Reston, VA - 2nd September 2005 - The Internet Society (ISOC) today
announced the appointment of Matthew Shears as its Director of Public
Policy. This key appointment, which is effective immediately, will
further strengthen ISOC's role as an independent and effective
advocate for the core values of an open and accessible Internet.
In this newly-created position, Matthew will drive ISOC's policy
initiatives in support of the society's Strategic Operating
Plan. These include broad outreach activities aimed at helping
governments and policy makers design and maintain policies to ensure
that the Internet remains an open and universally accessible platform
for innovation, creativity, and economic opportunity.
Matthew has extensive experience in public policy, advocacy,
communications, business development and strategy in both the public
and private sectors. After working as a standards and market entry
adviser at the US Mission to the EU in Brussels, he worked as AT&T's
EMEA Regional Director for Public Affairs, drove public affairs in
Europe for the Seattle-based satellite Internet start-up Teledesic,
and then moved to Cisco, where he created the EMEA Government Affairs
team.
Lynn St. Amour, ISOC's President and CEO, said, "The public policy
issues facing the Internet are now more complex and more visible than
ever before. Matthew's experience and insight will be invaluable as
ISOC moves forward to develop new approaches to help policy makers
meet these new challenges."
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ABOUT ISOC
The Internet Society (http://www.isoc.org) is a not-for-profit
membership organization founded in 1992 to provide leadership in
Internet related standards, education, and policy. With offices in
Washington, DC, and Geneva, Switzerland, it is dedicated to ensuring
the open development, evolution and use of the Internet for the
benefit of people throughout the world. ISOC is the organizational
home of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and other
Internet-related bodies who together play a critical role in ensuring
that the Internet develops in a stable and open manner. For over 13
years ISOC has run international network training programs for
developing countries and these have played a vital role in setting up
the Internet connections and networks in virtually every country
connecting to the Internet during this time.
FOR FURTHER DETAILS:
Peter Godwin
Communications Manager, Internet Society
E-mail: godwin@isoc.org
4, rue des Falaises
1205 Geneva
Switzerland
Peter Godwin (godwin@isoc.org)