Candidate Biographies
Dmitry Burkov
Background
Dmitry Burkov graduated from the Leningrad Electrotechnical Institute in 1983. He currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Foundation for Assistance for Internet Technologies and Infrastructure Development (FAITID - www.faitid.org) which is a registry for .MOSCOW/.МОСКВА. Dmitry is also a Co-Chair of the Russian ISOC Chapter.
Since the 1980s, he has been at the forefront of the development of the Internet in Russia and the RIPE NCC service region.
Early in his career, Dmitry worked at the Russian Academy of Sciences. He was involved in building the first packet-switched networks in the USSR. He took part in porting UNIX to Soviet-made computers and received a government award for his contribution in this area. Dmitry co-founded the first ISPs in Russia (Demos, Moscow, 1988 and Rcom Ltd, St. Petersburg, 1991) and was responsible for the first national-level ISP in Russia. He served on the Board of Directors of JSC Relcom, and he was responsible for international cooperation, participating in RIPE, EUnet, CIX and other global forums.
In the early 1990s, Dmitry served on the Executive Board of the Soviet UNIX Users Group, driving the development and success of the Relcom/EUnet network group. In 1994, he played an active part in the creation of one of the first national research IP-networks (RELARN) and the following year was a key participant in the creation of the first Russian Internet Exchange, MSK-IX. He also assisted the development of TLD .RU and was the first Chairman of Council of ccTLD .RU. He actively participated on an international level on behalf of the Coordination Centre for many years.
From early in his career, Dmitry Burkov has been a visionary and a leader in Internet governance affairs on behalf of the Russian Internet community, the RIPE community and the RIPE NCC. He has consistently defended the industry self-regulation approach to Internet operations. He participated in the international coordination and both the regional and national levels. He acted as an expert consultant in the development of several laws and national guidelines for the telecommunications environment.
Dmitry has been heavily involved in the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) preliminary process and participated in the ICANN Board At Large Elections process. In the last years, he was Trusted Community Representative and serves a role as Crypto Officer for the West Coast Facility in the DNS Root key management process (http://dns.icann.org/ksk/tcrs/tcrs-2010/).
Dmitry has decades of high-level technical experience that he brings to all aspects of his work on behalf of the RIPE NCC membership as a whole and at the regional level.
In 2006, Dmitry became a member of the RIPE NCC Executive Board. His extensive work and experience with ICANN meant he was ideally placed to act as the Executive Board ICANN Liaison. He represents the interests of the RIPE NCC's membership at the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) and International Telecommunication Union (ITU) events, and he has played a key role in consulting with governments and regulators at events such as RIPE NCC Roundtable Meetings to achieve the best outcomes for the RIPE NCC membership.
In addition to representing the interests of the RIPE NCC membership on the global scene, Dmitry has carried out the vital role of communicating the unique needs of the Russian Internet community to the rest of the RIPE NCC membership.
As part of his work in highlighting the needs and concerns of the regional Internet community, Dmitry was instrumental in organising the first RIPE NCC Regional Meetings in Russia. As part of the Regional Meeting Organizing Committee, he ensured that not only did RIPE NCC members from the region have the opportunity to come together for the good of the Internet, but that they were heard by governments, regulators and members in the rest of the RIPE NCC service region.
Dmitry has built on this work to initiate and lead the development of the Eurasian Network Operators' Group (ENOG), transforming the RIPE NCC Regional Meetings into a greater forum for the technical community in Russia and beyond.
Motivation
I believe that we should keep our primary role as a strong and healthy Internet registry not only in deployment and management of IP resources, but also developing and assisting community cooperation.
For me it is very important to ensure that not only in Russia, but other countries from our region, are fully involved in the RIPE processes and that the rest of the RIPE community is aware of the issues affecting the regional technical communities.
Internet governance issues became more important not only regarding the initiated IANA Transition, but also regarding growing interests in the Internet's related public policy development. Over the coming years, we can expect significant changes in the Internet governance landscape. It is very important to keep the Internet safe and stable and to escape the risks of fragmentation.
We need to expand our regional presence to provide more opportunities for our members to actively participate in RIPE activities. We should help talented people and organisations from regions to become more important players in the development of the Internet globally.
