Moderators and panelists

Adrian is CEO and co founder of AusRegistry International, which is recognised as one of the world’s most successful and reputable Domain Name Registry Services Providers.

Adrian is a veteran of the Internet community and a proven entrepreneur. To compliment his standing in the domain name industry, Adrian was provided with the honour of being elected to the Generic Names Supporting Organisation (GNSO) Council for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in June 2007. In this capacity Adrian has leveraged his extensive marketing and communications experience to make a valuable and influential contribution to the creation of ICANN’s new Top-Level Domain program.

Adrian’s authority and expertise on the subject matter will play a vital role in demystifying the risks, challenges, applications and opportunities associated with ICANN’s new Top-Level...

Antony Van Couvering has been working with domain names and Internet infrastructure since 1996.

He has played a substantial role in Internet governance issues and acted as a consultant to many of the world’s top companies. He has founded and run several companies, beginning with NetNames USA, the first firm to handle the domain name needs of larger companies, which he sold in 1999 to Group NBT after helping launch several country-code top-level domains and assisting many others.

In 2000, Antony founded NameEngine, began working with many of America’s top companies and intellectual property law firms, and pioneered the corporate domain name services model still in use today. He sold NameEngine to VeriSign in 2001, and helped VeriSign with strategy, marketing and software design until 2004. Until recently, he operated Names@Work, a consulting company specializing in...

Bart Lieben is a counsel in Crowell & Moring's Brussels office and is a member of the Brussels bar. He joined Crowell & Moring in 2010 and specializes in (international) commercial law, with a particular focus on IP, telecommunications, media and technology law.

In this capacity, Bart represents clients in protecting, managing and enforcing their intellectual property rights, including in transactional matters, such as licensing, technology transfer, software development, outsourcing and service level agreements.

Over the past years, Bart has become deeply involved in assisting new Internet top-level domains in their organization, implementation and launch. More in particular, Bart assisted:

The European Registry of Internet Domain Names (EURid, dot-eu) in setting up their corporate structure, drafting of intellectual property dispute prevention and...

Brian Larson is the president of Larson/Sobotka Business Advisors LLC and is widely regarded as an expert on multiple listing service (MLS) operational and policy issues, and on issues related to the online marketing of residential real estate. Larson's firm aided in structuring MLS Domains Association, a national association of MLSs organized to make a community application to ICANN for the .MLS top-level domain.

Larson has delivered numerous presentations to associations, MLSs, and brokers regarding all these topics. He has written extensively on these subjects, and has been consulted and quoted by publications such as Inman News, Realty Times, and the Wall Street Journal.

Larson holds a J.D. summa cum laude, from the William Mitchell College of Law and a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin. He is a PhD student at the University of Minnesota, where his research...

Constantine Roussos has long been on the cutting edge of emerging technologies within the entertainment and Internet industry. He is the architect behind dotMusic (.MUSIC), the community-based top-level domain name and industry standard for official music websites powered by its innovative Patent-Pending TLD Platform. Constantine paved the way for the post-dotCOM era and the next-generation of the Internet, by building a home to everything related to music.

For the first time, the music industry will have its own exclusive address that gives music entities a unique identity online. Not only does a specialized .MUSIC web address enhance a brand's visibility online, it also ensures that it is associated with a memorable, self-explanatory and trusted badge representing the music community: .MUSIC

Constantine has been actively involved in the music industry for about a...

Derek Newman advises businesses about domain-name law and policy, and represents them in domain-name disputes. His clients include TLD registries, registrars, new-TLD applicants, back-end registry service providers, and brand owners. Derek has negotiated agreements for clients with ICANN, and has represented parties in litigation against ICANN concerning DNS policy issues.

When ICANN first rolled out new gTLDs, Derek brought a successful class-action lawsuit against ICANN that resulted in a refund for most <.biz> applicants, after a court ruled that the initial TLD launch was likely unlawful. When the former shareholders of a large registry found themselves in an earnout dispute over highly-technical ICANN issues, they turned to Derek to bring suit and collect millions due under a merger agreement. And when domainers have been sued by the likes of Microsoft, AOL, Neiman...

As president and CEO of Tucows Inc., Elliot Noss leads the company's business strategy and vision. He is responsible for overseeing operations for the company's domain registration, domain portfolio, email and retail lines of business.

During his tenure, Tucows has grown to become the largest wholesale provider of domain names. Under Elliot's leadership, the company has rapidly expanded the wholesale service line to include email services, SSL certificates, and enhanced domain name offerings which are sold through a growing international reseller channel.

Elliot has been a leader in the Internet industry for over a decade. He champions areas of vital interest to the service providers and Internet users including privacy, ICANN reform and registrar matters, and the implications of emerging technologies.

