Registries Stakeholder Group

RySG is the abbreviation for Registry Stakeholder Group. The RySG is a Stakeholder Group within the Contracted Parties House under ICANN's GNSO. It represents the interests of the gTLD Registries currently under the contract with ICANN and provides them with gTLD Registry Services. It also facilitates communication among the gTLD Registries and puts forward 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.

Organization and Membership of the RySG

The membership of the RySG is open to all the Registries. Registries must apply for membership via the application process. Every Registry needs to identify a Voting Delegate and, if desired, alternate Voting Delegates.

Structure of the RySG

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.

The Executive Committee

The RySG also consists of an Executive Committee, which is comprised of a Chair, an Alternate Chair, 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.

Executives

• David Maher, PIR, Chair
• Keith Drazek, VeriSign, Alternate Chair
• Ken Stubbs, Afilias, Treasurer

GNSO Representatives

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

• Jeff Neuman, North America – (term expires end of annual meeting 2012)
• Jonathan Robinson, Europe – (term expires end of annual meeting 2013)
• Ching Chiao, Asia Pacific – (term expires end of annual meeting 2012)

Registrars Stakeholder Group (RrSG) Constituency Liaison

• Ray Fassett, Employ Media

ICANN Nominating Committee Representative

• Ken Stubbs, Afilias

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.

Registry Constituency

Prior to the GNSO restructuring, the Registry Stakeholder Group was known as the Registry Constituency'. It was comprised of the registry operators for the .net, .org, .name, .com, .pro, .museum, .aero, .coop and .info gTLDs, which were the only TLDs at the time.

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).