I hope that I can be useful for the membership on the Executive Board and my experience and expertise will help to protect the interests of RIPE NCC members. It would be an honour for me if you support me for another term.
Amir Mohsenian
Background
After graduating from university, I started to work with a reputable company, which was one of the first major service providers in Iran. From then, and during eight years of hard working as technical manager there and in other companies, I have conquered most obstacles about this new wave of technology which must not only be introduced to the public but also be implemented successfully.
My achievement during these years includes: Cisco, Linux, MikroTik and Microsoft certificates which help me to run three companies, including Nooran Telecommunication (www.nooran.com/en/about-us) and Dibagaran Information Technology, an ISP and VOIP company, as Managing Director and Chairman of the Board.
My work has included:
- Design, implementation and management of the technical department of an Internet Service Distribution/Provider company
- Consultation and design of private access provider on company's network
- Consultation and design of VOIP on company's network
- Supervision of local network, wireless/satellite network of numerous customers
- Training technical staff
- Consulting and advising the board of directors on the company's policy for providing added value to telecommunication and Internet services
Motivation
Being an active and close member of the RIPE NCC for more than 12 years gave me the initial courage to be a nominee and serve as a member of the Executive Board to find any possible solution for a win-win business for providers and end users and I hope I can put my words into action.
Piotr Strzyżewski
Background
I studied Computer Science at the Silesian University of Technology - one of the biggest technical universities in Poland. At the same time I started my job for the University Computer Centre as the system administrator. Since then I have changed position several times, finally becoming Manager of the Security and Network Operations Department. Although I'm mostly a security-oriented person, my team deals with all kind of things including but not limited to magic and miracles.
During my business career I have been given wide range of tasks that greatly exceed pure engineering. These have seen me involved with such areas as budgeting, legal advice or public tenders and policymaking.
For all those years I have been an active member of the PIONIER Consortium community (Polish NREN), involving many presentations and personal commitment with its task forces - IPv6-TF, PIONIER-CERT and PIONIER-PKI. I'm also a member of Abuse-Forum, an informal community of Anti-Abuse teams in Poland.
I was also one of the pioneers in deployment of the eduroam project in Poland, which is now one of the world's biggest world-wide roaming access services made for research and education users.
In the 1990s I was one of the core members of the Silesian Linux Users Group. Open ideas developed those days I hold till today. Thats why I devote part of my time to promote "open knowledge". I do that in several ways, which include but are not limited to giving public lectures under the GNU/Politechnika (GNU/University) project. Moreover, I prepare and deliver many presentations at various meetings and conferences including PLNOG among others. Furthermore, since my knowledge about Linux and networks are a valuable asset I was asked to prepare and conduct lectures covering those subjects.
Since my primary occupation is University, this has given me the opportunity to better understand the point of view of research and education users, which are a huge part of our community. Nevertheless, I do have also experience in dealing with non-academic parties.
In my spare time I'm a yacht skipper. Although this is just a hobby, it has taught me how to effectively work in a team. I'm sure that this would allow me to be a better member of the Board.
Work with RIPE and the RIPE NCC
I have dealt with all LIR-related topics since the late 1990s. This has aroused my interest in RIPE policies and community. The natural consequence of that was that I started attending RIPE Meetings in person about 10 years ago. During this time I have made several presentations that touch on different areas, including policy proposals and implementation details.
Moreover, I have engaged myself and become a member of two Task Forces – the Anti-Abuse Contact Management Task Force and the RIPE NCC Charging Scheme Task Force, the first and only RIPE NCC Task Force.
In addition, I recently became one of the happy co-chairs of the RIPE Database Working Group, which gives me even more opportunity to serve RIPE Community.
My work on the Charging Scheme Task Force has given me deep insight into details concerning financial aspects, the activity plan and budgeting of our association. Moreover, members of this Task Force have given valuable input into the process of creating crucial documents such as the Charging Scheme and Activity Plan.
Furthermore, I also manage LEGACY IP address space, which lets me be more oriented in the needs of this important part of our membership.
Motivation
I do believe that the important role of the RIPE NCC within the current Internet Society is crucial. Its independence and impartial character brings stable support for the community not only within its service region but throughout the world. This is especially visible and crucial nowadays, when the IANA stewardship transition has been initiated.
