Peter Dengate Thrush is a barrister specializing in internet law, intellectual property and competition. He is the current Chairman of the Board of Directors of ICANN, a positon he has held since November, 2007. He was most recently re-elected following the ICANN Annual General Meeting in December, 2010.[1] Thrush also currently sits on the ICANN President's Strategy, Board Finance, Board Governance and Executive committees. During his tenure, Thrush has overseen one of the most important changes to the Internet and TLDs by beginning the process of allowing domains to be registered using non latin characters.[2]

Country: New Zealand
LinkedIn:    [Peter Dengate Thrush Peter Dengate Thrush]

In addition to his work with ICANN he is also well known for his leadership in the ccTLD, community having been important to the formation of the Asia Pacific Top Level Domain Association and InternetNZ. He is also a past chair of both of these organizations.[3]

Peter Dengate Thrush founded and currently chairs the Liz Dengate Thrush Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to Internet entrepreneurship and education in New Zealand.[4]

Early Work with ICANN

One of Thrush's earliest contributions was as a member of the Boston Working Group, providing comments on drafts of ICANN bylaws in 1998.[5] In 1999, he was appointed to ICANN's Independent Review Advisory Committee (IRAC), where he worked on establishing principles of independent review for actions taken by ICANN's board.[6] Thrush also contributed to the development of UDRP through working group participation.

Career Highlights

  • Current Chairman of the Board of Directors of ICANN.
  • Member of the Copyright Tribunal of New Zealand.
  • Deputy Chair of the New Zealand Electricity Rulings Panel.
  • Board Member of ccNSO.
  • President of AIPPI-NZ.
  • Current Chair of the Liz Dengate Thrush Foundation.
  • Director at Brainfuel Ltd.
  • Past Admistrative Committee Member of WWLTD.
  • Past Chair and President of the APTLD.
  • Past Chair of InternetNZ.
  • Legal Advisor to InternetNZ 1996-1999.

References