Afilias, the world’s second largest domain name registry, today thanks Desiree Z. Miloshevic for her leadership and service to the Board of Trustees of the Internet Society. Desiree is the longest-serving Trustee in ISOC’s history, with 12 years of cumulative service in various capacities. Desiree was elected to the Board 4 (four) times and also served on the ISOC Organisational Members Advisory Council. Desiree recent step down from the Board is due to term limitations.

“I want to thank my fellow Trustees and ISOC members for letting me represent them,” said Miloshevic. “I am grateful for my time at ISOC and am honoured by the opportunity to contribute. I’d also like to thank Afilias for allowing me to dedicate a portion of my time to this worthy organization.”

Ms Miloshevic’s work in the Internet field began in 1993 as one of the hostmasters for Demon Internet, the United Kingdom’s first Internet service provider to offer access to individual internet users in addition to corporations. She participated in the informal, peer-coordinated policy-making process for the .UK domain until supervision of the .UK ccTLD was assumed by Nominet in 1996. In subsequent years she has worked as an expert technical and policy consultant on a wide range of domain issues and has participated in the work of many Internet councils, workshops and constituencies in the areas of DNS policy, Internet governance and capacity building. She joined ISOC in 1999 as a member of the England UK Chapter, and was first elected to the Board of Trustees in 2004.

The Internet Society is a global cause-driven organization governed by a diverse Board of Trustees dedicated to ensuring that the Internet stays open, globally-connected, secure, and trustworthy for all users. Its vision is simple and powerful: The Internet is for Everyone.

The Chair of the ISOC Board of Trustees, Gonzalo Camarillo, noted: “The Internet Society is well served by the generous contribution of Trustees, current and Emeriti, who put their time towards the important work and mission of the organization. We are very fortunate to have a diverse and global community of volunteers from ISOC Organizational Members, Chapters and the IETF who are willing to serve on the board. At our AGM last month in Montreal, the ISOC Board and ISOC Foundation Board formally thanked Desiree for her contribution and outstanding service throughout the years”.

Desiree has also served as Special Advisor to the Chair of the UN Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Advisory Group since 2006 and on the Board of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility. Her decade-plus of close and productive interactions with regulators, intergovernmental leaders, academics, artists, and community activists throughout the world provide her with a unique set of resources with which to engage the often complex, cross-sectoral challenges of Internet technical coordination and governance.

When not volunteering, Ms. Miloshevic is the Senior Advisor of International Affairs and Public Policy for Afilias. Afilias is a leading provider of domain registry services and has been delivering technical services for the .ORG top-level domain since ISOC’s Public Interest Registry subsidiary became the registry operator in 2003. Afilias is a platinum member of ISOC, shares its vision, and contributes where it can to support its mission.