internet Development Department at Japan Network Information Center (JPNIC).
His primary expertise is IP Numbers Management, with comprehensive knowledge and expertise covering the address policy and its development at regional and national levels, the overall scheme and its governance and strategy, and the operation of the Internet Registry. Moreover, he is very familiar with Domain Names Management as well as other coordination of the Internet and has good experience in working in regional and global scale and dealing with cultural diversity.
He was elected to the Executive Council of APNIC in 2000, then elected as the Chair of it in 2003. He is seated in the Chair position until now with an additional role as APNIC EC observer to NRO EC (Executive Council of Number Resource Organization) since 2010. For more than a decade, he has been directly involved in the governance and strategy of the Internet Registry, representing APNIC membership and broader community which are very diverse.
In Japan, he was long involved in IP Numbers Management as well. He served as a committee member of IP Working Group and then the Trustee in charge of IP Address Management of JPNIC collectively for 10 years since 1997. After that, he joined JPNIC Secretariat as the General Manager of IP Department, which operates the National Internet Registry for Japan, until he moved to the current position in 2009, As the head of IP Department, he was responsible for providing the Number Resources Services as well as facilitating Policy Develop Forum for Japanese Community.
The department he currently leads in JPNIC covers a wide range of activities for the coordination and promotion of the Internet Infrastructure, including research on the Internet policies and technologies, Events, Communications and the oversight role of .jp ccTLD. Among them, he is directly involved in Policy Research for Domain Names and Internet Governance. He is a regular participant in ICANN meetings since 2009 as a member of the ISPCP constituency of the GNSO and keeping track of the discussion in ICANN. Based on the knowledge by research and participation, his department disseminates various information on ICANN and the domain name policies including major outcomes of every ICANN meetings, ICANN Board resolutions, policies adopted by ICANN, through JPNIC website, organized events, online magazines and publications to serve the Japanese Community. Further, the department facilitates Internet Governance Conference Japan (IGCJ) to engage Japanese Community to the discussion on the Internet Governance, where he serves as the Head of Secretariat.
Akinori began his career for the Internet with designing a nation-wide ISP backbone network operated by NEC Corporation in 1994 when commercial Internet services emerging in Japan. Since then, he has been involved in the coordination of the Internet in Japan, for JANOG (Japan Network Operators’ Group) as a founding Steering Committee member.
He moved from NEC to France Telecom Group in 2000 and took positions of IP Engineering for Japan, IP Product Management for Asian Region and then R&D in Tokyo Laboratories until 2006. During these years his involvement into activities with JPNIC and APNIC kept increasing. In order to dedicate his efforts to the Internet Coordination, he joined JPNIC as an employee, General Manager of IP Department in 2007.
Other Public Services:
– Visiting Research Fellow for GLOCOM (Center for Global Communication of the International University of Japan) (2007 –)
– Chair of Publicity Working Group of the Taskforce on IPv4 Address Exhaustion, Japan (2008 –)
– Nomination Committee of ISOC Japan Chapter (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015)
– Vice-Chair of Japanese Generation Panel (JGP) for the root-zone Label Generation Rule (2014 –)
– Board Director of JPCERT Coordination Center (JPCERT/CC) (2014 –)
– Inaugural Coordination Council of NETmundial Initiative (2015 –)
– Board Director of Asia Pacific Institute of Digital Economy (APIDE) (2015 –)
– JANOG Steering Committee (1997 — 2007)
– Visiting Lecturer at Reitaku University (2007 — 2014)
– Executive Multistakeholder Committee of NETmundial Conference (2014)
A Japanese national, based in Tokyo with wife and two children, with Japanese as the native tongue and English to fulfil the global and regional duties.
Last modified on 04/02/2020
73 comments
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I strongly endorse Akinori Maemura for Seat 10 of the ICANN Board.
As seen, Akinori’s resume speaks for itself.
And as posted, the Asia-Pacific Internet Network Community overwhelming validates Akinori’s leadership and intuitive effectiveness within the multi-stakeholder model.
This is no mean feat given the diversity and scale of Asia-Pacific.
ICANN faces overwhelming change and challenges.
It needs the Internet Network Operators’ BEST represented at Board level.
Akinori is this voice.
Thank you.
JUDITH DUAVIT VAZQUEZ
Former ICANN Board
Chairman, PHCOLO Inc.
I am really happy to peruse the heartfelt comments which have kindly been made by various people all around the world to support Akinori.
I would like to echo the points which a lot of people have pointed out. I believe that Akinori will fulfill the responsibility of ICANN BoD Seat 10, with his capability and comprehensive knowledge on Numbers, Internet Registries and the community around it, with his rich and long board-level experience through APNIC Executive Council and its Chair and with his familiarity even for the broader issues which involve ICANN.
JPNIC’s mission is to contribute and ensure the sustainable operation of the global Internet Infrastructure, and his devotion to the Internet has been fully compliant to this mission. When he is successfully appointed to Seat 10, JPNIC will commit his time and resource to fulfill the ICANN BoD responsibility because it is indispensable to pursue our own mission.
Shigeki Goto,
President and Chair of the Board of Trustees of JPNIC,
Professor, Waseda University
I fully support Akinori Maemura for the seat number 10 of the ICANN
Board. I believe he has tremendously contributed to the Internet
community especially through his chairmanship of APNIC Executive
Council.
I also believe he has wide range of experiences in various fields related to critical infrastructure and global internet governance such as development of the Japanese TLD label
generation rules in the Japanese Generation Panel, and developing
statement for the NETmundial conference as a member of its Executive
Multistakeholder Committee.
