Paul Twomey

Country:	Australia
Email:	paul.twomey [at] argopacific.com

Dr. Paul Twomey became the President and CEO of ICANN in 2003; his tenure lasted until 2009. Paul has been successful in numerous leadership positions in commercial enterprises, government, and in chairing ICANN's Government Advisory Committee.

Past ICANN Involvement

Before joining ICANN Paul founded Argo Pacific, a high-level international advisory and investment firm that assists both Fortune 500 companies and start-up companies to build global Internet and technology businesses and strategic alliances.

Prior to that, Dr. Twomey was the founding Chief Executive Officer of the National Office for the Information Economy (NOIE), and the Australian federal government's Special Adviser for the Information Economy and Technology. He was also Australia's representative at international fora, such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the OECD and APEC; and the Australian government appointed him as its Special Representative for the Internet and [[ICANN]. In that capacity his responsibility was to ensure that Australia's interests were promoted during the current formation of the rules and regulations of the international information economy.

Dr. Twomey was closely involved with ICANN while interacting with international community on behalf of Australian government. From 1999 to 2002 he served as Chair of the Governmental Advisory Committee.

Work

Prior to his appointment as CEO of NOIE, Dr. Twomey was Executive General Manager, Europe, of Austrade – the Australian Trade Commission. As the leader of Austrade's Global Information Technology and Telecommunications Network, he assisted Australia's IT&T firms to market their products and services to key European, American and Asian markets.

From 1994 to 1997, Dr. Twomey was the Executive General Manager of Strategic Development for Austrade and was responsible for the development of corporate strategy, business process and operational management within Austrade.

Prior to this, Dr. Twomey was a consultant with global management consultancy McKinsey & Company. In this role he advised major corporations primarily from the telecommunications financial service and tourism sectors in Australia, the United States, Japan and Hong Kong.

Publications

Dr. Twomey was the author of the influential study: Austrade scenarios for the Australian trading environment. This study, released early in 1997 outlined inter alia, implications for Australian exports of an East Asian economic collapse. The study was influential to Australian government policy reactions to the Asian financial crisis in late 1997-98.

Widely published in academic and popular journals, Dr. Twomey has contributed to books on industry policy, foreign and defence policy, and development issues.

Education

He holds a Bachelor of Arts (First Class Honors) from the University of Queensland, a Master of Arts (Political Science and International Relations) from Pennsylvania State University and a PhD in International Relations from the University of Cambridge.