Ira Magaziner
Ira Magaziner is considered as one of America's most successful corporate strategists prior to joining President Bill Clinton's administration as Senior Political Advisor for Policy Development in 1993. He is the current chairman of the William J. Clinton Foundation Policy Board.[1]
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Personal Information
Magaziner was born to a middle class family on November 8, 1947 in New York City, New York, USA. He graduated valedictorian of his class in 1969 at Brown University. He is married to Susan McTigue Magaziner and they have two sons and a daughter.
Education
Magaziner received a Bachelor of Arts (B.A) Degree from Brown University. He also received Honorary Doctorate Degrees from Brown University, University of Rhode Island, University of Maryland, and New England Institute of Technology. He was a recipient of the Rhodes Scholarship and attended Balliol College at Oxford.[2]
Career History
Magaziner started his career as a Business Strategy Consultant for Boston Consulting Group from 1973 to 1979. After that he established his own consulting firms, Telesis in 1979 and SJS, Inc. in 1990. He also served as Chief Architect of the Green House Compact for the State of Rhode Island in 1984 and Chairman of the Commission on the Skills of American Work Force from 1988-1991.
He served as Senior Advisor for Policy Development during the Clinton Administration and spearheaded the Internet and Health Care Policies of President Bill Clinton. He also served as Chairman of the joint National Economic Council/National Security Council Initiative to increase US exports. He was also a member of the National Domestic Policy Council. At present, Magaziner is the Chairman of William J. Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative and Climate Initiative. He is also a Board Member of the Clinton Hunter Institute and the Alliance for Healthier Generation.[3]
ICANN Involvement
Magaziner was the Chief Internet Policy Advisor for President Bill Clinton. He led a group of experts to examine the situation of the internet during the late 1990’s. He drafted the report, A Framework for Global Electronic Commerce, which was released by President Clinton on July 1, 1998. Magaziner’s framework called for the development and commercialization of the Internet by an international corporation free from government control. The five important principles introduced by Magaziner are:[4]
- The development of the Internet and electronic commerce should be handled by the private sector.
- Governments should avoid imposing undue restrictions on the Internet & electronic commerce.
- If needed, government support should be minimal, predictable, simple and consistent with the legal environment for electronic commerce.
- Governments should recognize the unique qualities of the Internet.
- The Internet and electronic commerce should be handled on a global basis.
Magaziner's framework paved the way to the creation of the Green Paper, which was followed by the White Paper, which called for the establishment of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names of Numbers, an independent and international non-government corporation that took over the technical management of the Domain Name System (DNS) of the Internet.[5]
On March 14, 2011, Magaziner spoke during the 40th ICANN Meeting's Opening Ceremony in San Francisco and imparted some suggestions to the Internet governing body for its continued success in carrying out its responsibility in managing the Internet DNS. His suggestions include:
- ICANN needs to work hard to increase international participation and include more people from to developing country's to help lead the organization.
- ICANN should not try to build an empire but take great pains and be frugal while efficiently operating the DNS system, which is the core mission of the organoization.
- ICANN must be incorruptible and fully transparent.
- ICANN must empower Internet users.[6]