With his commitment and knowledge in the Internet policy and
governance arena, I strongly believe he brings value to ICANN and
its board
I fully support Akinori Maemura for the seat number 10 of the ICANN
Board. I believe he has tremendously contributed to the Internet
community especially through his chairmanship of APNIC Executive
Council.
I also believe he has wide range of experiences in various fields related to critical infrastucture and global internet governance including development of the Japanese TLD label
generation rules in the Japanese Generation Panel and developing
statement for the NETmundial conference as a member of its Executive
Multistakeholder Committee.
With his commitment and knowledge in the Internet policy and
governance arena, I strongly believe he brings value to ICANN and
its board
Maemura-san has been a rock of support and leadership in Asia’s Internet community. His contributions to APNIC, APRICOT, APIA, and all the other “AP*” activities are one of the factors for success. Maemura was a key supporter of the “Green Paper” activities with Laina Raveendran Greene in Asia. These were a key part to drive the evolution of ICANN to be truly international. He continued this drive for international dialog and voice through his work at APNIC’s EC. It would be continued in any role at ICANN. The community will know they can express their concerns, have an attentive ear, and have an ally for appropriate concerns to be reviewed and consulted.
I strongly support his nomination for the ASO AC.
I strongly support Maemura Akinori’s candidacy for he is a shining example of long-standing commtiment and service to the community, integrity and in-depth expertise. Add a great temper, ability to listen to people and be guided by their interests, strategic vision and tireless energy- and you will have perfect blend which certainly qualifies for the position he seeks.
Leonid Todorov, in my personal capacity
Without hesitation, I fully support Akinori’s candidacy on ASO’s Seat Number 10 of the ICANN Board. I have known him for nearly 20 years. He is a well-known authority in the Internet community. His wide-ranging experience in Internet registry and operations, paired with a solid management track record, will no doubt make him a strong candidate for the position. He would be a good asset to the board, supporting informed decision making to assure an excellent future of the board and its members.
I fully support Akinori to run for the ICANN board member of Number Community. I met him during APNIC 40. I saw Akinori as a very professional person. In many of the discussions he was participating, he was very smart in explaining things so that his points was always well understood by the audience. Of course, his long experience serving APNIC has been his very plus points within the community and hence making him a very valuable asset to the Industry. I belief he would be a great contributor in the ICANN board member, his proven long term commitment in APNIC would certainly continue to exist in ICANN.
Akinori Maemura is without doubt an ideal candidate for Seat 10 of the ICANN Board, and I urge the ASO Address Council to appoint him, based on the following specific attributes.
1. Technical knowledge and experience
Akinori is a network engineer by training and profession, and he has the knowledge required to fully understand and engage with ICANN’s core technical mission. He has detailed technical expertise, through hands-on work from 1994 to 2006 in IP/Internet networking for Bigglobe (NEC), Global One, France Telecom and Orange. His responsibilities over this 12 year period specifically included IP network engineering, product development and management.
2. Diverse IP Address Registry experience
Throughout his long career as a network engineer, Akinori participated actively as a community member of APNIC and JPNIC. He worked as a staff member and manager at JPNIC, including a 7-year period as General Manager of JPNIC’s IP Department (responsible of the entire IP address business including technical operation of the Registry, facilitating the JPNIC Policy Forum, and external relations). He was actively involved in APNIC from 2000 until 2016 as a member of the APNIC Executive Council (Governing board), including 13 years as Chair of the council.
3. Corporate Governance experience
Akinori has held a number of elected, responsible positions in corporate governance of diverse Internet community organisations, including:
– Board of Trustees of JPNIC (4 years)
– Steering Committee of JANOG (10 years)
– Board Director of JPCERT (2 years)
– Member and Chair of APNIC Executive Council (15 years)
These appointments confirm Akinori’s breadth of hands-on experience in corporate governance in the Internet environment, and the very high level of recognition and respect of the communities which have continually supported and appointed him to these positions.
4. ICANN experience
Akinori has been a long-term participant in ICANN meetings, delegated both by APNIC and JPNIC to participate in ICANN activities over many years. In addition to IP addressing related aspects of ICANN, he has participated formally and regularly in the ISP Constituency of the GNSO, as a delegate from JPNIC since 2009. This has provided Akinori with a deeper understanding of ICANN than can be found in most community members.
5. Maturity and demonstrated contribution
Akinori’s very long experience in Internet technical, community and governance matters is very hard to match. He has expertise, judgement and a work ethic which has been very well recognised by his peers and community. For a member of the ICANN Board, the importance of this track record and demonstrated trust cannot be understated.
In summary, Akinori Maemura’s entire 25-year career has been spent accruing experience of direct relevance to the requirements of an ASO-appointed ICANN Board member. There is no candidate more qualified than Akinori, in terms of technical or RIR-related experience, or corporate governance and ICANN-related knowledge, for appointment to this position at this time.
Paul Wilson
Director General
APNIC
I fully support Maemura Akinori to be the candidate of ICANN board of Directors, he did a great job as his leadership position in numbering community with his big contribution of his time and good knowledge, I believe his wonderful relationship in Asia Pacific community and strong background would bring value into ICANN board.
I strongly endorse Akinori Maemura’s candidacy for ICANN’s Board of Directors. It has been a pleasure and privilege to have known and worked with Akinori for over 15 years and over those years he has demonstrated a strong technical background and deep understanding and connection with the varying community of stake holders in the Internet resources policy fora as well as his dedication to community service and personal integrity.
His skill set and demeanor I believe will be a perfect fit to help guide the evolution of ICANN and IANA functions at this juncture and I could not think of a better candidate for this position.
Sincerely Yours,
Dorian Kim
Vice President of IP Engineering, NTT
I strongly support the recommendation of Mr. Maemura Akinori to be as ICANN Board.
