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Media InformationPress ReleasesInternet Society announces Dr. Dawit Bekele to lead ISOC’s African BureauReston, VA and Geneva, Switzerland - 14th September 2006 - The Internet Society (ISOC) has announced that Dr. Dawit Bekele has been chosen to open and lead ISOC’s Regional Bureau for Africa. ISOC is opening a Regional Bureau in Africa to work more closely with the community and to be able to better integrate and serve local needs. This will be the focal point for ISOC activities in the region related to education and capacity building as well as policy. This is the first pilot site of a Regional Bureau for ISOC. Plans exist to follow with Regional Bureaus around the world. Dr. Bekele, an Ethiopian citizen living in Addis Ababa, received his undergraduate, Masters and Ph.D degrees from Université Paul Sabatier in France, all degrees in Computer Science. In the past twelve years he has been involved in teaching, research, management, consultancy and other directly related Internet activities in Africa, focusing on distributed systems, security, advance databases, network systems and e-commerce. “ISOC is very happy to welcome Dawit to head up our efforts with the African Regional Bureau. This Regional Bureau initiative is extremely important to ISOC and in Dawit we feel that we have found a leader of vision and energy who will truly be able to help make the Internet for everyone,” said Lynn St.Amour, ISOC’s President and CEO. David McAuley, ISOC’s Director of Membership added: “This represents the critical next step in strengthening our overall relations with local Internet communities and we welcome Dawit in that effort.” “I feel very happy to be taking on this role for ISOC and lending my efforts to making the Regional Bureau concept one that is effective and meaningful for both Africa and ISOC,” said Dr. Bekele. He will be taking up his role and attending an introductory ISOC’s in Geneva this month. He can be reached at: Bekele@isoc.org. About ISOCThe Internet Society 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 14 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 detailsPeter Godwin |
