Nick and all my friends, No offense to Matthias, but I would much rather seen an American in this position. May I ask, what was the deciding factors on this appointment? Why were not the ALAC members consulted before Matthias was selected and/or appointed? Is not the ALAC supposed to be representative of Users instead of ICANN staff? Seems logical and open and transparent that we were or should have been. Which brings me to another question: are the ALAC's now captured by the special interests of the ICANN staff? From where I and our members sit, it clearly appears so. And if so, how can the ALAC be representative of users? Nick Ashton-Hart wrote:

Dear all:

It is my pleasure to introduce you to Matthias Langenegger, who has just joined the At-Large staff in the Policy Unit as At-Large Coordination Officer. He’ll be helping support the global At-Large community in scheduling, meeting support and logistics, servicing information requests, minuting meetings, and helping keep the websites and community communications tools (like the new membership system) up- to-date amongst other essential tasks.

Many of you may know Matthias from the IGF Secretariat, where he interned throughout much of 2007 - while there he assisted in the preparations for the Rio de Janeiro Internet Governance Forum in November 2007, coordinating the sessions schedule and providing logistical coordination. He also assisted in the assessment process for the different workshop and best practice proposals.

Before and during his university education, he worked in different office environments such as banks and a small language school. He is originally from the German-speaking part of Switzerland and is a native German speaker who is fluent in English and French. He also speaks fair Catalan and Spanish having lived in Barcelona for a year.

Matthias recently graduated from the Graduate Institute of International Relations at the University of Geneva and holds an MA in international relations. He lives in Geneva. Continuing the tradition of very long email addresses amongst the At-Large staff, he can be reached at matthias.langenegger@icann.org (or, in short form, matthias@icann.org ).

For those who, like me, often produce inaccurate pronunciations of others’ names, his forename is pronounced “muhteeahs” :)

Please welcome him aboard. We’re very glad to have him!

-- Regards,

Nick Ashton-Hart Director, At-Large ICANN Main Tel: +33 (450) 40 46 88 USA Tel: +1 (202) 657-5460 Fax: +41 (22) 594-85-44 Mobile: +41 (79) 595 54-68 email: nick.ashton-hart@icann.org Win IM: ashtonhart@hotmail.com / AIM/iSight: nashtonhart@mac.com / Skype: nashtonhart Online Bio: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashtonhart

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