Elliot chairs the University of Toronto's Department of...

Gretchen Olive is Director of Policy & Industry Affairs at CSC, a worldwide leader in corporate domain name strategy and management.

For more than a decade she has helped Global 2000 companies and many other business entities devise the global domain name, trademark and brand protection strategies they need to protect their corporate identities. She is also a leading authority on the ICANN New gTLD Program.

Gretchen earned her JD from Widener University School of Law and over the last 17 years has held leadership roles in both the public and private sector. During 11+ years at CSC, she has served as Associate General Counsel, Sr. Product Development Manager, GM of Domain Name Operations, Director of Marketing, Director, Global Brand Advisory Services and Director of Policy & Industry Affairs.

She is an active member of the International Trademark...

Before Co-founding Big Room in order to create a community driven .ECO domain extension, Jacob was Liaison to the Caribbean and Canada at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). He also developed ICANN’s Fellowships Programme.

Prior to joining ICANN, Jacob was ran the Investment programme for United Nations Environment Programme’s Finance Initiative (UNEP FI). He holds a B.A. in Geography and Economics from the University of Victoria, Canada.

Jeffrey J. Neuman, Vice President, Law & Policy, Neustar, Inc. - Mr. Neuman has over 15 years of Internet, technology and telecommunication law and policy experience with domain expertise in ecommerce, e–business, service and technology licensing, M&A, joint ventures, strategic alliances and reseller arrangements. He is responsible for all legal services and policy for Neustar’s Enterprise Services, including domain name and mobile registries as well its media lines of business. In addition to leading the legal team for these organizations, he is responsible for the oversight of intellectual property law and policy matters, information technology licensing as well as legal issues (including litigation) related to employment and insurance matters for the company. Mr. Neuman is the Vice-Chair of ICANN’s Generic Names Supporting Organization representing the gTLD Registries and...

Dr. Berryhill is an intellectual property attorney who counsels a select clientele of internet entrepreneurs, registrars and registries in patent, trademark and ICANN policy matters.

John has been a participant in a variety of ICANN policy working groups and task forces on the subject of domain name and trademark conflicts, and has represented parties in disputed matters with occasional success.

Often referred to as 'the mayor of ICANN', Jothan has extensive experience in senior leadership roles within the domain name industry, and is very familiar with the Applicant Guidebook for new Top Level Domain Names, and understanding the distribution models and channel for new TLDs.

Jothan has successfully launched a number of TLDs into the registrar channel and has close relationships with top registry and registrar companies such as VeriSign Registry, Network Solutions and Moniker). He has also launched a number of successful domain name conferences such as DomainFest, Domain Roundtable, and the Dot-nxt conference events.

Jothan is an inventor of a number of VeriSign's technology patents for domain name registration and resolution, and he is deeply involved in ICANN’s policy development working groups, contributes to development of Internet standards, is a member...

Kevin Wilson, Chief Financial Officer

Kevin is responsible for all accounting and financial operations for Sedari. Kevin reports to the CEO and regularly reports to the Board and investors on all financial matters. Kevin interacts regularly with the Sedari team regarding all accounting, billing, payment, compliance, administrative, and strategic matters.

Kevin’s brings to Sedari 25 years of financial executive experience including serving ICANN for nearly four years as Chief Financial Officer. Kevin has worked for a variety of businesses ranging from startups to large multi- billion multinational organizations; with ownership structures ranging through for-profits, private equity firms, and publicly traded SEC regulated businesses. His industry sector exposure covers high tech, manufacturing, real estate, higher education, professional service providers, and health care...

Kristina Rosette counsels a wide array of clients on a broad range of Internet, trademark, and intellectual property matters.

Kristina has extensive expertise in domain name matters. She is the Intellectual Property Constituency (IPC) (North America) representative to the ICANN Generic Names Supporting Organization Council, which develops and recommends to the ICANN Board of Directors the substantive policies relating to the domain name system, including such matters as generic top level domains (gTLDs) and Whois. She is deeply involved in ICANN policy development relating to Whois, domain tasting, and the introduction of new gTLDs.

She has reclaimed almost 250 domain names from cybersquatters and other registrants through negotiation, arbitration, and litigation. Kristina develops and implements offensive and defensive global domain name registration, Internet...

Lori Anne Wardi brings close to 20 years of diverse business experience to her position as Vice-President at .CO Internet.

Prior to joining .CO Internet, Ms. Wardi founded and managed several businesses, including Dream Big Media, Inc., a digital asset strategy consulting firm in New York City. Previously Ms. Wardi practiced law for five years at Proskauer LLP, a top tier national law firm, where she counseled executives on the full gamut of federal and state employment laws.