Mr. Maemura Akinori has been member of APNIC EC since 2001 and been Chairman of APNIC EC since 2003. Being one of the NIRs, Mr. Maemura Akinori has worked closely with us and we have seen his contribution to the global and regional IP policies development and the members’ activities. I believe that Mr. Maemura Akinori will be the best candidate for ICANN Board.
Maemura-san has contributed significantly to the Internet community in the Asia Pacific Region. His dedication and commitment while serving as EC of APNIC have shown that he will be a great addition to the ICANN board.
I have witnessed Akinori’s leadership and committment to Asia Pacific region as APNIC EC chair ever since I joined the APNIC community in 2001. I believe he is ready to move forward and do the same for ICANN community.
I have known Akinori Maemura for the last decade plus as EC Member and then Chair of APNIC. Maemura has worked extensively in Internet and its resources operation,management and deployment as quite evident form his CV. He is technically very qualified,has vast experience having worked in Japan and then for over a decade and a half for the Asia Pacific community.He fully understands the challenges facing our our community and at ICANN specially now during the transition phase.
Maemura is very decent,mature and dedicated. His maturity,ability to listen to all and then give a well reasoned solution is the strongest of his multiple talents.This will stand him and the ICANN community in good stead through the turbulent transition phase.
I full heartedly support his candidacy on the board of ICANN.
Best wishes,
R S Perhar
Executive Council Member APNIC
Executive Council Member Internet Service Providers Association of India(ISPAI)
Akinori brings not only technical knowledge but also statesmanship to the ICANN board. I am strongly supportive of his candidacy, especially at this critical juncture of the IANA transition, and at a time when ICANN must resolutely navigate the balance in blending together public interest, industry advancement and global governance beyond its corporate wellbeing. I believe Akinori’s wealth of knowledge and understanding will be an invaluable asset not only for the ICANN board but also for the ICANN community globally.
I have known Maemura San from the very first days of my involvement with ICANN since Yokohama in 2000. As a former GAC Chair and the first government representative to the ICANN Board, I have seen ICANN progress from strength to strength to where it is now and am full of admiration to the dedication of the thousands of volunteers that have helped ICANN to grow over the years. I am honoured to have been part of the process and would like to continue to help wherever possible. Akinori is one such volunteer whom I have great respect for. He certainly has the attributes and experience necessary to contribute to the ICANN Board. I would strongly support his candidacy to the ICANN Board.
I strongly support Akinori’s candidacy for the ICANN Board. I am confident that he will make a vital contribution to both ICANN and its community.
I write to support Akinori Maemura’s bid for a seat on the ICANN Board.
I have known Akinori-san for many years as our paths cross regularly through his involvement in the APNIC EC. He has superbly guided and led the APNIC EC for many years. He is dependable and a person of great integrity. He serves the community with true dedication and commitment. He will be an excellent addition to the ICANN board.
Akinori has been doing an outstanding job in his role as the APNIC chair over the years and i fully expect him to continue to provide an extremely valuable contribution representing Asia/Pacific on the ICANN board if elected. He’s got a unique set of knowledge, commitment and experience in this area and i fully endorse his candidacy!
I have been knowing Maemura-san for a long time since 2001. Maemura-san is a pleasant, humble and professional Internet expert. I’ve met him in various Internet events, he has global exposure and strong relationship with different organization. He has vast technical knowledge and in-depth understanding of the Internet policy via his contribution in JPNIC and APNIC.
I have no reservation to recommend Maemura-san for the ICANN Board. I’m sure he will strike his best to make a better Internet for everyone.
Kams Yeung
Executive Council, APNIC
I strongly endorse Maemura Akinori for selection by the ASO AC to Seat 10 of the ICANN Board of Directors.
Akinori has the expertise, skills, and experience to be a strong member of the ICANN Board. I have known Akinori for 15 years and have worked with him while I was the President and CEO of ARIN and while I was a member of the ICANN Board. He has been a consistent and strong voice in the operation of the NRO since its very beginning. He is the only candidate that has RIR Board experience. This uniquely prepares him to serve on the ICANN Board which in many ways deals in similar and in some instances the same matters as an RIR Board. He has the institutional experience and leadership skills that will make him an effective voice for the Numbers Community in a board environment that tends to be focused on the Names Community. He has experience in the Names Community which gives him insight into the issues that confront that community.
In short, Akinori is the only candidate that has the leadership skills, the collaboration skills, and the extensive experience to be a successful and productive member of the ICANN Board of Directors. He will discharge his duties in an excellent manner while at the same time not letting the ICANN Board or Staff forget that the one of the N’s in ICANN and the only N in IANA mean numbers. The ASO AC should not hesitate to select Maemura Akinori to Seat 10 of the ICANN Board of Directors.
I fully support Akinori Maemrura’s candidacy for the ICANN Board.
He has in-depth experience through various Internet issues, as well as excellent social skills. But I believe the same goes to the rest of the excellent candidates.
I have three particular reasons why I believe he would be the best fit for this position.
1. Proven experience in leading Governing Board
Akinori has been chairing APNIC’s EC(governing board) for 13 years.
He has live-experience in leading governing board and expertise in ICANN activities. And there surely be crucial for ICANN board duty, also crucial in representing Number Resource community.
2. On the ground operational experience
Akinori knows resource management in various aspects.
As he works for Japan NIC, he fully understands the day-to-day operations of RIR – technical details of IP address management. He would be an ambassador of the operational layer, and a peace
negotiator between the tech community and policy community.
3. Insight in Cyber Security
Akinori has worked to ensure better cyber security for RIR.
