Thomas Embrescia

Country:	USA
Email:	tom (at) goto.jobs
Website:	[www.goto.jobs www.goto.jobs]
LinkedIn:	[Tom Embrescia Thomas Embrescia]

Thomas “Tom” Embrescia is Chairman and CEO of Employ Media, the registry operator of the .jobs sponsored top level domain name (sTLD). He is also the Chairman of Second Generation Ltd. and Operating Partner at Resilience Capital Partners. Mr. Embrescia is a broadcast industry veteran. He owns and manages more than 50 radio and television properties. He serves as one of the Board of Directors of ACME Communications and a partner in Media One Group.

Mr. Embrescia holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Advertising from Bowling Green State University (1968). As Chairman and CEO of Employ Media, Mr. Embrescia represents the company during ICANN activities and meetings.

Participation during the New gTLD Congress Hearing

Thomas Embrescia testified during the hearing conducted by the United States House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology regarding ICANN’s new gTLD expansion program. In his testimony, he told the lawmakers that the private sector has a strong demand for new TLDs and emphasized that the program promotes competition, which “leads to innovation, drives business, creates jobs and provides opportunities.” He strongly encouraged the Congress to support the program. His testimony was surprising to the internet community since Employ Media and ICANN are facing arbitration proceedings in connection with ICANN's allegations that the company breached its .jobs Registry Accreditation Agreement.

Employ Media vs. ICANN (Arbitration)

.Jobs was one of the TLDs approved by ICANN's initial TLD expansion round in 2004. The TLD was launched in 2005 and it was dedicated to serving the international human resources community. On February 27, 2011, ICANN sent a notice of breach of the registry agreement to Employ Media, citing that the company's "universe.jobs program appears to be a job board that advertises job openings for multiple employers," which is inconsistent with the .jobs charter. ICANN also observed that the company and the Society of Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) allowed the Direct Employers Association to compete with other internet job boards. According to ICANN, Employ Media failed to operate and manage the .jobs domain name space under the spirit and intent of its charter and directed the company to "implement restricted registration policies" that are consistent with the purposes stated in .jobs TLD Registry Agreement. ICANN threatened to terminate the registry agreement if the company failed to comply within 30 days. In response, Employ Media sent a letter to ICANN and expressed disappointment for "publicly defaming the company and its contractual partners, which caused irreparable harm." In addition, the company invoked the cooperative engagement provision of its registry agreement to resolve the issue. In May, 2011, Mr. Embrescia announced that Employ Media filed a request for arbitration with the ICC International Court of Arbitration claiming that the Internet governing body made "improper allegations and unwarranted threat." Embrescia explained, “This filing was necessary to ward off ICANN’s unwarranted and unprecedented threat of contract termination. That action created immediate uncertainty about the .JOBS TLD on the Internet and caused significant duress on our business.”. In July, 2011, ICANN responded to the request of arbitration and strongly defended its position that the notice of breach of registry agreement issued to Employ Media is appropriate. ICANN also requested the arbitration panel to deny all the reliefs sought by the company and the recovery of all costs including reasonable attorneys fees incurred in defending the case.

Criticism from .JOBS Charter Compliance Coalition

Tom's leadership was strongly criticized by the .JOBS Charter Compliance Coalition specifically his statement during the United States House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology hearing regarding ICANN's new gTLD program. According to the coalition's chairman, John Bell, "it's extremely ironic that Mr. Embrescia testified regarding his confidence in ICANN’s ability to hold '“bad operators” accountable." Bell pointed out that Embrescia is the leader of a "rogue registry operator," which ICANN failed to regulate its registry agreement violations.

Top-Level Domain