A seasoned management consultant, Ms. Wardi has served as the Global Manager of Training and Professional Development for the Technology Division of Goldman Sachs; and has consulted with executives in many of the world's most prominent investment banks, professional service firms and non-profit organizations, including JP Morgan Chase, UBS, and AIG. Ms. Wardi has a B.A. in International Relations...

Mason has been involved in the Internet infrastructure industry for more than ten years. He chairs the ICANN Registrar Stakeholder Group, the representative body of accredited regtistrars.

Mike Rodenbaugh represents clients in all matters relating to domain names, trademarks, copyrights, and other forms of intellectual property, and in e-commerce, licensing and marketing transactions, litigation and alternative dispute resolution efforts.

Broadly speaking, Mike counsels clients with respect to the Domain Name System and its impact on business interests. In particular, Mike consults prospective registry operators, registrars, brand owners and other businesses with respect to new Top-Level Domains to be delegated by ICANN.

Mike started his law firm in 2007. For seven years prior, Mike co-managed the trademark and domain name inventory and strategy for Yahoo! Inc., handling hundreds of different transactions and dispute resolutions. He supported Yahoo!’s domain registration business specifically, representing Yahoo! in various ICANN constituencies. More...

Nick Wood is the Managing Director of Valideus Ltd, a consultancy that works with TLD registry operators on strategy and rights protection management. Valideus is providing evaluation services and the project management of applications for a small number of global brand owners and a city seeking to exploit the new gTLD opportunity.

Nick is also the Managing Director of Com Laude, a niche domain name management company working with leading IP owners and legal professionals.

Nick is a Director and Council Member of MARQUES, the European Association of Brand Owners, an Associate Member of the Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys and serves on committees for the International Trade Mark Association and other IP organisations.

He is a member of the Editorial Board of Managing Intellectual Property magazine and is the co-author of “Domain Names: Global Practice and...

Peter Dengate Thrush is chairman of Minds + Machines, and a barrister practicing in civil litigation and specializing in intellectual property, competition and Internet law.

From 2007 to June 2011, he served as chairman of ICANN, having first joined the Board as the representative of the Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO) in 2005.

Peter was the legal advisor to InternetNZ from 1996 to 1999, advising it on the formation of its registry company (Domainz) and acting in early domain name disputes in which the registry was named. He served as chair from December 1999 for two terms. He is a past chair of InternetNZ's International Affairs Committee, and a member of its Legal and Regulatory Committee (see www.internetnz.org.nz).

He has been active in the setting up and developing...

Richard Schreier is CEO of Pool.com, a proxy bidding system for domain names.

Pool.com was launched in 2003 as part of the Momentous.ca family of online enterprises, which includes registrars such as NameScout.com and Internic.ca, as well as Canada’s largest online DVD rental service, Zip.ca.

Pool.com enables multiple customers to backorder the same domain name and participate in an online auction for a chance to obtain the domain. It is also a leader in domain name acquisition and secondary domain sales, with a comprehensive set of acquisition, direct and auction sales, domain security and DNS management tools.

As part of the Momentous.ca registrar group, Pool.com is accredited by ICANN, NeuStar, CIRA, auDA and the Global Name Registry.

Roland LaPlante is the Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Afilias. Mr. LaPlante oversaw the marketing and launch planning for .INFO in 2001, and the transition and launch of every TLD supported by Afilias since. An accomplished marketing expert, Mr. LaPlante crafted an 18-month outreach plan for .ORG registrars that resulted in the smooth and well-communicated migration of registrars from a thin registry (VeriSign) to a thick one.

During his 30-year career in marketing, he has held senior marketing positions at McGraw Hill, Providian Corporation, Citibank and Heublein, Inc.Before joining Afilias, he was Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Xlibris, an Internet publishing company based in Philadelphia. Mr. LaPlante has extensive Internet marketing experience, having built Xlibris into the recognized brand leader in the Internet publishing space,...

Sarah Langstone has worked in the ISP and Internet software industry for nearly 20 years. As Director of Product Management for Naming Services, she has held responsibility for several gTLDs and ccTLDs and is currently spearheading Verisign’s new gTLD services.

Prior to joining Verisign 11 years ago, Sarah worked as an E-Business Product Manager for Sage Software and Senior Division Manager for Demon Internet, both located in the UK. She has been a presenter at many industry conferences and is an active member of the ICANN community.

Shawn is a member of Kirton & McConkie's Corporate and Taxation Section, which he joined in 2009. His practice includes information technology, telecommunications, government relations, constitutional law, and appellate litigation.

From 2005 to 2009 he served as Senior Counsel to U.S. Senator Robert F. Bennett, advising him on issues regarding telecommunications, cyber security, Internet policy and governance, critical infrastructure protection, intellectual property, and constitutional law.