Lawrence Strickling

Country:	USA
Website:	[www.larrystrickling.com www.larrystrickling.com]
LinkedIn:	[Lawrence Strickling Lawrence Strickling]

Lawrence Strickling is a technology policy expert. He is the current Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information and Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) under the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC). He was sworn into office on June 25, 2009. As NTIA administrator, he is responsible in making sure that the agency's initiatives will result to the expansion of broadband internet access and the internet will continue as an effective vehicle for economic growth and innovation.

Education

• B.A. Economics- University of Maryland College Park (1969-1973)
• J.D. Law- Harvard Law School (1973–1976)

Career History

Strickling started his career as a Litigation Partner in 1976 at Kirkland & Ellis LLP. , a law firm based in Chicago until 1987. He became Vice President for Public Policy of Ameritech, one of the Regional Bell Operating Companies for more tan four years from February 1993 to September 1997. After serving Ameritech, he went on to work for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as Chief of the Common Carrier Bureau from 1998 to 2000. He was responsible in promoting competition and consumer protection within the communications industry by implementing the rules set forth by the Telecommunications Act of 1996. He also served as Associate General Counsel and Chief of the Commissions Competition Division before serving as Chief of the Common Carrier Bureau. In 2000, he served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel for CoreExpress for more than one year. He joined the Allegiance Telecom as Senior Vice president in 2002 and left the company after 2 years and 1 month. On Septemeber 2004, Strickling was hired by Broadwing Communications as Chief Regulatory Officer. He left the company in 2007 and joined the Obama for America in May 2007 as Policy Coordinator. On March 26, 2009, President Barack Obama announced Strickling’s nomination as Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information under the Department of Commerce. He assumed his position on June 25, 2009. As Assistant Secretary of Communications and Information, Strickling supervised the Recovery Act Broadband Grants Program worth more than $4.7 billion. He is currently managing the implementation and oversight of the program and ensures that the nationwide broadband project will be effective and installed on schedule and the Americans will benefit from it. He was also instructed by President Obama to supervise the NTIA's initiatives for domestic and global internt policy and administrative issues particularly the Internet Policy Task Force of the Department of Commerce. He also plays an important role as an advocate for the United States government's position abroad in connection with internet policies and to participate in the different activities of Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) to promote the stability and security of the Domain Name System (DNS)

Membership

• Chairman of the Board of Visitors- Maryland School of Public Policy
• Chairman of the Board of Trustees- University of Chicago Court Theatre
• Chairman Board of Directors of Music of the Baroque in Chicago

ICANN Involvement

ICANN Cartagena Board Meeting

As Assistant Secretary for Communication and Information of the Department of Commerce and NTIA Administrator, Strickling actively participates in the different activities and policy development issues of ICANN. During the ICANN meeting in Cartagena on December 7, 2010, Strickling pointed out the United States government’s commitment to the internet governing body’s multi-stakeholder model. He informed the ICANN Board that he spent 12 months analyzing the global expansion of the multi-stakeholder model to other aspects of internet policy and the Department of Commerce established the Internet Policy Task Force, which will concentrate on issues related to online privacy, copyright protection, cyber security and the free flow of information worldwide. He also pointed out that the Affirmation of Commitment between ICANN and the United States government is serious document. ICANN needs to keep its responsibilities in the Affirmation of Commitment and promote a higher quality in decision-making. Regarding the issue on the expansion of new gTLD’s, he pointed out tha U.S. government is expecting ICANN to issue a serious economic study since other government and organization expressed their concerns and cited that the cost of the large expansion of top level domain names outweighs the benefits. Furthermore, he stressed that one of the top challenges of ICANN is its relationship with foreign governments and the Governmental Advisory Committee is the perfect avenue for ICANN to reach out, deal with foreign governments and show the benefits of participating in the ICANN process.

Issue on Co-Ownership Between Registries and Registrars for Existing and New gTLDs

On June 16, 2011, Strickling wrote to the ICANN Board through is Chairman Peter Dengate Thrush in conjunction with the implementation of the new gTLD programs. The DOC Assistant Secretary pointed out that some of the resolutions approved by the ICANN Board will affect the competition within the DNS market place such as the non-restriction for cross-ownership between registries and registrars and allowing the existing registry operators to adopt the new form of registry agreement once the new gTLD program is implemented. Strickling pointed out that it is critical to preserve competition as well as consumer protection. He advised the ICANN Board to evaluate and consider the concerns raised by the European Commission and other competition authorities before implementing the changes adopted by the Board regarding the restriction changes on cross-ownership between registries and registrars for existing and new gTLDs. Furthermore, he shared the evaluation and advise provided by the U.S. Department of Justice Anti-Trust Division regarding the issues.