Registries Stakeholder Group

The gTLD Registries Stakeholder Group Corp. (RySG) is a Stakeholder Group within the Contracted Parties House under ICANN's GNSO. It represents the interests of the gTLD Registries currently under contract with ICANN and provides them with gTLD Registry Services. It also facilitates communication among the gTLD Registries and voices the views of the Registry Constituency to the GNSO Council and the ICANN Board of Directors, with a special emphasis on ICANN consensus policies, which relate to the technical reliability, interoperability and the stable operation of the Internet or DNS.

Feedback

• A list of RySG statements can be found on its website at: https://www.rysg.info/resources/statements/
• A list of RySG comments to ICANN public proceedings can be found at: https://www.rysg.info/resources/archive/

The RySG is one of the most active groups within the ICANN community and generally responds to all ICANN public comment periods except for those comment periods relating to a single registry operator (e.g., the renewal of an Registry Agreement or the approval of a particular Registry Service).

Organization and Membership of the RySG

The membership of the RySG is open to all gTLD Registries. Registries must apply for membership via the application process. Every Registry needs to identify a Voting Delegate and, if desired, alternate Voting Delegates. The membership application can be found on the RySG website at: https://www.rysg.info/join-us

Funding

Funding for the RySG is provided by its members. Every member joining the Group needs to pay an initial membership fee as well as a fixed annual membership fee and a variable annual membership fee as per the schedule of the RySG. A member loses its voting rights if it fails to pay the fees as previously invoiced within thirty days after a written notice of non-payment.

Structure of the RySG

Executive Committee

The RySG consists of an Executive Committee, which is comprised of a Chair, a Vice Chair of Policy, a Vice Chair of Administration, and a Treasurer. The main responsibilities of the Executive Committee are to facilitate policy coordination meetings, to support the GNSO Council and the ICANN Board, as requested by ICANN, and to manage and administer elections.

• Beth Bacon, PIR, Chair
• Catherine Paletta, Identity Digital, Vice Chair, Policy
• Jeff Neuman, JJN Solutions, Vice Chair, Administration
• Karen Day, SAS Institute, Treasurer

Secretariat

• Sue Schuler

GNSO Council Representatives

The following individuals represent the Registry Constituency and its views within the larger Generic Name Supporting Organization:

• Samantha Demetriou, North America, til AGM 2026
• Jennifer Chung, APAC, til AGM 2025
• Nacho Amadoz, EU, til AGM 2026

ICANN Nominatiog Committee Representative

• Josu Wulina, til AGM 2025

Interest Groups

For the sake of collaborating on vital issues of common interest within the RySG, members self-organize themselves into different Interest Groups. The main responsibilities of these specific Interest Groups is to nominate candidates for GNSO Council Representatives, participate in the GNSO policy development processes, and develop position statements with special emphasis on the ICANN consensus policies.

Registry Constituency

Prior to the GNSO restructuring, the Registries Stakeholder Group was known as the Registry Constituency. It was comprised of the registry operators for the .com/.net, .org, .biz, .name, .pro, .museum, .aero, .coop and .info gTLDs, which were the only TLDs at the time. The first chair of the Registries Constituency (after it consisted of more than 1 member) and the Registries Stakeholder Group was Jeff Neuman, who at the time represented NeuLevel (later Neustar) and the .biz registry from 2001 - 2004.

Associations

The RySG has two Associations within their membership: Brand Registry Group (BRG) and the GeoTLD Group.

Generic Top-level Domain

Generic Names Supporting Organization. Develops and recommends to the Board substantive policies relating to generic top-level domains and other responsibilities set forth in the Bylaws (ICANN Bylaws).

Top-Level Domain