Heather Dryden

Country:	Canada
Email:	heather.dryden [at] ic.gc.ca
LinkedIn:	[heather-dryden Heather Dryden]
Currently a member of ICANN's GAC Featured in the ICANN 41 - Singapore playing card deck

Heather Dryden currently serves as the Chair of ICANN's GAC, also serving as the GAC's liaison to the ICANN Board.

Ms. Dryden was also a Senior Policy Advisor at the International Telecommunications Policy and Coordination Directorate at the Canadian Department of Industry.

Ms. Dryden holds a BSc. (Hons) Degree in International Politics and Strategic Studies.

Governmental Work

Ms. Dryden has worked for the Department of Industry since 2002 where she is responsible for Internet governance and DNS policy matters. Ms. Dryden coordinates and develops Canadian government positions and policy, and represents Canada on the GAC; she also represents Industry Canada on the CIRA Board of Directors, and participates in the American Registry for Internet Numbers – Government Working Group (AGWG).

Ms. Dryden also has worked with the United Nations system on Internet-related matters, including the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). She has been appointed to serve on the Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) since 2008. Ms. Dryden was part of the Canadian delegation to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and its preparatory negotiations in 2004-2005.

Ms. Dryden’s worked at the NATO Information Office in Moscow before joining Industry Canada. She speaks English and French, and has a working understanding of Russian.

ICANN

Ms. Dryden was selected by the Governmental Advisory Committee to serve as Interim Chair at the Brussels meeting until the conclusion of the first GAC meeting of 2011. Heather has now been elected to a full term as Chair of the GAC. This term will expire at the end of the first meeting of 2013.

GAC Early Warnings

Ms. Dryden issued the most GAC Early Warnings to new gTLD applicants of any national representative in the organization, with a total of 129 warnings. Most of her warnings fall under two categories: warnings issued to applicants applying for generic words with the intent to use them for their own exclusive purposes, and strings related to regulated industries that do not contain enough measures to protect against public confusion and possible harm. The prior group, generic terms registered for corporate use, is perhaps most famously seen in many of Amazon's applications. There was public opposition to such a possibility outside of the GAC, and Ms. Dryden's line of argument is that closed generic TLDs will stymy competition on the Internet and not work in the public's best interest. The full list of warnings can be seen here.

Governmental Advisory Committee. Considers and provides advice on the activities of ICANN as they relate to concerns of governments, particularly matters where there may be an interaction between ICANN's policies and various laws and international agreements or where they may affect public policy issues (ICANN Bylaws).