Selection committee: Infrastructure
Sharad Sanghi heads the global business of Data Centers and Marine Cables of NTT Ltd., a USD 11 billion global technology services company, across the four regions – APAC, EMEA, India and US. He is also the Managing Director of the India business for NTT Ltd. He is responsible for scaling the entity to over 4500 employees, 12 high-density and hyperscale data centers, delivering transformational services elements including managed hybrid infrastructure, and cloud services, as well as foundational technology solutions and services to over 3500 clients. A pioneer in the Indian cloud computing space, Sharad is an industry veteran with over 30 years of extensive experience in developing Internet backbone infrastructure and providing Internet services. He was inducted in the ‘Hall of fame’ series by The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) Mumbai in 2019 for being an Outstanding Entrepreneur in the Deep Tech category. He is on the Board of APNIC Foundation, and is also the Co-chairman of the Data Center Council of apex associations’ namely the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
Sheryl (Shane) Hermoso is Training Delivery Manager (South East Asia and East Asia) at APNIC. Before joining APNIC, Shane had various roles as a Network Engineer, managing the enterprise network backbone and wireless infrastructure. Shane regularly presents on routing issues at conference and training events throughout the Asia Pacific.
Dr Wanqing Tu is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Durham University, UK. Before joining Durham University, she worked as an academic in the UK and New Zealand. Prior to this, she was an IRCSET Embark Initiative Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Computer Science at University College Cork. Dr. Tu got her PhD from the Department of Computer Science at the City University of Hong Kong. She is a Senior Member of the IEEE, and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, UK.
Narelle Clark is the CEO of the Internet Association of Australia, operator of IX Australia and NZIX, both not-for-profit, carrier neutral, member led internet exchanges. Narelle’s industry experience spans regulation, network architecture, research, consumer education and community development. Narelle was Deputy CEO at the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network, is a former head of CSIRO’s Networking Technologies Laboratory, of Networks R&D/Advanced Network Architecture at SingTel Optus, a former trustee of the global Internet Society. Narelle holds a seat on the board of the Public Interest Registry (operator of .Org), the engineering industry advisory board of the University of NSW and is also an Honorary Fellow at the University of Wollongong.
David Rowe has worked with signal processing hardware and software for over 30 years. In 2006, he left an executive position in the satellite communications industry to become a full time open source developer. Since then David has worked on open hardware and software projects in VOIP, developing world communications, echo cancellation, speech compression, modems, and digital voice over HF radio. David writes a popular blog that is read by 70,000 people each month, drives a home-made electric car, and also enjoys bike riding and sailing.
Kitisak Jirawannakool has worked in information security for over 15 years. He is currently Senior Security Incident Management Professional at KASIKORN Business-Technology Group (KBTG). Prior to that, he was an Information Security Consultant at the Thai Bankers’ Association (TBA) responsible for establishing a Thailand Banking Sector CERT or TB-CERT, which is the CERT for Thai banks and relevant banking companies. He was previously employed as the Information Security Specialist of Electronic Government Agency (EGA), which is under supervision of the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology of Thailand, specializing in “security incident monitoring and management (CERT)”. He also received the Asia-Pacific Information Security Leader Achievement in 2011. Kitisak holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Engineering from Khon Kaen University and a Master’s Degree in Computer Science from Chulalongkorn University.
Selection committee: IPv6 Deployment Grants
Sumon Ahmed Sabir has been involved in APNIC activity since 1998 and a regular attendee at APNIC conferences since 2005, serving as Policy SIG Chair from 2017-2020. Sumon is Chief Technology Officer of Fiber@Home Limited, running one of the largest telecommunication transmission networks and Internet gateways in Bangladesh. Prior to joining Fibre@Home in 2012, he was Managing Director of BDCOM for five and a half years, and CTO at BDCOM for six years. In addition to his duties at Fibre@Home, Sumon has continued to play an active role in the technical community in the region, serving on boards including Bangladesh Internet Exchange Limited (BDIX) and Bangladesh Network Operators Group (BDNOG), the Dhaka Chapter of ISOC Bangladesh. Sumon is also a Core Committee Member of the South Asian Network Operators Group (SANOG).
Dave Phelan is a Senior Network Analyst and Technical Trainer at APNIC. He came to APNIC having worked in the Australian ISP and MSP community for the preceding 20 years in roles as diverse as carrier transmission networks, to System Administration, to core, edge and customer networks. Having built a corporate ISP network from the ground up, he comes with an understanding of traps and pitfalls that most networks have, and do experience.
