Ron Andruff
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| Country: | Canada |
| Email: | randruff [at] rnapartners.com |
| Facebook: |  [Ron Andruff Ron Andruff]
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| LinkedIn: |  [Ron Andruff Ron Andruff]
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Ron Andruff was the founder and former President of Tralliance Corporation, registry operator for .travel. He currently is the longtime President and CEO of dotSport LLC, which he represented at various international sport conferences.[1] The dotSport initiative was created for two reasons: (1) to create a sport social media platform for the sports world, and (2) to gather support to apply for the .sport TLD with ICANN; however the organization opted to not apply for the string after years of work towards that goal because of growing uncertainties around the process and ICANN's never-ending timeline. The social media platform lifedotsport.com is now available in Beta.
He is also the President of RNA Partners, which is an international marketing consultancy.[2] RNA Partners provides "Internet Sherpa" consulting services to companies that have not applied for new top level domains, but wish to be kept abreast of developments in this new Internet era so that they can properly position themselves in the coming decade.
Mr. Andruff is a member of the Business Constituency at ICANN.[3] He is a member of the ICANN Nominating Committee 2013, as well as a member of the Standing Committee on GNSO Improvements Implementation (SCI). He is also known as a former professional hockey player within the NHL, as well as the German National Hockey League.[4]
.Travel[edit | edit source]
As Founder and former President of the Tralliance Corporation, Andruff has spearheaded the .travel initiative. He founded Tralliance in 2001, and received ICANN approval to run the .travel extension in 2005.[5] The travel industry’s exclusive .travel TLD was confirmed by ICANN under his leadership; after a 30 month long application process. Commenting on the time it took to receive ICANN's approval, Ron said, "We have got to look at the global good of the internet . The body responsible is ICAAN and they really need to know who is applying, whats behind them and what they stand for".[6] Tens of thousands of .travel domain names have been registered, and the initiative is currently supported by more than 140 travel trade associations from 9 industry sectors and more than 73 countries.[7]
Ron Andruff brought his 30+ years of marketing experience to bear in his evangelizing role with Tralliance. Unfortunately, the .travel initiative did not pick up steam and Ron left the company well before it came under fire for not thoroughly authenticating its registrants as promised.[8][9] He characterized his departure as due to a difference in vision with the parent company that owned Tralliance.[10]
In 1998, he made his mark in the travel industry when he co-founded fare 1, Inc., a powerful business-to-trade Internet portal that enables travel agents to quickly search for and provide clients with the lowest available fares. He merged fare 1 into World Travel Holdings in the U.K. and took the company public in London in 1999.
Other Work[edit | edit source]
A former NGO delegate to the United Nations’ Association for World Education and a distinguished member of the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), Andruff participated in numerous foreign affairs briefings and research projects. In 1994, on behalf of the Foreign Policy Association, Andruff undertook an eight-month assessment of emerging electronic media and new technologies. He later authored a widely acclaimed white paper, distributed by the FPA, that provided a comprehensive analysis of the Internet and its widespread impact.
He has been a frequent speaker at major travel industry conferences.
Andruff has served on the board of directors of the Waterbor Burn & Cancer Foundation in New York City and Just A Drop Charity in London, England.[11]
Hockey[edit | edit source]
Ron Andruff is a Canadian national, and a former NHL professional player. He was drafted in the first round of the 1973 World Hockey Association amateur draft by the Winnipeg Jets and in the second round by the reigning Stanley Cup Champion, Montreal Canadiens.[12] Andruff's professional hockey career is notable for the fact that he played on 4 championship teams in 3 different professional leagues during a 9 year career.[13] In addition to his 4 championship wins, he was also a two-time MVP.[14]
Experience[edit | edit source]
- President, RNA Partners, Inc. - Currently holds this position
- President & CEO, dotSport LLC - January 2008 — Present
- Business Users Constituency Member, ICANN - The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers - 1999 — Present
- President & CEO, Tralliance Corporation - June 2001 — June 2007
Interests[edit | edit source]
Travel, karate, kiteboarding, motorcycling, skiing, collecting contemporary art.[15]
Honors[edit | edit source]
2006 Top 25 Most Extraordinary Minds in Sales and Marketing awarded by Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI)[16]