APNIC in the last few years did a tremendous work to improve security. As the APNIC EC Chair, he supervised and supported to make this happen. He also initiated/lead some projects by himself. The outcome, for example, APNIC and APCERT (Asia Pacific Computer Emergency Response Team) are now
regularly co-host event.
Cyber Security is a global concern. And ICANN is expected to play a significant role in that area too. I hope “Akinori on the board” to expand that area too.
Koichiro (Sparky) Komiyama
JPCERT/CC and FIRST.Org
Akinori-san has contributed greatly to the Internet development and understanding in the Asia Pacific region. I believe he is a good candidate and will act in the best interest of the Internet stakeholders if elected.
I have always found Akinori Maemura to provided a helpful, reasoned response, and to raise the level of discussion. He would be a very good addition to the ICANN Board. I support his nomination, and wish him all the best.
Sincerely,
Dan Alexander
It has been an honour to have known Akinori Maemura for more than 10 years. He has been an outstanding contributor to the technical community and has successfully chaired the APNIC Executive Council for many years. He would be a great asset to the ICANN Board due to his significant board expertise, his deep understanding of technical, business and policy issues related to the governance space, and the very fact that he enjoys a great respect from the community. I fully support his candidacy to the ICANN board.
As you can read in Akinori Maemura’s biography, he has served the Asia Pacific Internet community through the many senior positions he has held in the last 15 years. His experience is as broad as it is deep. His long tenure as the Chair of the APNIC Executive Council speaks to his success in this role. It is also the ideal preparation for a position from the Numbers community on the ICANN board.
Over the years, I have seen Akinori in action many times as Chair of the APNIC Executive Council. I admire his remarkable ability to work inclusively yet decisively in building community, bringing his wisdom to complex issues with an appealing humility. The challenges facing the ICANN board demand a candidate of no less than Akinori’s calibre.
I fully support his candidacy.
I fully and gladly endorse Akinori Maemura for this seat in the ICANN Board. My contact with him over many years has involved deep policy discussions and numerous opportunities to know his work and competence closely.
He is uniquely equipped for the task and will surely make a huge difference. His knowledge of all aspects of policy, his views compatible with restraint in ICANN’s mission yet fulfilling it thoroughly, his thoughtfulness and wealth of experience, and his capacity to achieve common goals in concertation while starting from differing views will make him a remarkable Director.
During my years as a member of the Board (1999-2008, from the first election through my self-imposed term limit) and following ICANN issues through Review Teams (SSR-RT) and Workkng Groups I see a vision of an ICANN that works with efficacy, efficiency and restraint; with focus on the stability, resilience and flexibility of the resources under its charge; and making decisions with full consideration of all relevant fact and opinion. I am sure Akinori Maemura will contribute to this vision, especially in the complex period of the IANA Transition and a new CEO taking office.
While other candidates are worthy and battle-tested, I think in comparison and for the challenges ahead Akinori is the one that stands out and should be elected.
I endorse Akinori for ICANN board seat 10. Akinori is one of those exceeding rare people who embody deep technical knowledge, astute policy judgment, and leadership experience, all in one easy-to-get-along-with human being. Akinori’s leadership role within the Japanese Internet community justifiably led to a leadership role within the greater Asia-Pacific region, and now to a global leadership role, which is very much in keeping with his candidacy for this ICANN board seat. Akinori is eminently qualified, and is the best person for the job.
Audrey Plonk
Director, Global Cybersecurity and Internet Governance Policy, Intel Corporation
I strongly support Maemura Akinori’s candidacy for ICANN board, and urge you to as well.
It’s been my privilege to count Akinori as a colleague for nearly twenty years, in his roles at JANOG, APNIC, JPNIC, and more recently, JPCERT. I’ve worked with him most closely as a counterpart in his IP addressing policy roles within JPNIC and on the APNIC Executive Council, where he provided steadfast leadership for thirteen years.
It’s that experience as chair of the APNIC EC that makes him the most qualified candidate for ICANN board seat 10. There exists no better preparation for the role of the Numbers community’s members of the ICANN board than Regional Internet Registry board and executive leadership, and NRO participation. This was the preparation that enabled Kuo-Wei Wu, the previous holder of seat 10, and Ray Plzak, the previous holder of seat 9, to perform their roles, and Akinori arrives at this role with an even greater depth of preparation than either of them. Their other merits aside, this cannot be said for any of the other candidates for the ICANN board seat.
Beyond experience, Akinori is a collegial work-mate, an empathetic person, and has exercised excellent judgment in his many past leadership roles. No one can better represent us during this critical time. Please support his candidacy as I do.
– Bill Woodcock
Board Member, ARIN, 2002-present
Executive Director, Packet Clearing House, 1994-present
It is with great pleasure that I support the nomination of Akinori Maemura for the ICANN Board. I have known Akinori for more than 10 years. In my various roles involving numbering policy and Internet governance, I’ve always known him to be a man of honesty and integrity, maintaining even temperment and calmness while others around him lost their composure. He would be a tremendous asset to the board and I wholeheartedly recommend him.
I have known,met and trust Maemura san. He is reliable and responsible fellow.
We have traveled together in a few RIR and other internet-related meetings for more than 10 years. He also presented on my behalf at SANOG in Pakistan in 2006. He did a great job as Chair of the APNIC EC to serve the community, and needless to say, he has contributed to JP operational community from its start.
I think he will do a excellent job as ICANN Board.
I strongly support Akinori’s nomination to the ICANN board, in consideration of his significant contributions to internet communities in the Asia Pacific regions over decades of work.
Akinori had contributed to JANOG (Japan Network Operators’ Group) as part of the founding steering committee during 1997 to 2007. He dedicated substantial effort to make the community successful from the beginning. His great efforts led the community to an era where hundreds of engineers attend JANOG meetings. I do believe the current success of JANOG could not have come about without his contribution.
