Keith Drazek
As vice president of public policy and government relations at Verisign, Keith Drazek is responsible for actively and broadly participating in the development and advocacy of Verisign’s policy interests in multiple arenas involving internet identifiers directly affecting product and services offered by Verisign. Keith brings over 30 years of experience and leadership in the technical functions of the internet and the Domain Name System (DNS), internet policy development, government relations, external affairs and channel management.
Keith joined Verisign in June 2010, and during his tenure he has focused on internet policy development and implementation, as well as government and stakeholder relations. Prior to that, Keith spent 10 years at the United States Department of State, where he developed understanding of the workings of government, diplomacy, leadership and collaboration. Before that, for over a decade, Keith held several management positions in the domain name industry, including a registrar and a registry, where he became actively engaged in the top-level domain and global internet governance space, advocating for the evolution of the governmental multi-stakeholder model.
Keith has been an active member in the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) multi-stakeholder community for more than 20 years, most recently serving as chair of the Expedited Policy Development Process (EPDP) Phase 2A Working Group. Prior to that, he served as chair of the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) Council, as chair of the Registries Stakeholder Group (RySG) and was elected to the Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO) Council. Keith was also a member of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) Transition Coordination Group (ICG) and a key contributor to the IANA Transition’s ICANN Accountability and Transparency Cross-Community Working Group (CCWG). He has given many educative presentations to groups within the DNS ecosystem on the role of internet infrastructure providers and the key players within that space.
Keith studied international affairs and national security policy at George Washington University.
Recent posts by Keith Drazek:
As we passed five years since the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority transition took place, my co-authors and I paused to look back on this pivotal moment; to take stock of what we’ve learned and to re-examine some of the key events leading up to the transition and how careful planning ensured a successful transfer of IANA responsibilities from the United States Government to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. I’ve excerpted the main themes from our work, which can be found in full on the Internet Governance Project blog.
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For over a decade, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and its multi-stakeholder community have engaged in an extended dialogue on the topic of DNS abuse, and the need to define, measure and mitigate DNS-related security threats. With increasing global reliance on the internet and DNS for communication, connectivity and commerce, the members of this community have important parts to play in identifying, reporting and mitigating illegal or harmful behavior, within their respective roles and capabilities.
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The National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) March 14, 2014, announcement proposing the transition of its legacy Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) stewardship role has presented the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) multi-stakeholder community equal amounts of opportunity and responsibility. We have been handed a singular opportunity to define the terms of any stewardship transition and the fundamental responsibility to get it right.
Getting it right means ensuring, through a bottom-up, multi-stakeholder process, the reform of ICANN’s accountability structures to protect the community and the multi-stakeholder model prior to NTIA’s disengagement from its oversight and stewardship role. It also means acting quickly and efficiently so our window of opportunity is not missed.
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