Public Interest Registry (PIR) Monday announced Rick Wilhelm has been appointed the company’s Chief Technology Officer. The appointment comes as the .org steward builds out what they’re describing as “a technology vision and framework that mission-driven organisations can rely upon to serve communities and make the world a better place.”
Security has become a growing and important issue for the domain name industry as a whole as domain name abuse is now frequently the topic of ICANN and other industry meetings. Additionally, in February PIR launched the DNS Abuse Institute as part of its ongoing efforts to protect Internet users from the threat of DNS Abuse such as malware, botnets, phishing, pharming, and spam. The Institute, which has the support of many leading players in the domain name and security industry, is headed by Graeme Bunton, who has more than a decade of experience working in the DNS and DNS Abuse policy.
Wilhelm’s vast experience, both in the domain industry and technology sectors, will enable the .org steward to continue to strengthen its platform for users. Previously he was Verisign’s Vice President of platform management and he commenced with PIR on the day of the announcement.
“PIR believes that more and stronger mission-driven organisations strengthen our communities, which is why we are pleased to have someone of Rick’s calibre take on the challenge of building out the technology vision so vital to the success of .ORG and our other mission-based TLDs,” said Jon Nevett, President and CEO of PIR. “We will look to him to guide our efforts as we continually explore innovative ways to improve and secure the infrastructure vital to so many Internet users.”
Wilhelm comes to PIR with an accomplished background in domain name infrastructure, cloud, and software-based platforms and services. Prior to his appointment, in addition to his position at Verisign, he also spent over a decade serving in executive positions for Network Solutions and Neustar, where he was the principal architect of the company’s first gTLD registry. He has held leadership positions within the ICANN community, serving for nearly three years as a member of ICANN’s Security and Stability Advisory Committee.
“Hundreds of millions of people around the globe rely on .ORG. It plays a vital role for the world’s leading charitable, mission-driven, and non-profit organisations, making it not only an essential part of the Internet, but society as a whole,” said Wilhelm. “For that reason, serving as PIR’s CTO is a humbling responsibility. I look forward to helping strengthen PIR’s already stellar technology platforms so we remain the gold standard for domain registries and enable organisations around the globe to help, heal, inspire, and serve their communities.”