Rod Beckstrom (born February 1961) is an American author, high-tech entrepreneur, and former CEO and President ofICANN. He previously served as Director of theNational Cybersecurity Center.
Beckstrom received his BA with Honors and Distinction and an MBA fromStanford University, where he served as the Chairman of the Council of Presidents of the Associated Students of Stanford University.[citation needed]
In August 2007, Beckstrom and Peter Thoeny, author ofTWiki co-launched TWIKI.NET, aWeb 2.0 company that supportsTWiki, an open source wiki. Beckstrom became Chairman and Chief Catalyst. He was also co-founder, Chairman and CEO of CATS Software Inc., a derivatives and risk management software company which went public onNASDAQ and later was sold toMisys PLC.[citation needed]
He is co-author of the best-selling bookThe Starfish and the Spider, which lays out a new organizational theory for considering all organizations as existing on a continuum between centralized to decentralized, with different implications and strategies for each firm based upon their position on that axis. In interviews withThe Washington Post[1] andUSA Today,[2] Beckstrom explains how, using the 'Starfish' concept illustrated inThe Starfish and the Spider, the U.S. Government can take a different approach in their dealings withAl-Qaeda. Beckstrom is also the formulator of an economic model for valuing networks,Beckstrom's law, which was presented at BlackHat 2009 and Defcon 2009.
On March 20, 2008, Beckstrom was appointed to run the newly createdNational Cybersecurity Center,[3] a position requiring "advanced thought leadership in areas like coordination, collaboration and team work in order to best serve the mission".[4][5][6]
On March 5, 2009, less than a year after the position was created, he stated that he would resign as the Director of theNational Cybersecurity Center (NCSC) on Friday, March 13, 2009.[7] He has recommended the Deputy Director Mary Ellen Seale as his successor.[7] He stated that a lack of cooperation from theNSA and insufficient funding led to his resignation.[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] He stated that he received $500,000 which funded five weeks of operation.[20][21] He has stated that he supports a more decentralized approach and opposes the NSA's move to try to "rule over" the NCSC.[18][22]
Interview with Beckstrom on his time as CEO of ICANN
On 25 June 2009, at its 35th meeting in Sydney, Australia, the Board ofICANN resolved to appoint Rod Beckstrom as its CEO and President.[23] At ICANN, he presided over a number of notable developments, including the 15 July 2010DNSSEC signing of the DNS root, and the 20 June 2011 opening of thegTLD namespace to additional applicants.[24] On July 1, 2012, he was succeeded as CEO by ICANN's COO as CEO pro tem who served in that capacity until Beckstrom's permanent replacementFadi Chehade was able to take up his position on 1 October 2012.[25][26]
An active participant in the non-profit arena, Beckstrom serves on the board of trustees ofEnvironmental Defense Fund, an organization involved in designing, advocating and implementing environmental policy solutions, such as theKyoto Protocol and the California Climate Act. He is also a trustee of Jamii Bora Trust, a micro-lending group with 170,000 members, based in Nairobi.[citation needed]
^Claburn, Thomas (9 March 2009)."U.S. Cybersecurity Director Resigns, Blames NSA".Rod Beckstrom criticizes the NSA's dominance of most of the nation's cybersecurity initiatives. InformationWeek. Archived fromthe original on 10 March 2009. Retrieved9 March 2009.
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