Egyptian elected new GAC chair
Manal Ismail, Egypt’s representative to ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee, has been elected its new chair.
She will replace outgoing chair Thomas Schneider, a Swiss official, after the current ICANN 60 public meeting in Abu Dhabi wraps up later this week.
Ismail is director of international technical coordination at Egypt’s National Telecom Regulatory Authority, NTRA.
Schneider said he was stepping down from the GAC earlier this year, having received a promotion back home that will limit his availability for ICANN work.
The handover means that both the GAC and the ICANN board of directors will, from this Thursday, be chaired by Egyptians.
The ICANN board will on Thursday formally elect current vice chair Cherine Chalaby as Steve Crocker’s replacement.
Chalaby was born in Egypt, also holds British citizenship, and lives in the United States.
I believe it’s the first time both chair roles have been held by people of the same nationality.
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Congratulations, Manal!
With Manal leading the GAC and Heather Forrest elected GNSO Chair, that makes 4 of the 7 ICANN community bodies being chaired by women.
The other two being incumbents at the ccNSO (Katrina) and RSSAC (Tripti).
Congratulations Manal