Recent Posts
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First ICANN CEO candidate revealed
Former ICANN director Njeri Rionge has emerged as a possible candidate for the soon-to-be-vacated CEO’s job.
Rionge is a Kenyan national, described last year by Forbes.com as “one of Kenya’s most successful and revered serial entrepreneurs”.
She founded Wananchi Online, a successful ISP in East Africa, and the business consultancy Ignite Consulting.
Her candidature was revealed in an open letter posted today by Sophia Bekele, CEO of DotConnectAfrica, a likely applicant for the .africa generic top-level domain.
DCA and Rionge have severed ties due to her new CEO aspirations, according to Bekele:
At the end of 2011, Ms. Njeri Rionge had expressed to DCA Executive Director, a direct interest in competing for the soon to be vacant ICANN CEO position, and for this reason, was kindly requested by DCA to submit her resignation from the DCA Strategic Advisory Board for ethical/conflict of interest reasons.
This was done after due internal consultations with concerned parties. Accordingly, Njeri Rionge is no longer involved in DCA and DCA Registry Ltd either as a Board Member or shareholder and will not represent neither would she be affiliated with DCA in any capacity, now or in the near future.
Rionge served on the ICANN board of directors as a Nominating Committee appointee for two terms between 2003 and 2008.
While there’s a ban on current directors applying for the CEO position, I don’t believe there’s any such prohibition on former directors.
ICANN is currently interviewing would-be replacements for Rod Beckstrom, who intends to leave the organization in July after a three-year term.
No other candidates have been revealed to date.
The only other name being circulated in the rumor mill is Lesley Cowley, CEO of .uk registry Nominet and current chair of ICANN’s ccNSO, but I’ve no idea if she’s even interested.
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I think Forbes has opened up their platform to little more than “bloggers”, i.e. “contributors”. I wouldn’t call it “Forbes magazine” unless it appears in the print edition.
The reporter has credentials, but your point is fair. It’s not the magazine.
Also, I think given some of the past Board choices, they should be far more diligent in their background checks, due diligence, etc.
According to Ms. Rionge’s site, her Toronto office address is 1920 Yonge Street, Suite 200. Try Googling that address — it’s nothing more than a shared office space, a virtual office operated by Regus.com. For someone described as one of Kenya’s “most successful entrepreneurs”, that seems a little…..understated.
ICANN’s Brussels office is a Regus, and ICANN is a $70 million a year organization.
ICANN’s credentials can be verified elsewhere, though. Can her’s? According to her website, she does “Life Coaching”, LOL.
I don’t think you’ll find successful entrepreneurs like Meg Whitman or Carly Fiorina doing “life coaching”. They’re too busy running real companies.
If Carly Fiorina or Meg Whitman came within a mile of ICANN you’d be the first to cry foul about all the horrible things those particular executives have got up to in their careers.
Doubtful. They have a long track record of success. A little bit of Googling would seem to indicate that Ms. Rionge doesn’t even have an undergraduate degree:
http://www.webcitation.org/65JGVdD7G
http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=30940190&privcapId=13011371&previousCapId=13163635&previousTitle=EA%20CABLES%20LTD
(click on “Read Full Background” for the 2nd link)
Unless you’re Bill Gates, you’re not going to be even qualified for most jobs these days without an undergraduate degree. And Bill Gates *got* into Harvard — she didn’t, if those multiple sources are accurate.
I’d really love to see a list of ICANN staff without any undergraduate degrees.
But, perhaps ICANN’s Board is looking for something “different” — maybe it was Rod Beckstrom’s “passion networking” that got him the top job. That “life coaching” fits that kind of skill set!
I wonder if her condonation of DCA’s libellious actions while she was a director and shareholder of DCA will count against her in her application…