Akinori also has left a profound impact on APNIC. He served as a member of the Executive Council for 15+ years. I think his thoughtful and compassionate chairmanship made a community where people from multiple countries feel comfortable to join.
Considering his wealth of experience among APAC communities, and his rich humanity which many people love, I’m confident that Akinori would serve ICANN well as a board member.
Chika Yoshimura
Maemura Akinori would do a great job as ICANN Board member. I met him while he was the Chairman of the APNIC Board. While Chairman, he worked with other RIRs, ICANN and other organizations from the Internet ecosystem showing his leadership, knowledge and skills to face a great variety of issues for APNIC and for the Internet in general.
I cannot think in a more committed and better person to represent the ASO at the ICANN board.
I am writing to support Akinori Maemura’s bid for the ICANN Board.
In the past 8 years that I have known Maemura-san as part of the APNIC EC, he has demonstrated an incredible passion and commitment to develop the Internet community in the Asia Pacific region and beyond. With his expertise in the areas of policy and governance, I am convinced that he will be an excellent addition to the ICANN board.
Best regards,
Raf
I have known Akinori Maemura for the past 2 years as we worked closely on the NETmundial Initiative.
He has impressed me with a great combination of technical knowledge, political judgement, constructive and collaborative approach.
I think he would add a great value to the board. Akinori has developed effective working relations with people from different backgrounds and cultures and knows how to be a good team player. He is open for innovations and always looking for the opportunity to make working process more effective and easier for all the colleagues. I have no doubts that he will be playing a significant role in the future of the community as ICANN board member. I firmly believe that Akinori possesses the skills and attributes that will allow him to perform in an excellent manner.
I wish to lend my support to Akinori. Akinori has been chairman of APNIC for over a decade during which a close collaboration was established with Afrinic and the African technical community. This relationship enabled Afrinic to grow and achieve important projects including RPKI and others
The transition of the IANA function oversight to a multi-stakeholder community would present its own challenges and having experienced person as Akinori on the board of ICANN would help secure the transition and make it successful
I want to echo and amplify the comments of the many persons both in and out of Japan who have written to support Akinori’s candidacy. I have worked with Akinori closely over the past several years and have deeply appreciated his expertise and his steady friendship in supporting our efforts at Keio University to build a network of scholars in the Asia Pacific area supportive of Internet governance and the Digital Economy.
He is an extremely effective spokesman for Japan, Asia and the international community of engineers. We are at a critical juncture for the future of the Internet — not just because of the IANA transition, but because the West must give way to East in setting the terms for the future development of the Internet. It is not just a question of numbers: increasingly, we will see the centers for innovation and growth for the Internet shift to Asia.
For that reason, we need Asian leaders like Akinori, who have a keen sense of how the Internet evolved have as a result a more balanced sense of where we are heading amidst this tectonic shift in the center of the Internet.
I am very proud that Akinori is a member of the APIDE Board and we rely on his sound judgement and draw strength from his energy and optimism.
I strongly support his candidacy for the ICANN Board not just as voice for Japan or Asia, but as a leader, who has vision for where we all need and want to go and a unwavering commitment to a global, transparent and open Internet.
Akinori Maemura is a pillar of the Internet technical community. He is a recognized leader on Internet issues, both technical and policy, at the international and local levels.
In Japan, Akinori is a community leader, particularly in the area of Internet governance. There he has organized the Internet governance community via the Internet Governance Conference Japan (IGCJ). This is a truly impressive local effort, the only one of its kind in Japan, to raise the visibility of Internet issues among Japanese stakeholders and to ensure that the local community has a voice in international Internet issues such as IANA, WSIS, cybersecurity, etc.
As an active member of the Internet Society (ISOC), Akinori also leads a remarkable team of Internet professionals that work very closely with ISOC. This fruitful collaboration between our staff members and communities is possible because of his ability to delegate and empower effectively. These features show that in addition to being a community leader, he is a highly qualified global manager.
Kathy Brown
President and CEO
Internet Society
I know Akinori for more than 7 years through various activities in the Internet community and it is my honor to support him as the candidate.
I physically met him first time in 2009 when I began to participate APRICOT, since then he is always friendly, social and neutral for everybody. In particular, after I was elected APNIC Policy SIG Co-Chair in 2011, we dealt with many things together, and whenever issues or severe discussions happened, he facilitated the discussion sincerely as well as equally asking each view respectfully in both official sessions and offline discussions. On the other hand, once the decision was made, he is also decisive person indeed, and has enough skills, knowledge, and energy to accomplish hard work, like ICANN board.
From these experience, I am very confident that Akinori will be excellent ICANN board member for this new era after IANA transfer.
I have worked with him as many past and current hats, such as JPNIC (Japan Network Information Center). He has unique and special career, starting from R&D in vender and operator, expanding to communities related with the Internet.
Because of his professional career and experiences on real business operation of wide variety of organizations and communities, we strongly trust him as a best expert for our activities in Japan and in world-wide, and are working with him. We have always shared wide spectrum of topics and issues related with local Japan and global. I am sure he will be a very important and unique expert not only for ICANN but also for the Internet.
Hiroshi Esaki,
Director, WIDE Project
Professor, Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo
I know Maemura-san for more than 15 years, and I was always impressed by his energy, fairness and openness as well as his deep understanding of both technical and policy matters surrounding Internet. In Japan, he is leading the Internet Governance Conference Japan, which connects activities related to Internet and ICANN with many other groups including IGF and Internet security initiatives. If elected as a member of the board of ICANN, with his long time experience and global human network, I am sure he will be a very important resource not only for ICANN but also for the Internet.
