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Merry Christmas! Marby finally out as ICANN CEO

Kevin Murphy, December 22, 2022, 11:23:38 (UTC), Domain Policy

Göran Marby has “resigned” as the CEO of ICANN.

An unrelated picture of John Travolta

Chair Tripti Sinha informed staff of his departure last night, saying Marby had been working with the board “over the past few days” to ensure a “smooth transition” that will see him stay on the payroll as a consultant until May 23, 2024.

That’s the date his employment contract was due to expire anyway. There’s no word yet on whether his eye-watering salary will be reduced.

Sinha herself is a new installation, taking over after the board ousted Maarten Botterman a few months ago.

Sally Costerton, senior vice president of global stakeholder engagement, has taken over on an interim basis, while ICANN recruits a successor, but she has an added bonus of being likable and one assumes she’s a leading candidate to take over on a permanent basis.

Costerton, a British former PR professional, has been itching for the gig for over a decade, first applying after Rod Beckstrom quit in 2012 and immediately brought into the senior ranks by Fadi Chehadé, who hired both of his unsuccessful fellow short-listers.

A CEO with a background in public relations in theory is good news for ICANN transparency. The Org has been criticized for ignoring the media and other transparency obligations under its current leadership.

Marby’s achievements in his six and a half years as CEO include being the first person to persuade the board to pay him over a million dollars a year and

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Comments (12)

  1. Dan says:

    An utterly insane salary for the CEO of a monopoly… How on earth can that be justified when all he really has to do is keep things ticking over?

  2. The picture attached to the article currently is not one of Goran Marby or anyone named in the article.

  3. Angie Graves says:

    Thanks for the clarification on the attached image, Jothan.

    What about the ending of the article? Is it my view only that shows the last word as being “and”? More, please, Kevin!

    • Jeff Sass says:

      @Angie, pretty sure that’s clever Kevin’s statement on the other achievements… 😉

      • Kevin Murphy says:

        Not clever, Jeff.

        Deliberately stupid.

        Just a comedic reminder that Marby was a terrible CEO who presided over half a decade of doing nothing and Trussing the C-Org into the ground while milking it for as much money as possible.

  4. WebSniffer says:

    There is a small typo in the article. One time the interim CEO’s surname is written ‘Costerton’, another time ‘Costeron’.

  5. Mike says:

    The writer of this article does not have a clue.

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