DotAsia Board Elections 2021

In accordance with BEP2021, the timeline for the elections is as follows:

• December 28, 2020 (Mon) – Nomination Period Begins (5 weeks)
• February 1, 2021 (Mon) – Nomination Period Ends
• February 5, 2021 (Fri) – Voting Period Begins (2 weeks) (if necessary)
• February 19, 2021 (Fri) – Voting Period Ends
  
• February 28, 2021 (Sun) – Annual General Meeting

Ali ALMESHAL

Candidacy Statement | SOI

I am writing this to inform you of how enthusiastic and well fit I am for this position. As you can seen through my biography, I have had many prior experiences that have built my skill set and developed my capabilities in various fields.

I am currently the Head of Digital Business and Innovation at CrediMax Bahrain.

Reaching this position came with many different management roles, 27 years of banking experience and multiple major positions such as head of technology, head of e-commerce, becoming the Vice chair of Bahrain ISOC, Member of the advisory Board in Ahlia University in Bahrain, Member of Middle East working group, Vice chair of the APRALO at ICANN for three terms and many more. Participated in many of local, regional and international forums and conferences around the globe.

I believe that gaining your support for my DotAsia board nomination will not only allow me to introduce all of my acquired dexterity to others, but it will also introduce me to a wide range of international expertise, were my industry experience in DNS business can be also employed for the benefit of such role.

Your nomination is a valuable assets to me, and I will be  fortunate to have your support which give a great  credibility to my interest is serving this position.

Candidate BIO

Mr. Ali AlMeshal is currently the Head of Digital Business & Innovation at CrediMax in Bahrain . Part of the senior executive management and member  of marketing and risk committees. Chair  of the strategic business project committee . In this role, he is responsible for managing, directing and participating in growing the digital innovation business base through different channels  and business volume, continuing to coach and develop staff to ensure quality of output in all sales and operations efforts, tracking market performance to ensure meeting the assigned targets in increased business turnover. He is also responsible for establishing and maintaining current top tier client accounts and acquiring new major potential client relationships.  Prior to this, Mr. Ali AlMeshal was Head of IT and Project Manager at CrediMax – Bahrain, responsible for the IT infrastructure and all other business IT related projects. Mr. AlMeshal obtained his B.S. degree from Bahrain University in Business information systems and his MBA from New York Institute of Technology. He has 27 years of banking experience in the payment industry Business in general by working in Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait as well as the current job in CrediMax.  As a special assignment, he managed the setting up of a new joint venture company in Bahrain called Global Payment Services (GPS) which was a third party processor for card business”. Mr. AlMeshal is the Vice chair of Bahrain ISOC ,Member of advisory Board in Ahlia University in Bahrain, also was the Vice Chair of APRALO at ICANN for three terms. Led and managed first APRALO mentorship program and will be running the second version of the mentorship. Act as APRALO delegate to At-large Outreach & Engagement sub-committee, was a member in Finance and budget sub-committee, as well as Technology Task force of At-large. An ex- Board member of the Steering Committee for the Chapter Advisory Council in Global ISOC . Member of Middle East strategy working group within ICANN and board of the steering committee. Mr. Ali is also Certified Bullet Proof Manager and lately get his Diploma in Disruptive Strategy from Harvard Business school.  He participated in many conferences and forums around the world as a speaker. Also he was part of the jury of the Bahrain eContent award and eGov Excellence award. Moreover Ali has done some lecturing on MIS with Ernst and Young on free-lance basis.

Andi BUDIMANSYAH

Candidacy statement and BIO not available

Ellen STRICKLAND

Candidacy Statement | SOI

I am interested in joining the DotAsia board due to my involvement in regional Internet Governance (IG) in the Asia-Pacific region, and my admiration for dotasia’s commitment to ongoing support for community-based activities related to IG and its support for youth involvement within the Asia-Pacific region.

I believe, in these pandemic times, the Asia-Pacific region working together to support the regions Internet community is more important than ever, and I would like to work with the dotasia board in their work for continuous improvement.

Candidate BIO

I have been involved in Internet Governance in the region since the World Summit on the Information Society processes in the early 2000s, while working for the New Zealand government. I have worked for InternetNZ, the home and guardian of the .nz domain, since 2012.

Since joining InternetNZ, I have led the community funding and engagement work and subsequently the policy work of InternetNZ, including leading policy for .nz. My focus at InternetNZ is now international engagement, including at ICANN, the Internet Governance Forum, and at broader Internet Governance related processes and events, including technical community and civil society involvement and inclusion in the Christchurch Call process, a New Zealand and France led iniatiative to help address terrorism and violent extremism online.

I hold a PhD in information and communication policy, having researched Pacific Islands regional digital policy. I had the pleasure to serve as a member, and vice-chair, of the Board of the Pacific Islands chapter of the Internet Society from 2010-2016, and as co-chair of the Pacific Internet Partners from 2012-2015, a regional Internet community focused funding organisation. I also have served as a founding director, since 2012, of Oceania Women’s Network Satellites, an Internet infrastructure research and investment company. I currently serve as a member of the Christchurch Call Advisory Network.

Emani FAKAOTIMANAVA-LUI

Candidacy Statement | SOI

As an individual growing up on one of the smallest islands in the Pacific separated from the world, there were amazing opportunities that opened our island once the internet arrived. I took up the opportunity in 1999 to develop internet services on Niue and also joined PICISOC to work with other like minded people around the Pacific region to advocate for better ICT.

