Maria Farell

My name is Maria Farrell and I live in the Europe region, in the UK. I am female. I am self-employed. My only current contract is with infoDev, at The World Bank in Washington DC, where I was previously employed fulltime as a communications consultant. My current work for them is finishing a policy advisory project for the government of Brazil on electronic waste.
 
As far as I am aware, I have no conflicts of interest regarding a position as a GNSO Councillor. I have done one consulting job related to new gTLDs. I advised London’s relevant government agency on its subsequent bid for dot London. This involved writing a business case, tender documents and preparing financial modeling. This contract concluded in December 2011, and I have not worked on the preparation of this or any other new gTLD application.I am not affiliated with any registry or registrar, or other business depending on ICANN's decisions. 
 
I am willing and able to represent the NCSG as a GNSO Councillor. I have been a member of the NCUC for 2.5 years and served as its representative on ICANN’s Nominating Committee until my resignation from that position in June, this year. I am an active member and work to stay in contact with a wide range of the NCSG membership.
 
I am involved in Internet-related policy activities in the UK. I currently serve as a Board Director and member of the Policy Advisory Board of the Open Rights Group, an advocacy organization that works on protecting digital rights in the UK.
 
I was previously a staff member of ICANN, from 2005 to 2010. I was hired as the GNSO’s first dedicated policy officer, and I worked on Whois, amongst other issues, for two years. I then joined the new Corporate Affairs team in an internal communications role. Before ICANN, I worked on Internet policy issues (mostly data protection, information security and some telecoms) for the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris, and the Law Society of England and Wales. (Further info about my background is here: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/maria-farrell/0/456/a85)
 
I believe I am well qualified to represent NCSG as I have deep working knowledge of ICANN and Internet policy more broadly. I am committed to advocating for freedom of expression and privacy as they relate to GNSO issues, and to ensuring that noncommercial users’ interests are reflected in policy outcomes.
 
If elected, I will continue to talk and listen to the wide variety of our membership, and represent all our interests as best I can. I will also work with our constituency leadership to get and keep a diversity of our membership informed and involved in the many working groups of the GNSO.
 
I am available to serve on the GNSO, recognizing the significant time commitment this involves.
 
I am happy to answer questions anyone has for me about my background, qualifications or general approach to this position. I would be honoured to represent the NCSG, and will do my best to serve our community and ICANN’s public interest, if I am elected.
 
Yours faithfully, Maria Farrell