Public Interest Registry (PIR) announced today that the Internet Society (ISOC) has appointed Internet pioneer Pindar Wong to the PIR board.

Over the last decade, Pindar Wong has been actively involved in developing the Internet in the Asia Pacific region. He has held several board positions including chairman of the Asia Pacific Internet Association, the executive committee chairman of the Asia Pacific Internet Conference on Operational Technologies and the alternate chair of the Asia Pacific Network Information Center. In addition, he has been involved with ICANN in several capacities, including serving on the board of directors. Wong also has served as an Internet Society trustee. He is best known for co-founding Hong Kong’s first licensed Internet Service Provider in 1993 and is the chairman of VeriFi, an Internet infrastructure consultancy also based there.

“Pindar’s extensive experience in the Internet space is a valuable asset which will be of great benefit to the .ORG community,” said Edward G. Viltz, president and CEO of Public Interest Registry. “We are delighted to have Pindar on the PIR board and are privileged to have his dedication to assist in ensuring that .ORG remains an exemplary registry with an international focus.”

Pindar Wong’s Internet passions center around the security, stability and evolution of the Domain Name System (DNS); the development of Internet exchange points; the promotion of rural networking; and encouraging internet entrepreneurship for the youth.

“It is truly an honor to be appointed to the PIR board,” said Pindar Wong. “The .ORG registry has effectively established itself as the global voice for the .ORG community in issues affecting the name space. Internet security, privacy and Internationalized Domain Names are critical name space issues that PIR will continue to dedicate its resources toward, and I look forward to helping PIR succeed with these objectives.”

Prior to his involvement in Internet services, Pindar Wong was a doctoral candidate and Sir Edward Youde research fellow at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Before gaining his doctoral fellowship, he was briefly a banker after graduating with first class honors in computing science from the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine.