Yesterday ICANN announced who would be taking the reins of their European operations.
Up until October of last year ICANN in Europe was under the direction of Jean-Jacques Sahel. However Sahel left the organisation to go work for Google in Asia. So for the last couple of months the head post in Europe has been vacant.
Chris Mondini, who has worked for ICANN since 2011 will be the new “Vice President, Stakeholder Engagement, Europe and Managing Director, Brussels”. Mondini has been heading up ICANN’s “stakeholder engagement” in North America for the last few years, so it’s an area he should be familiar with. In a previous life he was a diplomat, so he should fit in pretty well in Brussels. According to his Linkedin profile he speaks both French and Spanish and has a working knowledge of German and Italian.
Here’s the official announcement:
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) today announced that Chris Mondini has been appointed Vice President, Stakeholder Engagement, Europe and Managing Director for the Brussels, Belgium office. He reports to Sally Costerton, Senior Vice President, Global Stakeholder Engagement.
In his new role, Mondini will oversee ICANN org’s operations in the region and will continue to lead ICANN org’s Global Business Engagement initiatives worldwide. He brings an ideal mix of engagement and managerial experience to this role, along with language skills.
Mondini currently serves as Vice President, Stakeholder Engagement, North America. During his nearly eight-year tenure at ICANN org, he has worked in several ICANN offices, including Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Mondini joined ICANN org as Chief of Staff to the Chief Executive Officer and was a founding member of the Global Stakeholder Engagement team upon its formation. This experience enabled Mondini to build an extended network of colleagues and stakeholders around the world.
Mondini began his career as a United States diplomat and later became a corporate investigator with Deloitte. He has investigated the world’s largest corporate corruption cases, while working with non-governmental organizations and business organizations on ways to mitigate corruption risks. Mondini also led grant-making teams for the Full Circle Fund, an engaged philanthropy organization addressing economic development challenges. He holds degrees from Georgetown University and Johns Hopkins University.
Mondini will be based in Brussels.
While under Fadi Chehade ICANN’s Brussels operation seemed to lose importance and the focus became more on the Istanbul side of things, that seems to have changed in the last year or so. Brussels and Belgium could become more important for ICANN overall in the whois access discussions, as the Belgian DPA is the “lead” one for ICANN.
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