Dear GNSO Council, Effective immediately, I hereby resign from the ICANN Board of Directors. What I would now like to do now is briefly explain the basis for my decision so that there is no speculation or conjecture. Over the past year I have thought about resigning from the ICANN Board. This is a decision which I had shared privately with a number of people including some of my fellow directors. Although I came to the ICANN Board with a number of ties to the industry based upon my consulting arrangements with various registration authorities, over the past year it has become increasingly difficult for me to do the best job that this organization deserves because of my various professional relationships. This was something that was further reinforced during the Board's Conflict Committee Meeting which I participated in last week. As I look ahead at a number of the challenges that this organization faces, I feel that I can best contribute by going back to the "bottom" in the bottom up consensus process. This decision has been made easier because of some of the change which is currently taking place within the ICANN Board. Although the community, particularly the GNSO, may question some of the recent decisions of the Board, I can give you my word that things are slowly changing in the right direction. Moreover, if I did not believe in the long term health of this organization, I would not continue my involvement in it. In the future please look to the IP Constituency, Registrar, Registry and Business constituencies for my continued involvement within the GNSO, as well as the ALAC if they accept my offer to help out. As this body considers selecting my replacement, I urge it to consider the very important crossroads at which ICANN stands. In my opinion there are very few people that have the ability to step in and make the necessary impact that the ICANN stakeholder community deserves. Best regards, Michael