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Rod Beckstrom (view source)

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* In May, 2010, Rod Beckstrom brought on [[Elad Levinson]] as a consultant, and later promoted him to VP of Organization Effectiveness. Mr. Levinson's background as a self-help, weight loss, and Buddhist-inspired psychologist and guru riled many ICANN watchers.<ref>[http://domainincite.com/icann-hires-weight-loss-guru-as-vice-president/ DomainIncite.com]</ref> Some interpreted it as Rod Beckstrom bringing on a personal teacher into a position of authority within the organization, and were especially irritated over the creation of new VP positions when other existing positions remained unfilled.<ref>[http://news.dot-nxt.com/2011/03/14/yes-to-crank-vps News.Dot-Nxt.com]</ref> Internal emails from the [[GNSO]] show disagreement over whether or not the hire was appropriate, and include a defense of Mr. Levinson's effectiveness.<ref>[http://gnso.icann.org/mailing-lists/archives/council/msg10941.html GNSO.ICANN.org]</ref>

* Rod Beckstrom has been accused of being paid too much.<ref>[http://nigel.je/2011/08/icann-to-part-company-with-ceo-rod-beckstrom/ Nigel.ie]</ref> He had released information regarding his salary, which stands at $750,000 USD per year plus bonuses, at risk compensation, and benefits.<ref>[http://www.domainnamenews.com/icann-policy/icann-publishes-salaries-top-level-employees/7162 DomainNameNews.com]</ref>

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* Rod Beckstrom was publicly derided by both [[Maria Farrell]] and [[Lesley Cowley]] at the public forum at [[ICANN San Francsico]].<ref>[http://nigel.je/2011/08/icann-to-part-company-with-ceo-rod-beckstrom/ Nigel.ie]</ref> Ms. Farrell first took the mic to accuse the organization of chasing away its experienced staff members, herself included, and lament the "hollowing out of expertise" therein. Her comments were met with sustained applause. Rod Beckstrom responded that turnover was below 15%, less than the average for a nonprofit or high-tech companies. [[Lesley Cowley]] later took the mic to point out that the turnover rate for senior staff members was likely significantly higher, around 78%.<ref>[http://mariafarrell.com/?p=141#more-141 MariaFarrel.com]</ref> Audio of that forum can be found [http://audio.icann.org/meetings/siliconvalley2011/public-forum-17mar11-en.mp3 here], with the aforementioned interaction beginning around 23:10. Rod Beckstrom further defended the turnover rate in his opening address at [[ICANN 41]], he noted that turnover for the previous year was at 11.62% and that it was tracking at 13%.

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* Rod Beckstrom was publicly derided by both [[Maria Farrell]] and [[Lesley Cowley]] at the public forum at [[ICANN San Francsico]].<ref>[http://nigel.je/2011/08/icann-to-part-company-with-ceo-rod-beckstrom/ Nigel.ie]</ref> Ms. Farrell first took the mic to accuse the organization of chasing away its experienced staff members, herself included, and lament the "hollowing out of expertise" therein. Her comments were met with sustained applause. Rod Beckstrom responded that turnover was below 15%, less than the average for a nonprofit or high-tech companies. [[Lesley Cowley]] later took the mic to point out that the turnover rate for senior staff members was likely significantly higher, around 78%.<ref>[http://mariafarrell.com/?p=141#more-141 MariaFarrel.com]</ref> Audio of that forum can be found [http://audio.icann.org/meetings/siliconvalley2011/public-forum-17mar11-en.mp3 here], with the aforementioned interaction beginning around 23:10. Rod Beckstrom further defended the turnover rate in his opening address at [[ICANN 41]], he noted that turnover for the previous year was at 11.62% and that it was tracking at 13%. When he was later asked about the loss of executives in an interview in September, 2011, he defended his management and team by saying, "The evolution of the management team was absolutely deliberate. Sometimes skills you get in a $100m organisation are different from those in a $5m organisation. I have assembled an excellent management team".<ref>[http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/emerging-tech/2011/09/24/beckstrom-i-came-to-change-icann-40094014/2/ I came to change ICANN, zdnet.co.uk]</ref>

* He has been criticized for attaching his name too heavily to organizational achievements, or taking credit for his predecessor, [[Paul Twomey]], and other peoples' work. These achievements include the implementation of [[IDN]]s, and the approval of the [[Applicant Guidebook]] for new [[gTLD]]s.<ref>[http://news.dot-nxt.com/2011/08/16/icann-fires-ceo News.Dot-Nxt.com]</ref>

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===Other===

In September, 2011, Rod Beckstrom was the Keynote Speaker at the Futurecom Information Technology Conference in Sao Paulo, Brazil. There he praised [[CGI.br]], the organization in charge of the Brazilian [[ccTLD]] ([[.br]]), for being one of the only countries in the world to use a multi-stakeholder model to oversee its national Internet infrastructure. He also praised the organization for its work on [[IPv6]] deployment. He then went on to comment on the new [[gTLD]] program being launched by ICANN, and he discouraged brand owners and businesses from applying for a new domain space unless they are ready for the financial and technical responsibility of continually running a [[registry]]. He said, “I want to make clear that ICANN is an organization that is not advocating new gTLDs for anyone. Our role is merely facilitation to implement the policy and the programs approved by our community, so we are here to educate not to advocate.”<ref>[http://www.icann.org/en/news/releases/release-12sep11-en.pdf ICANN News Release]</ref> Given that Mr. Beckstrom is often criticized for his high-profile and controversial role, this speech was no exception; one commentator noted how after all the work ICANN had undertaken to create the program, it seems like a terrible PR move to discourage people from applying.<ref>[http://news.dot-nxt.com/2011/09/13/gtld-comms-masterplan gTLD Comms Masterplan, news.dot-nxt.com]</ref>

Andrew

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