Paul Twomey
Encyclopedia
ICANN
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is a non-profit corporation headquartered in Marina del Rey, California, United States, that was created on September 18, 1998, and incorporated on September 30, 1998 to oversee a number of Internet-related tasks previously performed directly...
(ICANN) from March 2003 to June 2009. ICANN is the chief rule-making body for internet policy worldwide.
Following a private-sector role as a consultant for McKinsey & Company
McKinsey & Company
McKinsey & Company, Inc. is a global management consulting firm that focuses on solving issues of concern to senior management. McKinsey serves as an adviser to many businesses, governments, and institutions...
, Dr Twomey held executive positions within the Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n Government's foreign trade organisation Austrade. His role there included working on strategic development and European markets.
He was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the National Office for the Information Economy (NOIE) in 1997, a Commonwealth Government unit responsible for developing Internet policy. His involvement with ICANN began at this time. Subsequently he chaired the ICANN Government Advisory Committee, which served as the organisation's liaison with world governments.
Following his departure from NOIE, Dr Twomey created a consultancy with Ira Magaziner
Ira Magaziner
Ira Magaziner was born in New York City, New York, USA. After being a student activist and business consultant, Magaziner became the senior advisor for policy development for President Clinton, especially as chief healthcare policy advisor. He now serves as chairman of the William J...
(Domestic Policy Adviser to former US President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
) called Argo P@cific. He continued to serve on the ICANN GAC until November 2002, through an ongoing posting as external advisor to Australia's Commonwealth Government.
Dr Twomey is a member of the British-North American Committee. He also serves on the board of directors of the Atlantic Council of the United States and chairs the World Economic Forum
World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum is a Swiss non-profit foundation, based in Cologny, Geneva, best known for its annual meeting in Davos, a mountain resort in Graubünden, in the eastern Alps region of Switzerland....
's Global Agenda Council on the Future of the Internet. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from University of Queensland
University of Queensland
The University of Queensland, also known as UQ, is a public university located in state of Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest and largest university in Queensland and the fifth oldest in the nation...
, a Master of Arts from Pennsylvania State University
Pennsylvania State University
The Pennsylvania State University, commonly referred to as Penn State or PSU, is a public research university with campuses and facilities throughout the state of Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1855, the university has a threefold mission of teaching, research, and public service...
and a PhD from Cambridge University
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
.
On 27 March 2003 he was elected to his current position at ICANN
ICANN
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is a non-profit corporation headquartered in Marina del Rey, California, United States, that was created on September 18, 1998, and incorporated on September 30, 1998 to oversee a number of Internet-related tasks previously performed directly...
. On 2 March 2009, during the opening ceremony of ICANN's 34th international meeting in Mexico City, Dr Twomey mentioned that he would be leaving ICANN in June while remaining as Senior President until the end of the year. His name has recently been mentioned in relation to the Commonwealth Government's proposed National Broadband Network
National Broadband Network
The National Broadband Network is a national wholesale-only, open-access data network under development in Australia. Up to one gigabit per second connections are sold to retail service providers , who then sell Internet access and other services to consumers...
.