ICANNWiki Board Members
ICANNWiki strives to create a community that is open, warm and transparent. In an effort to do that, we're introducing our current board member for 2016-2017. Through the rest of December, we will introduce each board member with a photo, bio and brief answer to the question: "What excites you most about ICANNWiki?".
Here are our board members:
Andrew Merriam
Andrew Merriam is the Director of Business Development at new top-level domain registry, Top Level Design. While he is the newest addition to the ICANNWiki Board, he is a former Editor and Community Manager at ICANNWiki and was responsible for the relaunch of the site in 2010, creating thousands of articles and reintroducing the project to the ICANN community. He is humbled to return to an ICANNWiki that is now a 501c(3) non-profit, which fittingly demonstrates the accomplishments of his successors. He has been to every ICANN meeting since ICANN 40 in San Francisco; he particularly enjoyed ICANN Costa Rica as it played a role in him meeting his girlfriend on a dock in Nicaragua.
Q: What excites you most about ICANNWiki? After 6 years in domains, I'm pretty well-versed on this industry, and let me tell you what, it is a weird, niche industry. I love it though. I've also had the opportunity to see other niche industries up close, like wayfinding (people who make signs and design lobbies!). What makes our domain industry and its mostly-overlapped ICANN community special is best represented by ICANNWiki. That is to say, we're lucky to have a passion born, now non-profit, collaborative project to document and support our industry and its growth. It is incredibly unique and special and it has gone from being a fun, somewhat arcane social network to an organization that is bringing Internet governance literacy to the world. That's incredible.
Jonah Geil-Neufeld
Jonah Geil-Neufeld is a Managing Producer at Freedom Podcasting LLC, and the former Community Manger of ICANNWiki. He helped the organization transition to a 501c3 Nonprofit, and secured a key a partnership with ICANN in 2014. He is excited to be on the board of directors in order to help the organization grow and reach a new audience of internet citizens. Jonah attended five ICANN meetings (including two meetings in Singapore), and will always be humbled by the welcoming spirit of the ICANN community.
Q: What excites you most about ICANNWiki? The future of ICANNWiki as a community resource for all things Internet Governance is exciting to say the least. I believe that the current work our Co-Executive Directors are doing to educate and involve more people in collaborating on the wiki (adding and editing content) is the most important work we have as an organization. Getting sustained participation from a diverse group of people, and especially participation from people that are under-represented in the Internet Governance field, would be a massive achievement - and that excites me.
Ray King
Ray King is an entrepreneur and innovator, having started successful and industry defining companies in software, online content, and domain names. He is currently the CEO of a new top-level domain registry, an evangelist for his father’s work on sustainable architecture, and the Founder of ICANNWiki.
Q: What excites you most about ICANNWiki? The Internet is almost as important to our survival as other global resources such as air and water. The governing body, ICANN, has an amazing bottom up structure that allows anyone to participate and form the policies that guide its future. Separately, from the moment I was first introduced to wiki technology I was struck by its simple elegance. The accompanying culture of collaboration is powerful and uplifting. Offering a wiki platform that is aimed at people who wish to learn, collaborate and participate in the ICANN process is a natural fit. In the past ten years Andrew, then Jonah and now, co-directors Jackie and Dustin have done amazing work and it’s SO exciting to see the community respond and participate!