To be a part of DotAsia presents the opportunity to further the good work that has been set by all those who have helped to establish the organisation. Our relationship of Asia and the Pacific is key to the continual development but also protection of our digital resources that will better serve our communities.

Candidate BIO

Fakaalofa lahi atu, I am Emani Lui from the island of Niue. If you haven’t heard of it, DotNU would be a good reference to start from. I left Niue for a few years to study in New Zealand in the mid-90s and returned to work to ensure that our people have the same online opportunities experienced by those in developed countries.

With the assistance of IUSN Foundation, I was able to help develop the roll out of the largest WiFi infrastructure on Niue that started in 1999 and continues today. From those early days with speeds in Kbps, we often overlook the slow speeds as we now enjoy Mbps bandwidth!

After years of hands-on learning on our small island, I found myself in New Zealand but saw the same struggle of those in rural and remote areas but also within our Pacific urban communities. With the promise of better satellite connectivity, some Kiwis joined me on my journey to start a new ISP to help those struggling for better internet services.  The work we continue to do now for our Pacific communities in New Zealand is vital, especially in hard and difficult times and that was evident during the Covid-19 lockdowns set by the government.

After serving in the PICISOC Board a couple of times as Secretary, Vice-Chair and lastly as Chair in 2018-2020, I have seen various transformations of our organisation and the struggle for it to remain vital whilst being supportive of different initiatives and programmes.

My heart has always been to work with others to support our communities to literally close the digital divide and offer better opportunities.  I hope to be able to bring a fresh insight to DotAsia and help navigate through the tremendous times we now find ourselves in. I look forward to your support and honouring that with the work I put in and support if I am able to serve you and our community.

Fakaaue lahi mahaki,

Emani Lui (NIUE)

Jose Emmanuel DISINI

Candidacy Statement | SOI

Transparency and Accountability to its members – that is what I would like to see. DotAsia is a $2M/year business and there needs to be more transparency about how this money is spent. Wasteful expenses should be eliminated, and most importantly, Funds should go only towards projects that are approved by the members, and that benefit the countries and goals of the membership. IF elected, that is what I promise to work towards.

Candidate BIO

I was born and raised in the Manila, Philippines. I moved to California in 1980 to study, and graduated in 1984 from Caltech, specializing in Computer Science. I found work in Silicon Valley, working on the Macintosh, which had then just been released, writing networking software. In 1990 I moved back to Manila, founded one of the first ISPs here, and became the ccTLD for .PH. I’ve been in the Domain Industry for 30 years.

Santanu ACHARYA

Candidacy Statement | SOI

As a Domain Names business practitioner, I believe that we as an industry are here to promote consumer trust, technological advancement and innovative, abuse-free and universally accepted environment for netizens. We at .IN are pursing this course and have been quite successful with 2.5 million registrations in both the ASCII ccTLD and more than a dozen of IDNs. As a unique “regional” TLD, DotAsia should be a paragon of operational excellence, transparency and accountability, which requires much commitment to and a genuine sharing of the values underpinning and propelling the global Internet ecosystem’s development, coupled with an ability to stay responsive to the societal needs and aspirations and to stay tuned to and forecast future developments on the technological, operational and even geopolitical fronts in order to remain relevant and adequate to the present and future challenges.  

I am keen to face all these demands and to play a very active role in successfully delivering DotAsia’s values and products to all stakeholders in the region. Specifically, I will be keen to help the community develop and implement various local programmes and social projects, as well as promote multilingualism on the Internet to ensure the uptake of digital economy across small economies in Asia Pacific.

I am a qualified Chartered Accountant with 25 years of experience in various organisations which includes project implementation, service delivery and manufacturing mostly in the ICT area. I believe that I will be able to add value to DotAsia’s mission implementation. The community should rest assured that if elected I will be open for a dialogue with stakeholders, will stay attentive to their needs and do my best to meet their expectations.

Whilst being truly privileged to serve on DotAsia Board, I am ready for, perhaps, the most challenging mission in my life and for delivering on my promises.

Candidate BIO

Santanu Acharya is Head of Finance, Audit, Accounts, Taxation and Compliances with National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI), the Registry operator of India’s ccTLD – .IN

Santanu is a daring leader & strategic qualified finance professional with 25 years of experience in developing financial strategy, conducting revenue analysis, increasing cost efficiency, steering fraud investigations and meeting organizational objectives, as well as in designing financial strategies for maximizing profitability & revenue and attaining an organization’s goals

With his decades-long engagement in the IT industry and NIXI in particular, he has also developed a profound expertise in the Names and Numbers area.

An effective leader with excellent communication, negotiation and relationship building skills, he spearheaded various projects on enhancement of operating, fiscal and technological policies

Thanks in particular to his work, NIXI earned a prestigious 2019-20 National Award for Excellence in Financial Reporting in India from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of 

Santanu holds Masters in Commerce and is a Qualified Chartered Accountant, the highest national qualification and also is a Certified Fraud Prevention Controller.

He is married & blessed with one daughter and resides with his family in New Delhi, India

“With my experience, I would like to contribute to the DotAsia community by helping promote best practices and an accountable governance structure. “