ICANN CEO Chehadé to step down in 2016

Fadi Chehadé, the CEO of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which regulates domain names, will step down next year.

He will leave the organization in March 2016, ICANN said, and will not continue to work in the domain name industry. Chehadé has been pushing for the Department of Commerce to drop its control of ICANN so that the group could be more independent. The idea has faced pushback from Congress. “Fadi Chehadé has served as CEO of ICANN with tireless dedication, and I greatly appreciate his ongoing commitment to improve the accountability and transparency of the organization,” said Lawrence Strickling, the administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. “NTIA remains committed to the responsible and timely transition of our stewardship of the Internet Domain Name System consistent with the conditions that NTIA outlined in 2014.”