The justification to increase the number of Executive Board members was, among others, to better reflect the changing composition of the RIPE NCC membership and to have more specialist knowledge available to the Executive Board to handle specific areas. I believe that my background, knowledge and experience would be a valuable asset for the Executive Board and will help fulfill those goals. My open-minded and creative style of thinking lets me better understand different points of view, which could be crucial for this role.
My goal is to serve the entire continuously growing community. I would like to encourage more people from Central Europe to engage more actively in the life of the community. To achieve that I would like to devote my spare time to work for the Executive Board. It would be a great honour to me if I were elected.
If you would like to have a chat with me, please catch me throughout the whole week of RIPE 70 Meeting.
János Zsakó
Background
Studies, certifications:
- Diploma in Computer Science Engineering, Technical University, Cluj, Romania, 1986.
- Certified Information System Auditor (CISA) by Information System Audit and Control Association (ISACA), Illinois, USA, 1999-2012, presently not active.
- Master diploma in management (Maîtrise en Management des Organisations en Contexte International), Université de Picardie, Amiens, France, 2000
- Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) by Information System Audit and Control Association (ISACA), Illinois, USA, 2004-2012, presently not active.
- Master diploma in economics at College of Finance and Accountancy of Budapest Business School, 2008.
Between June 2011 and October 2014 Development Director, since October 2014 Managing Director of ISZT Nonprofit Kft., the .hu TLD operator. ISZT is an LIR with five star IPv6 RIPEness, with 100% content deployment (http://ripeness.ripe.net/5star/HU.html).
Janos contributed to the DNSSEC deployment and to elaborating a hardened and reliable environment for authoritative secondaries for .hu.
Between 2005 and 2011 Technology Director of 3C Kft, Budapest, Hungary. Managed to acquire a vast experience in satellite communications, network security, Internet related services like DNS, mail and routing. 3C offered Internet access services over ADSL countrywide and with microwave in the Budapest area.
Between 1998 and 2005 Technical Director at BankNet. Joined BankNet, a data communication service provider, in 1992. Pioneer in offering commercial Internet services in Hungary late 1994 taking transit services from Pipex UK.
Attended most of RIPE meetings since RIPE 21, Rome. Member of the editorial committee of the RIPE document ripe-136 (which replaced ripe-104). Member of the Database Security Task Force, summarized the results in RFC2726. Member of the RIPE Data Protection Task Force. Member of the ad-hoc group for DNS WG 67.1. Gave a presentation on IPv6 penetration in Hungary at RIPE 68.
On the RIPE NCC Executive Board, acting as Treasurer between 2001 and 2010. Contribution to the safeguarding of the assets of the RIPE NCC during the financial crisis period and providing transparency of the financial situation. Adviser to the Executive Board of the RIPE NCC from 2010.
Active role in the formation of the Council of Hungarian Internet Providers (CHIP). Roles in CHIP: chairman of Registration Committee (1998), vice-president (1999), at present chairman of Network Security Committee (since 2001), member of the Supervisory Board from 2005 to 2013. Member of the Supervisory Board of the .hu TLD Registry from 2000 to 2011. Member of honour of CHIP since April 2013.
Former work experience: systems programming in microcomputer environment (1986-1988), in industrial automation (1988-1990), in 4GL product (1990-1992).
Co-author of the book: "Tree structures and their applications", Technical Publishing House, Bucharest, 1990 (in Romanian).
Member of the third prize team at the Programming World Championship for 4GL held in Stockholm, 1991.
Motivation
I am fully convinced of the importance of the RIPE NCC as a factor of stability of the Internet, as the RIPE NCC is the most important, impartial body of Internet self-regulatory structure in our region, not driven by commercial or political goals.
The RIPE NCC must be flexible, able to adapt itself to the changing economic and political environment. Due to the shortage of IPv4 addresses we must try to make the transition to IPv6 as painless as possible for the large base of users of the Internet and to the members of the RIPE NCC, to the ISPs. The IANA stewardship transition is also an important task the community has to give appropriate attention.
I am willing to serve the RIPE community, and I would like to contribute with my technical knowledge and my management and financial experience to maintaining the stability of the RIPE NCC, to widening the range and improving the quality of the services provided by the RIPE NCC in line with the needs of the membership. My main goal is protecting the interest of the membership in a transparent and accountable manner.