I have known Akinori since 2010, when I started as a newly-elected ALAC Chair. Akinori had organized with his organization JPNIC, the filming of a video aiming to raise interest in ICANN matters for people back in Japan. His crew interviewed ICANN’s thought leaders over several meetings. This strategy worked: we now have a very active At-Large Structure in the world’s third largest economy by GDP, that feeds into many of ICANN’s policy processes.
Since these days, Akinori has been active at the forefront of Internet Governance matters, attending the yearly meetings of the Internet Governance Forum as well NetMundial, and of course, ICANN meetings. As a result, he is well known in all communities across ICANN, but also in wider Internet Governance circles. I truly believe he has the right mix of experience, judgement, gravitas and exposure to make for an excellent ICANN Board member.
Olivier MJ Crépin-Leblond
Chair, European At-Large Organization
I am a GAC representative for Japan. Mr. Maemura is a leading expert on address community in our country. With his wide-ranging experience, in-depth knowledge, and excellent coordination capacity in this field, he has played an outstanding role even in the cross-sector and multi-stakeholder community. He has also been a reliable advisor to the Government over his long career.
Given that ICANN is a multi-stakeholder organization and currently challenging divergent views in communities on many emerging issues, I am confident that Mr. Maemura’s exceptional and significant accomplishments in APNIC as a chair over more than a decade will make him an ideal candidate to become a board member.
It is really my pleasure to work together with Maemura Akinori during last few years in the Executive Committee of APNIC.
Internet infrastructure and businesses have been keeping fast development in the Asia and Pacific area. As the Chair of Executive Committee of APNIC, he played very important role, leading the organization in serving the APNIC member community, setting up the APNIC Strategic Plan and actively contributing to the global Internet governance.
His cooperative personality, professional experience will make valuable contribution to the success of ICANN.
He has my full support as an ideal candidate for the ICANN Board position.
I had been working with Akinori on APNIC Executive Council for 15+ years and he was the Chair for 13 years until late Feb 2016. It was really my honour and my pleasure working with him because he is a honest and devoted person with high integrity and high moral and professional standards. With his leadership, APNIC is now a professional membership-based organisation serving 5,000+ members from around Asia Pacific region. It was not an accident. it was the outcome of continuous development through long-term commitment and tremendous dedication. Under the hats of APNIC/NRO and JPNIC (his current employer), he is also fully engaged in various Internet Governance related platforms such as IGF and ICANN. His knowledge and contributions in this community are well-recognised. It was a shock to me when I heard he had decided to step down from APNIC EC but I knew he would be doing something even more significant to the Internet community. ICANN Board member position would be a perfect fit for him and for ICANN. He will be a great asset to ICANN and its community. I fully support his running for ICANN Board election and I sincerely hope that you can support him too. I am sure he will not disappoint you.
With best regards,
Che-Hoo Cheng
Former APNIC EC Member (1998-2016)
I have known Maemura Akinori for over 15 years in his capacity as chairman of the APNIC executive council, and as the general manager of JPNIC. He has a deep understanding of international Internet policy issues, and brings a wealth of experience in public-interest governance and organisational management to his work.
I am delighted to support his candidacy for the ICANN board.
I fully support Maemura-san’s candidacy on ASO’s Seat Number 10 of the
ICANN Board.
His 16 year chairmanship of APNIC Executive Council is quite well
appreciated throughout the region. He definitely holds the best
knowledge and expertise on the management of IP addresses. He is also
acquainted to the domain names issues as he is responsible for the oversight of
the .JP ccTLD operation, and the Japanese Generation Panel for developing Japanese TLD label rules. Moreover, Maemura-san has been playing very important role towards smooth
introduction of IDN (International Domain Names) in Asia Pacific region.
First I met Akinori Maemura in 2006 SANOG meeting at Karachi. Since then I have found him as a passionate Internet Activist in every APNIC meeting and APRICOT I have attended. A very soft spoken and polite Akinori is one of the very few personality in APEC region, who has great contribution in Internet Development and Internet Policy Development processes in Asia Pacific region.
I strongly believe that with his profound knowledge, skills and sincerity Akinori Maemura will be an excellent choice for ICANN Board.
Sumon Ahmed Sabir
Chair, BDNOG
Policy SIG Co-Chair, APNIC
In the manager position of NIR of Vietnam, I have known Akinori for such a long time as NIR fellows in the APNIC community. He is really a long-term friend of VNNIC and have helped us in many cases regarding both bilateral and multilateral issues. His positions as the Chair of APNIC EC and Manger of JPNIC have brought about many advantages for us in our integration to the Internet community in the region and all over the world.
I think he has always contributed tremendously to the development of Internet resources not only in his home country, but the Asia Pacific region as well, with his efforts.
I believe that, if selected as member of ICANN Board of Directors, Akinori will continue his strong devotion to the community.
I fully support his nomination.
Tran Minh Tan
Director General
Vietnam Internet Network Information Center (VNNIC)
I have known Akinori for more than 15 years. I really appreciate his knowledge and wisdom on the Internet operation and governance. He knows both the western and eastern culture and I fully support his nomination for the ICANN Board of Directors.
Having worked with Akinori for over 15 years across the Asia Pacific region I would like to support his nomination for the ICANN Board of Directors. His calm and thoughtful chairmanship of the APNIC Executive Council has been greatly respected and appreciated by many across the Asia & Pacific regions.
Most of my interaction with Akinori over the years has been through the preparation for and delivery of the annual APRICOT summit and the mid-year APNIC member conference; both events have significant lead up preparation work, and in the case of APRICOT, involve significant collaboration between APIA and APNIC. The hosting of APRICOT 2015 in Fukuoka (Akinori’s ‘home city’) was a highlight for me.