Christina Chu serves as Director of IP Strategic Planning at NTT Ltd., overseeing NTT Global IP Network’s peering relations. Her Internet career started in 1995 as a network engineer in NorthWestNet, one of the Network Science Foundation regional networks, where she gained hands on experience in various aspects of network operations. As a backbone engineer in the early days of Verio, Inc., she worked on integrating Verio’s 55 acquired ISP networks and eventually operating its worldwide tier one network. In NTT, before moving on to her current position, she managed a diverse team of talented IP operations engineers and enabled the operation and support of IPv4/IPv6 dual stack throughout the NTT Global IP Network. She has a M.S. degree in Computer Science. In her spare time, she is interested in building Internet communities and their diversity.
Selection committee: Inclusion
Dr Kenny Huang is a leading figure among Internet communities in Asia. He has worked on the development of the Internet in Taiwan for decades and held numerous roles, including APNIC Executive Council member, Chair of ccPDP4 Work Group of ccNSO and Co-Chair of Chinese Label Generation Panel for Root Zone. He has been on the Address Council of ASO, PIR Board, TWNIC Board, DotAsia Advisory Council, ICANN New gTLD Review Committee and Executive Board of the TWIA. Dr. Huang’s contributions have been acknowledged especially in the development of Internet technology. He has also been extensively involved in the development of Internet policy throughout the Asia Pacific. Dr. Kenny Huang holds a Ph.D. in Management of Information Systems from National Chengchi
Karla Skarda is the Services Director at APNIC, responsible for the strategic management of the services delivered to APNIC stakeholders, and the oversight of all services and service related communications and activities across the organisation. Remit includes overall development and operations of APNIC core services such as resource allocation/assignments, membership and helpdesk. Karla has extensive experience consulting in IT, and over 25 years experience delivering operational and financial success in a broad range of industries.
Liza Garcia is the Executive Director of the Foundation for Media Alternatives (FMA), a non-government organization based in the Philippines that assists citizens and communities in their strategic and appropriate use of various communications media for popular democratization and empowerment. As Executive Director of FMA, Liza has steered the organization towards being a champion of digital rights in the Philippines. From 2018-2019, FMA collaborated with the Philippines’ Department of Information and Communications Technology, and the Internet Society Philippines Chapter to spearhead the holding of the internet governance roadshows in four regions in the country. Liza has been involved in researches relating to women and migration, gender-based violence, and e-governance, to name a few, and has written briefing papers and articles on them. Prior to joining FMA, she worked for NGOs focused on women migrants and children.
Suchit Nanda is an ICT professional with 35+ years of experience in technology for development, data networking and mobile computing. In his youth he helped start the Microcomputer User’s Club in Bombay and co-authored the internationally renowned book “War on Virus.” In 1989 he set up LWBBS (Live Wire! BBS) which was the earliest Bulletin Board Service in the Indian subcontinent which went onto to become LWNET (one of the earliest ISPs in India). With the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) he set up the first NGO platform and later BBS network called “IndiaLink”. For the last ten years Suchit has played a key role as senior management at Reliance Foundation (RF), India’s leading not-for-profit foundation, reporting to the Chairperson..
Selection committee: Knowledge
Vincent Atienza, more commonly known as “Achie“, has a dual role handling Product and Infrastructure at Globe Telecom in the Philippines. He has more than a decade of experience in the Internet industry. He is responsible for managing the end to end evolution/optimization of Globe’s IP ecosystem. Outside Globe, he is also passionate in improving the Internet and Peering ecosystem of his home country as well contributing to the global Internet community. He was instrumental in the rebirth of the Philippine Network Operators Group(PhNOG), which he has chaired since 2015, and is also part of the Internet Society-Philippine Chapter (ISOC-Ph) serving as Board of Trustee since 2013. In February of 2020, he was elected as an APNIC Executive Council member.
Jessica Wei is a Senior Technical Trainer at APNIC, providing training on IPv6, routing, MPLS and network security in the Asia Pacific region, as well as working on the development of training contents. Before joining APNIC, Jessica spent six years in Huawei, providing technical training to engineers and administrators from more than 15 nations.
Jennifer Chung is the Director of Corporate Knowledge for DotAsia. She was an appointed member on the United Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) from 2017-2020 which advises the UN Secretary General on the annual global UN IGF agenda. Chung heads the Secretariat for the Internet Governance Forum Support Association (IGFSA) which provides support to the global UN IGF and grants seed funding to National and Regional Initiatives (NRIs). She is also a part of the Asia Pacific Regional Internet Governance Forum (APrIGF) organizing team. She hopes to drive greater participation in the APrIGF Synthesis Document process and believes that this can amplify the Asia Pacific views and contributions on Internet governance.
Paresh Khatri is the CTO for the IP Networks Division for Nokia Corporation in APAC. In this role, Paresh is responsible for formulating platform and architecture strategies to meet the varied demands of operators in the Asia-Pacific region. He has been responsible for architectural design for the largest IP transformation projects in the region, and is now working closely with service providers as they address the growing demand for scale and new services that will be enabled by the evolution to 5G. Paresh’s areas of expertise include the entire range of IP/MPLS technologies and applications, from the network core to the access network. His current areas of interest include 5G transport, network virtualisation and SDNs. Paresh has more than 26 years of experience with both service providers and vendors in building carrier-grade IP/MPLS networks, including the largest IP NGN transformation project ever undertaken in Australia.
