James Kennedy

Name of nominee
James Kennedy

Nominee's country of residence
Netherlands

Nominee's organisation or employer
Liberty Global

Nominee's email address

Name of nominating individual
Nick Hilliard

Motivation for nomination
James is an active member of the RIPE Community and has a good deal of experience dealing with both the RIPE NCC and global number resourcing policy over the last years. During his time working at the RIPE NCC, he has worked in policy implementation, and has actively been working in the IP addressing field for about 9 years. I believe that James would be a good candidate for this position and that his experience in the area would be an asset to the community.

Biographical information
James is currently the Senior Manager of IP Address Management at Liberty Global, within the company's pan-European Core Network & Operations. Among other responsibilities, he is relied upon to build internal policies for the IP number resources across Liberty's 11 operating countries in line with RIPE polices, collaborate with various local and global IP stakeholders of different backgrounds and cultures, and address critical challenges and formulate required actions.

Prior to this role, James worked for the RIPE NCC as an IP Resource Analyst from 2008 to 2013. During this period of close analysis and deliberation on a multitude of RIPE polices with colleagues and educating RIPE NCC members accordingly on a daily basis, James developed his deep understanding of various RIPE topics such as Address Policy, the Policy Development Process (PDP), the significance of RIPE Database and Routing Registry accuracy, and a range of community matters. He also learned the importance of upholding the integrity of the principles and values on which RIPE is built.

James officially represented the RIPE NCC at multiple RIPE-related events – RIPE Meetings, MENOG, IPv6 workshops, and training courses.

He held various IT positions in Amsterdam and Luxembourg since receiving his BSc degree IT and Telecommunications from the University of Limerick in 2005. More details can be found in his LinkedIn profile.

James has been an active member of the RIPE community and contributor to the working group mailing lists since leaving the RIPE NCC. He is also responsible for the management of the 16 RIPE LIR accounts within his organisation and strongly advocates correct maintenance of the RIPE Registry. James regularly represents the organisation and our LIRs at RIPE meetings, General Meetings and MENOG to keep abreast of registry matters, policy developments and continue to build his relationships within the community.

He is also an Address Policy maker. In policy 2015-02, he is the proud author of the RIPE Address Policy that received the most support from the RIPE community. This experience gave James key practical insight into how the RIPE PDP operates end-to-end.

This is an important period for the NRO as interest in the RIR process grows. The attendance of seven ICANN board members at RIPE74 demonstrates this. James is also keenly aware of the challenges to our registry system that have emerged since RIR IPv4 exhaustions. Coupled with the previously mentioned relevant knowledge and experience, James is confident he can fulfil the requirements of this position on the NRO NC and best represent the RIPE NCC by providing:

  • clear and reliable communication to the NRO EC on global policy developments
  • an assured message – in alignment with NRO colleagues – to third parties on global polices and any related questions or inquiries that may arise
  • full support to the NRO NC in streamlining internal processes and practicalities needed to help accomplish NRO objectives