The last few years have not been simple times for IP addressing resources, with the depletion of IPv4 and the unhurried take up of IPv6 putting considerable pressure on the industry, on APNIC and its Executive Council. Having frequently observed Akinori’s leadership and handling of some of the challenges, whether it be about addressing policy, or about handling demands from the community and the industry, I am certain that ICANN will benefit significantly from his skills, perspective and experience.
Akinori will be a valuable addition to the ICANN Board of Directors, and I fully endorse his nomination.
Philip Smith
Chair, Asia Pacific Internet Association (APIA)
Akinori was one of the very first people I met when I arrived at ICANN. He was one of the people that help me get my bearings. Akinori was quick to help me synthesize the important parts of what we do at ICANN, and how I can personally be of value to the community. His perspective on what we do is strong. He has a global awareness that makes his opinion remarkably valuable on complex issues. I believe he would be of great value to the ICANN Board of Directors.
Akinori is deeply involved with the Addressing community and with ICANN since ICANN was created back in 1998.
I know him and worked with him for more than 10 years.
His knowledge, professional approach, commitment makes him a perfect candidate for the ICANN Board.
I fully support his candidacy.
I have known and worked with Akinori Maemura at ICANN for many years and have no doubt that his professional approach, knowledge, ability and commitment makes him the ideal candidate for this position. I offer strong support for his candidacy.
In my opinion, Maemura Akinori would make an excellent board member. I have had the privilege to work with him in the ISPCP Constituency within the ICANN environment, and he is a keen, thorough performer with noted leadership skills. ICANN needs the skillset that he can bring to the Board.
I have known Akinori for greater then a decade, even since I started participating in APNIC meetings and APRICOT. In the last five years, I served with him on the APNIC Executive Council.
He has a really good grasp of Internet engineering, naming and numbering issues, and issues facing our community at present. His knowledge of regional nuances in policy, culture and expectations, specially in Asia Pacific is second to none. As Chair of the APNIC EC, he excelled at the broad management of the organization while keeping the supremacy of the community alive, intact and vibrant. His dedication to the community is self evident through his leadership of various Asian initiatives, as well as sharing of knowledge and ideas as far wide as possible.
At this critical juncture of IANA transition, Akinori will bring unique perspective and inputs from the region with largest number of Internet Users. His deep knowledge and background in dealing with regional powerhouses in Asia will be very important for ICANN Board. I think he’ll bring his unique perspective to the ICANN community and board, benefiting everyone, and I fully support his nomination to the ICANN Board.
Gaurab Raj Upadhaya
Chair, APNIC Executive Council
Chair, Nepal Internet Exchange
Akinori is uniquely qualified to serve on the ICANN Board and it is my honor to support him in this effort. While my primary interaction with Akinori has been with his role on the APNIC EC, in speaking with him about anything related to regional and global policy, technology, history, generally advice, or an introduction to the correct resource, he’s always been there to listen and assist or orchestrate a solution.
I have a great deal of respect for Akinori and believe he would be a long term, highly valuable asset to the ICANN origination and community. I endorse his candidacy both personally and professionally.
Regards,
Aaron Hughes
President and CEO, 6connect
Trustee, ARIN Board
I had the chance to know Akinori Maemura when we had a joint workshop at APrIGF. Despite being involved in various activities he was actively engaged in preparation of the workshop, was always helpful and precise in his practical comments and recommendations.
I would like to support and endorse his candidature for the ICANN board from the Asia–Pacific.
akinori was always a positive influence and a great example to all of us on the rir boards when i was part of ARIN. it’s rare in internet governance to offer more light than heat, and akinori did so consistently. he makes everyone in the room wiser by his presence. i believe akinori is exactly who the ICANN board needs, and we will be lucky to keep him with us in that new capacity, following his many successful years as chairman of the APNIC board.
Being fully convinced of Akinori MAEMURA’s capability and contributions, I would like to support and endorse his candidature for the ICANN board from the Asia –Pacific. Wishing him the best from Bhutan.
MAEMURA AKINORI is a very suitable candidate for the ICANN BoD. He has been a part of the development of the Internet from various positions. I support his candidacy.
Akinori was APNIC-EC for 16 years, He is dedicated to his work, and a very hard worker. He has proven to be trustful. He his respectful and respectable. I’ve met him in Hong Kong in 2011, and today I’m proud to call him my friend. I’m sure his knowledge and wisdom will be very valuable for the ICANN.
Bertrand Cherrier, from New Caledonia
I am writing in support of Mr. Akinori MAEMURA, who we’ve learned is one of the candidates for ASO AC’s nominations for Seat Number 10 on the ICANN Board.
With the wealth of knowledge, vast experience and broad involvement in the Internet operation, coordination and deployment, Mr. Akinori has a lot to bring to the table. Thus, we strongly believe he is most suitable nomination for the seat.
Solomon Telekom Company Limited is a member of the Asia Pacific Top Level Domain Association (APTLD) and Pacific Islands Telecommunications Association (PITA).
Solomon Islands Network Information Centre (SBNIC) is a working-group formed within and endorsed by Solomon Telekom Company Limited to manage and administer .SB domain namespace, the ccTLD for Solomon Islands.
On behalf of the SBNIC working-group, I in my capacity as the Administrator hereby would like to express and pledge our support for Mr. Akinori.
Yours sincerely,
Mr. Loyley Ngira
(SBNIC Administrator)
I know Maemura since 2007 and have been interactiving with him in several Apricot and Apnic meeting. He is one of the coolest EC of Apnic and I believe it is cool for ICAAN to have him on board.
