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June Workshop and ICANN83 Preview Blog

7 June 2025
By
Tripti Sinha

Tripti Sinha

ICANN Board Chair

Tripti Sinha is the President and CEO of Internet2, where she champions the organization’s core mission of enabling U.S. higher education and research institutions to collaborate on mission-critical technology services and emerging technologies. Internet2 also works with global National Research and Education Networks (NRENs). Sinha has over three decades of progressive experience in Internet and Cyber-Infrastructure technologies. Her experience spans leadership roles in engineering, operations, finance, governance, advocacy, and policy.

Before joining Internet2, Tripti held two leadership roles at the University of Maryland: Assistant Vice President and Chief Technology Officer and Executive Director of the Mid-Atlantic Crossroads (MAX), a regional research and education network. In these roles, she supported advanced, high-performance networking and research technologies, including GPU compute infrastructure optimized for AI workloads and investigating evolving quantum networking technologies.

She has served on many non-profit and private sector technology advisory boards, and was past Chair of The Quilt’s Board of Directors and former Co-Chair of ICANN’s Root Server System Advisory Committee.

Tripti has a Computer Science degree from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts and did graduate work in Computer Science at the University of Maryland. She holds executive education certificates from Harvard Kennedy School in Public Leadership and Policy, and in Global Innovation and Execution from Stanford University. She was born in India and lives in the United States. As a child and young adult, Tripti moved back-and-forth between the U.S. and India which gave her an appreciation for global pluralism. She is proficient in English and Hindi, and understands Punjabi, Urdu and the ancient Sanskrit language. Sinha has a keen interest in Information and Communication Technology innovation, entrepreneurship, governance and policy, and international affairs.

Tripti was nominated to serve on the ICANN Board of Directors by the Nominating Committee in 2018. Her term will expire at the Annual General Meeting 2027.

Before ICANN83 gets underway in Prague, Czech Republic, the ICANN Board of Directors will meet for a three-day workshop to prepare for the Policy Forum and progress our work.

At this workshop, the Board will continue its recent practice of hosting public informational sessions:

Address Supporting Organization Informational Session
Sunday, 8 June | 9:00–10:30 CEST (7:00–8:30 UTC)

Country Code Names Supporting Organization Informational Session
Sunday, 8 June | 10:45–12:15 CEST (8:45–10:15 UTC)

I encourage ICANN community members, especially those who are new to ICANN, to join these sessions and learn about the current activities of these Supporting Organizations. Here are additional highlights from the Board Workshop agenda and a preview of our plans for ICANN83:

Internet Governance: In anticipation of the 2025 Internet Governance Forum (IGF) being held later this month and the impending 20-year review of the World Summit on the Information Society outcomes (WSIS+20), ICANN has been strengthening its engagement with all relevant stakeholders. The Board will receive an update on ICANN's preparations for the IGF and WSIS+20 review, and how we continue to advocate for the preservation of an open, secure, and interoperable Internet.

Next Round: The Board will receive an update on the implementation of the New Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLD) Program: Next Round, including progress made on developing the Base Registry Agreement and the Applicant Guidebook – the complete draft of which is available for Public Comment. In addition, the Board will hear the latest application statistics for the Applicant Support Program and the Registry Service Provider Evaluation Program, and will consider funding for the first group of vendor contracts. We also will learn more about the proposed operating model for the application processing phase of the next round and beyond.

IGO Acronyms Protection: This session will prepare the Board for the next steps on a number of Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) advice items and Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) policy recommendations made prior to the work undertaken by the Board and community to agree on the scope of policy protections for intergovernmental organization (IGO) acronyms in new gTLDs. These subsequent developments collectively address the issues and concerns that were expressed by governments and other stakeholders during the 2012 round of the New gTLD Program. The Board will be discussing how to lift the temporary ban it had imposed on registration of IGO acronyms while the further community work was underway.

ccNSO Policy for Review Mechanism: The Board will consider the Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO) policy recommendations related to creating a review mechanism for specific Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) decisions on the delegation, transfer, revocation, and retirement of country code top-level domains (ccTLDs), including Internationalized Domain Name ccTLDs. This mechanism is meant to offer a path for ccTLD managers and other entities seeking IANA decisions on ccTLDs to seek an external review of anticipated IANA decisions.

Finance: The Board will receive an update on the ICANN organization's current financial position, including the ongoing efforts to maintain ICANN's fiscal responsibility.

DNS Abuse: In the first part of this session, the Board will hear observations after one year of enforcement of the DNS Abuse mitigation requirements, as well as actions taken. In the second half of the session, the Board will be updated on community discussions related to the evolution of the current DNS Abuse mitigation requirements.

Reviews: The Board will discuss the next steps as we continue our conversation with the community on Reviews.

The Board Workshop also will include a briefing on the policy discussions that will take place at ICANN83, including around DNS Abuse, the next round, and the future of the Registration Data Request Service. In addition, we will prepare for our joint session with the GAC on Tuesday, where we plan to discuss ICANN policy development – specifically, how we are addressing the community's call to shorten the time it takes to progress policy development matters and other topics.

As usual, the workshop will conclude with a Regular Board Meeting, and the agenda is published on the Board Activities and Meetings page.

My colleagues and I are looking forward to a fruitful and constructive Policy Forum, and we hope to see you there!

Authors

Tripti Sinha

Tripti Sinha

ICANN Board Chair
Tripti Sinha

Tripti Sinha

ICANN Board Chair

Tripti Sinha is the President and CEO of Internet2, where she champions the organization’s core mission of enabling U.S. higher education and research institutions to collaborate on mission-critical technology services and emerging technologies. Internet2 also works with global National Research and Education Networks (NRENs). Sinha has over three decades of progressive experience in Internet and Cyber-Infrastructure technologies. Her experience spans leadership roles in engineering, operations, finance, governance, advocacy, and policy.

Before joining Internet2, Tripti held two leadership roles at the University of Maryland: Assistant Vice President and Chief Technology Officer and Executive Director of the Mid-Atlantic Crossroads (MAX), a regional research and education network. In these roles, she supported advanced, high-performance networking and research technologies, including GPU compute infrastructure optimized for AI workloads and investigating evolving quantum networking technologies.

She has served on many non-profit and private sector technology advisory boards, and was past Chair of The Quilt’s Board of Directors and former Co-Chair of ICANN’s Root Server System Advisory Committee.

Tripti has a Computer Science degree from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts and did graduate work in Computer Science at the University of Maryland. She holds executive education certificates from Harvard Kennedy School in Public Leadership and Policy, and in Global Innovation and Execution from Stanford University. She was born in India and lives in the United States. As a child and young adult, Tripti moved back-and-forth between the U.S. and India which gave her an appreciation for global pluralism. She is proficient in English and Hindi, and understands Punjabi, Urdu and the ancient Sanskrit language. Sinha has a keen interest in Information and Communication Technology innovation, entrepreneurship, governance and policy, and international affairs.

Tripti was nominated to serve on the ICANN Board of Directors by the Nominating Committee in 2018. Her term will expire at the Annual General Meeting 2027.

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