[icann-nominations] Acceptance of the nomination of Peter Dengate Thrush to the ICANN Board

[Peter Dengate Thrush <pdthrush@chambers.gen.nz>]

Acceptance of the nomination of Peter Dengate Thrush to the ICANN Board


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1. Full name: Peter Charles Dengate Thrush


2. E-mail address:   pdthrush@chambers.gen.nz


3. Organization you work for (if apply):Self employed as a barrister


4. Snail-mail address (street, city, country): 52 Aurora Terrace
Kelburn, Wellington New Zealand


5. The region that includes the country of which you are a citizen:
Asia Pacific. I am a New Zealand citizen.


6. The region that includes the country in which you reside:
Asia Pacific. I reside in New Zealand


7. A clear statement of acceptance of the nomination:
I accept Nomination to the Board of ICANN


8. If you are a Member of the Names Council, state your intention (*)
   to resign from the Names Council if you are elected to the ICANN Board:
I am not a member of the Names Council

9. A Curriculum Vitae (no more than 500 words long):

Peter Dengate Thrush is a barrister, (self-employed in sole practice)
specialising in intellectual property, IT and competition causes. He has a
BSC in geology and biology, and law degree from Wellington's Victoria
University.

He is deputy Chairman of Innovus Ltd, a Wellington and Melbourne based IT
consulting and software develoment company, and a member of the Institute
of Directors.

He is Secretary to AIPPI-NZ, Chair of the AIPPI's committee on Unfair
Competition, and a regular contributor to AIPPI's meetings on global
harmonisation of intellectual property law. He is a member of the AIPLA and
the ABA.

Peter has been counsel to Internet New Zealand since its formation in 1995,
 providing advice on its structure and in relation to dns policy, acting
successfully for it in its two cybersquatting cases.

He monitored the IFWP, is a core member of the Boston Working Group, and
has attended all ICANN open meetings outside the USA. He assisted with New
Zealand's presentations to WIPO, presented oral argument to the Board in
Berlin, served on Working group A, and monitored the output of the Special
Drafting Group on UDRP.

He serves on ICANN's Independent Review Advisory Committee, chaired Day 2
of the Wellington session of the Intellectual Property constituency
formation meeting, assisted with the formation of the ccTLD constituency
and attended the GAC in Berlin and Santiago as advisor to the New Zealand
Government representative.

As a member of the Institute of Directors he is well informed on issues of
Board and Director best practice, key competencies for directors, conflict
of interest rules for directors, director's fiduciary duties, corporate
solvency, performance appraisals for Boards and CEO's, and warning signs.

As a patent attorney, he gained experience in advising start ups involved
in developing technologies. As a litigator, he has experience in distilling
the essential issues from complex scientific and technical facts, and the
research and advocacy skills to negotiate to a succesful resolution.

He is the parent of teenage children.

He is married to Liz, an IT professional. They have three children, and
enjoy tennis, skiing and the theatre. 

Peter is sought after as a speaker and a Chair of professional seminars and
conferences. He is able to stimulate debate, articulate consensus and keep
to the topic and the timetable while maintaining an atmosphere of
productive harmony.




10. A statement indicating your ideas, intentions and/or the reason why
    you consider you should be elected to serve in the ICANN Board
    (no more than 500 words):

I am pleased to accept nomination for election to the Board of ICANN, and
am grateful for the many expressions of support that I have received from a
wide range of ICANN stakeholders.

I believe that I have the requisite skills and experience to make a
contribution to the Board. I have been involved in the transfer of the
domain name system to private sector management for some time, and in a
variety of ways. From working with the IRAC, the ccTLDs, the IP
constituency, the DNSO working groups, and attending the GAC I have had the
opportunity to exchange views with those in the General Assembly, with
constituency members, Names Councillors, staff and members of the Board.

This is helpful, as in my view, the Board must provide strategic direction
and leadership for ICANN as a whole, not just one constituency, or one
Support Organisation, or one stakeholder.

The Board's role is to ensure that the processes for policy development 
are in place, open and resourced, to monitor adherence to those policies,
and implement the resulting policies in an orderly and predictable fashion.
In that way, ICANN grows in stature and develops the confidence of both
business and society.

Along the way, policies should be debated passionately through a "bottom
up" process -  in the DNSO, from the General Assembly, through a Working
Group to the Names Council, emerging after consensus is reached as a
recommendation to the Board.

My contribution and committment will be:

1. To ensure development and compliance with proper processes, including
"due process", taking into account the needs of businesses, consumers, and
those non-commercial users who use the net to cross cultures, share
research and to educate.

2. To "bridge" the disparate constituencies of the DNSO - to understand the
concerns of each, and to communicate those to other constituencies, to the
Board, and in turn to communicate the Board's resolutions to all.

3. To maintain a professional character to ICANN and its Board, including

   * keeping ICANN to its MoU with the DoC, and to the scope of its
            charter - Names and Numbers

   * maintaining technical stability at a level appropriate for the
         backbone across which flows a trillion dollars in commerce 

   * having sound planning, budgetting, cost control, and managing well
                                 and supporting the CEO, CTO and other
officers of the corporation

while respecting the history of the internet, and its ideals of open,rapid
access and the free exchange of ideas.

These will be crucial times, as we face whether to, how, when and by whom
should we introduce new gTLDS - as we establish a sound footing for the
realtionship between ICANN and sovereign states on the management of the
ccTLDs - as we define, reach out to, then enlist a membership at large -to
name just a few imminent issues.

I welcome this historic opportunity to contribute to ICANN as a member of
the Board.



Peter Dengate Thrush
Barrister 
Wellington
New Zealand

64 4 499 8959
64 21 499 888

Fax 64 4 471 0672