Göran Marby has resigned from his role as president and CEO of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), effective immediately.
The organisation made the announcement on Wednesday, saying the ICANN board of directors has accepted Marby's resignation.
Says Tripti Sinha, ICANN board chair, “On behalf of the board, I’d like to thank Göran for his leadership over the past six-and-a-half years. He served during a critical time in ICANN's history.
"He was instrumental in leading ICANN organisation through the final phase of the IANA stewardship transition from the US government and in setting a solid vision for ICANN’s next chapter.
“He also championed ICANN's efforts to serve the Internet users of the world through the creation of the DNS Security Facilitation Initiative Technical Study Group and Domain Abuse Activity Reporting project to mitigate threats to the Domain Name System, as well as the Coalition for Digital Africa to bring together like-minded partners to expand the Internet in Africa.”
ICANN is a global non-profit organisation responsible for co-ordinating the maintenance and procedures of several databases related to the namespaces of the Internet, ensuring the network's stable and secure operation.
It performs the technical maintenance work of the central Internet address pools and DNS root zone registries for the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority.
With Marby's departure from the organisation, the ICANN board will convene its search for a new CEO at the start of 2023, according to the statement.
Sally Costerton, ICANN senior advisor to the president and senior VP of global stakeholder engagement, has been named as interim president and CEO.
Sinha states: “I’m grateful to Sally for agreeing to take on this extra assignment to provide continuity and leadership.”
Marby will, at the request of the board, be available to consult with ICANN until 23 May 2024, to support the transition to a new leader, as well as to advise the board on any issue it requires.
Commenting on his departure, Marby adds: “I'm extremely proud of the work we have done together with the ICANN community and board. ICANN has designed the implementation strategies for several critical initiatives that will shape the future for ICANN and the Internet users of the world.
“I am also keenly aware that these are long-term initiatives for which leadership continuity is essential. The next president and CEO will shepherd the next phase of this work.”
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