I know Akinori since 2010 as chair of APNIC EC. I endorse his candidature in ICANN board from the Asia –Pacific, wishing him all the best in his career.
Mr Akinori Maemura is known to me since 2009 as a Chair of APNIC EC. I had several interactions with him as part of
numbers community of Asia Pacific. He brings with him diverse nature of activities ranging from Numbers
resource management to the issues pertaining to the Internet Governance. Asia –Pacific region is going to be the most happening place in the Internet space as the next billion users are going to be from this region.
Mr Akinori’s open , transparent and committed nature of dealing with the internet community would be a great asset to the ICANN Board. He has been closely involved in the Net Mundial Initiatives and other ICANN related public-policy issues for the last several years.
I strongly endorse his candidature in ICANN board from the Asia –Pacific Internet Numbers community.
Akinori posseses a wealth of wisdom which places him as an ideal candidate for the Board position. Over the years he has proven to be a trusted individual that places importance on harmony while standing clear and transparent on issues that effective the Internet environment.
I have known and worked with Akinori Maemura for nearly 20 years.
His excellent activities related to numbers community may be
described by others, so let me explain Maemura’s outstanding
activities especially related to outreach and engagement efforts
regarding Internet Governance and ICANN.
He led the establishment of Internet Governance Conference Japan
(IGCJ), which is now the most active forum concerning various
topics regarding Internet Governance in Japan. In his activities
relating to IGCJ, he has been an active communicator as a liaison
between global and Japanese community. In addition, he has been
worked as a senior Secretariat of the IGCJ and showed his
abilities in making up the agendas that engage the participants.
Regarding IANA stewardship transition, he proposed to make a
formal comment from Japanese multistakeholder community and made
up a comment document interactively with the community. Then the
document was supported by 92 individuals from various stakeholders
in Japan when it was sent to the comment forum.
There is a read-out meeting after each ICANN meeting (i.e., three
times a year) in Japan. Japan Network Information Center (JPNIC)
and Internet Association Japan (IAjapan) sponsor the meetings.
Maemura has been one of the leaders who lead these meetings. Recent
few years he is one of the opinion leaders of the IANA stewardship
transition issues including ICANN accountability and various other
Internet governance issues in Japan.
In addition he is among the panelists of Japanese Generation Panel
for RootLGR (JGP), which I chair. He contributes to the Panel with
his very balanced view and has helped in constituting the Japanese
RootLGR. And he also advises on the way how the process should
involve multistakeholder views.
I have been working with Akinori more than 20 years in various activities related to the Internet operation, coordination and deployment in Japan and Asia Pacific Region. As a witness of his long-term commitment and accomplishments including fostering JANOG back in 1997, IPv6 promotion since 2005 and IGCJ coordination since 2014, I am confident that Akinori will fulfill the duty of the ICANN Board appointed by the ASO.
His strong technical skills and knowledge about Internet operation and resource management, coming from his original career as a network operator, significantly contributed to the Asia Pacific IP Numbers community. Not only the technical strength, he proved his thorough understanding of Internet Governance through his 13 years of serving as the Chair of the APNIC Executive Council and several other leading activities in our community.
I am more than sure that his appointment to ICANN Board will benefit the entire ICANN Community.
Jun Murai
Greetings! :)
As the interview phase starts this Sunday (Feb 7), I’d like to echo Kuo-Wei and Kenny’s endorsement of Akinori’s candidacy above and add my own endorsement below.
It’s lovely to see 5 strong candidates come forward and volunteer to serve on the ICANN Board during this year’s election. It is a thankless and onerous task that requires tremendous patience, thoughtful consideration, reflection and measured action and I commend them all for coming forward to serve the wider Internet community.
Appointed by the ASO to the ICANN Board back in 1999, then serving as ICANN’s first Vice-Chair, it is my observation that the IANA transition has been an overly long journey for the pragmatic, and straight-forward, numbers community. Nevertheless, it is a crucial time for everyone and we must all maintain focus and look forward … not backward.
In looking at the challenges ahead, particularly over the next 3 years of potentially great change, it is my belief that ICANN will be best served by Akinori’s technical depth, leadership breadth and high character.
Akinori Maemura is calm and balanced. As an active listener, with his own grounded opinion in facts, he is unlikely to be emotionally bullied one way or another under a barrage of names and rhetoric. In doing so he will thoughtfully and consistently add his nuanced opinion, and determined voice, to the ICANN Board that will not only reflect the technical realities of today’s Internet, but also the one that we remain to build.
As such I strongly support his candidacy.
Yours sincerely,
Pindar Wong
Love to see a well-qualified person as Akinori Maemura to run the ICANN board member for Number Community. As I know him since the year of 2000, he has a good management skill and have been an excellent board member for APNIC EC and its chair too. His contribution will not only to enhance the representation of Number Community in ICANN community, but also a great assets for ICANN board body. I strongly believe he is an excellent candidate from number community in ICANN board members.
I am writing on behalf of Maemura Akinori regarding the position of Board of Directors in ICANN. Maemura and I are both Executive Council members of APNIC and we have been working together on Internet related policies for years. I have known Maemura quite well and can thoroughly vouch for his character and abilities.
Maemura held various leading positions in many Internet organizations. Maemura is the chair of Executive Council of APNIC, Board Director of JPCERT Coordination Center, Executive Multistakeholder Committee of NETmundial Conference. His experience and capabilities which explains he will be the best candidate to serve the ICANN Board on behalf of number community.
With his commitment and his knowledge of Internet policy, Maemura would bring a wealth of knowledge and skills to the ICANN. I know he would be an excellent fit for your organization. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.
Best Regards
Kenny Huang
Executive Council Member, APNIC