Selection committee: Ian Peter Grants for Internet and the Environment
Efie (Sylvia) W Sumarlin is Chair of the Federasi Teknologi Informasi Indonesia (the Indonesian Information Technology Federation (FTII)). In this role, she leads efforts to advise the government on a national ICT roadmap and regulations that encourage the use of ICT, promote local IT industries to other economies in the Asia Pacific, develop cooperation with international partners, and provide education to enhance the knowledge of ICT professionals. Sylvia’s involvement in the Internet began in 1995 when she established and led Dyviacom Intrabumi (DNET), one of Indonesia’s first ISPs. She also she serves as the Permanent Committee Head in the area of ICT Infrastructure Development for the Indonesia Chamber of Commerce and Industry. She acquired a Bachelor of Arts (Economics) from Syracuse University, USA in 1986. In 1989, she earned two Masters of Arts in International Relations and Economics from Syracuse University.
Joyce Chen is APNIC’s Senior Advisor for Strategic Engagement. She is responsible for managing key relationships with stakeholders such as governments, intergovernmental organisations, and the wider Asia Pacific Internet community. Joyce is also involved in expanding APNIC’s capacity development and outreach efforts. Joyce was appointed by the UN Secretary-General to be a member of the 2021 Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) with the Internet Governance Forum (IGF). She serves on the IGF Support Association (IGFSA) Executive Committee. She is a member of the Asia Pacific Regional Internet Governance Forum (APrIGF) Multistakeholder Steering Group (MSG), the Global Forum on Cyber Expertise (GFCE), and APAC Cyber Policy Network (APCEN).
Prior to APNIC, Joyce worked in ICANN as the Senior Manager (APAC) for Global Stakeholder Engagement. Her engagement work with the multistakeholder APAC community helped to further the global cause of ensuring an interoperable, secure, and stable Internet.
Gaurab Raj Upadhaya is currently serving as the chair of APNIC Executive Council. He has been active in the Internet community for more than a decade and is currently employed by Amazon Web Services (AWS) as Principal of GND Infrastructure. Gaurab previously worked for Limelight Networks as Senior Director of Network Strategy and Interconnection, and Packet Clearing House (PCH) as Senior Internet Analyst. In 2003, Gaurab was the founder of the South Asian Network Operators Group (SANOG), the regional network operators’ forum that has trained hundreds of network engineers. In 2001, Gaurab was the founder of the Nepal Internet Exchange (NPIX), the first IX in the South-Asian region, and still serves as its Chairman. In 2007, he worked with local colleagues to build the Nepal Research and Education Network (NREN) and continues to serve as its Technical Director.
Mike Jensen co-founded The Web in Toronto in the 1980s. It was Canada’s first Internet service provider (ISP) for civil society, which subsequently became one of the founding members of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) in the early 1990s. A South African now residing in Portugal and Brazil, Mike is recognized internationally as a leading expert in digital infrastructure technology and policy, having advised NGOs, governments and private companies on the deployment of broadband infrastructure in over 45 countries during the last 30 years. In recognition of his contributions to the development of the Internet, he was inducted into the Internet Society’s Internet Hall of Fame (IHOF) in 2017.
Rajnesh Singh is Vice President for the Asia-Pacific at the Internet Society. In this role he works with a broad range of stakeholders including governments, civil society, academia, the private sector, the technical community, and influencers in the Asia-Pacific region to promote technologies, policies, and best practices to keep the Internet open, globally connected, secure, and trusted for the benefit of people all across the world. Prior to joining the Internet Society, he played founding and leading roles in several technology and private equity investment firms. He has extensive experience in business management and strategy development across multiple industries, including telecommunications, power infrastructure, agriculture, manufacturing, and real estate. He has provided consulting and mentoring support to start-ups and SMEs in the Asia-Pacific region, and held advisory roles across multiple sectors ranging from governmental organizations to sporting organizations and the private sector.
Bronwyn Manley is a Senior Consultant at BM Consulting. Bronwyn sees out social ventures that are future-focused, community-driven, and innovative for a more equitable world. Her goal is to benefit marginalized/at-risk communities by collaborating on ventures that offer scalable impact and encourage inclusion, whilst improving livelihoods and well-being. Working across the non-profit, public, and private sectors, she has led or advised programs for education in emergencies, emergency preparedness & coordination, refugee advocacy, health, safety and risk management, & vocational education. She has expertise in system analysis, strategy, design thinking, program management and capacity building. She has been part of teams developing education solutions for children in conflict, creating educational games about climate change and sustainable development and advocacy programs dispelling myths about the refugees and asylum seekers.
