The APNIC Foundation was established in 2017, to help build APNIC’s Internet Development activities through new partnerships and funding sources. Its purpose is to allow APNIC to increase its positive impact on the Internet, and its value to the community, but without relying solely on Member funds.
In its first 12 months of operations, the Foundation attracted over AUD 1 million in project funding, supporting the establishment of new CERTs in the Pacific, a major technical training exercise in Papua New Guinea, and training activities in Myanmar and on the APNIC Academy online platform.
Today, as the Foundation continues its second year of operations, it is developing new project proposals and building its community of supporters and collaborators, which so far include foundations in the US and Japan, and the governments of Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
As the sole member of the APNIC Foundation, APNIC is responsible for appointing its Board of Directors. So, on behalf of the APNIC EC, I’m pleased to announce the appointment of two new members to the Foundation’s Board: Mr Danish Lakhani from Pakistan and Mr Michael Malone from Australia. They join the existing Board of Ms Sylvia Sumarlin (Chair) from Indonesia, Mr Edward Tian from China, and Mr Sharad Sanghi from India. This brings the Board to five members with two positions still to fill.
Mr Danish A. Lakhani is the cofounder and CEO of Cyber Internet Services Pvt. Ltd. (“Cybernet”) — a pioneering Internet service provider in Pakistan — and of RapidCompute, Pakistan’s first public cloud service provider. Over the past decade, Mr Lakhani has led Cybernet while building out the company’s fibre-based metro and access networks in multiple Pakistani cities. In 2014, he oversaw the founding of StormFiber, and led the organization’s growth to over 1,000 team members serving customers in seven major cities across Pakistan.
Mr Lakhani started his career as a Software Engineer at Cisco Systems in San Jose, USA, where he was part of the ATM development team for the Catalyst 8500 series and later as member of the DWDM Engineering team for the ONS 15540/15530 optical platforms.
He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a MSc in Electrical Engineering (specializing in Networked Systems) from Stanford University. He earned his BSc (Applied Mathematics – Computer Science and Business Economics) from Brown University where he was elected to Sigma XI (Scientific Research Honors Society).
Mr Lakhani is also member of the Young President’s Organization – Pakistan Chapter, and is currently the President of the Harvard Business School Club of Pakistan [2018-2019].
Mr Michael Malone founded iiNet Limited, a listed Australian telecommunications company, in 1993 and continued as CEO until his retirement in 2014. By this time, iiNet had over 2,500 staff, serving over a million Australian households and businesses.
Mr Malone is currently Chair of the Boards of Superloop Ltd and Sky and Space Global, the founding Chair of Diamond Cyber Pty Ltd, and a director of NBN Co. Limited, Seven West Media, Speedcast International and Axicom. Mr Malone founded and was Deputy Chair of the non-profit, Autism West.
In 2012, Mr Malone was named Australian Entrepreneur of the Year, and the winner of the Telecommunications Society’s Charles Todd Medal. He is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Directors, the Australian Institute of Management and the Australian Computer Society. He has a BSc (Mathematics) and postgraduate qualifications from the University of Western Australia.
For more background information, please refer to my earlier introduction to the APNIC Foundation:
Introducing the APNIC Foundation
The APNIC Foundation: structure and function
What will the APNIC Foundation achieve, and how?
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