2025-11-13 APRALO ICANN84 Readout

Maureen HILYARD is a Director on the Board of the Internet Society. Formerly on the Advisory Councils of the Public Interest Registry and the DNS Abuse Institute, and Chair of PICISOC. Currently a Director on the Board of DotAsia as well as co-Founder and Co-Chair of the IGF Dynamic Coalition of SIDS in the Internet Economy. Formerly, the Chair of the ALAC of ICANN (the At-Large Advisory Committee of the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers - focusing on domain names). Recently concluded the production of the National Digital Transformation Strategy 2024-2030 for the Cook Islands, and currently working as a Safeguards Specialist for ADB involving projects to support the post-pandemic return of tourism to the Cook Islands. Most of the past ten years have been focused on project development activities related to biodiversity conservation and the sustainable development of our environment, and advocating for the use of ICT4D across the Pacific.

Aftab A. Siddiqui Currently works for the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre APNIC Foundation and is based in Sydney, Australia. He brings almost two decades of experience in technical and business operations within the Internet service provider industry, combining deep technical expertise with strategic leadership. Over the course of his career, he has worked closely with technical communities, government agencies, civil society, and the private sector across the Asia Pacific, developing an intimate knowledge of the Internet ecosystem and a strong commitment to advancing its resilience and inclusivity. His work has focused on technology and infrastructure development, stakeholder engagement, policy advocacy, and capacity building, with particular emphasis on routing security, the Domain Name System, IPv6 adoption, and Internet Exchange Point development.

In his current role as Head of Stakeholder Relations, Aftab leads the Foundation’s engagement with a diverse set of stakeholders, including the technology industry, academia, development organizations, and community partners. He also plays a central role in advancing collaboration between technical and nontechnical communities, ensuring that Internet development efforts are inclusive and aligned with regional needs.

Manju Chen is the Director of Policy at the Trusted Notifier Network (TNN). She is a member of the Noncommercial Stakeholder Group (NCSG) in ICANN’s Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO). She also chairs the GNSO Standing Committee on Continuous Improvement (SCCI).

Prior to joining the TNN, Manju was a manager at NIIEPA, where she advised the Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA) in Taiwan regarding the administration’s engagement strategy in global Internet Governance discussions and its policy decisions on digital regulations.

Manju is deeply involved in capacity building efforts in the APAC region. She organized the first Local Asia Pacific Internet Governance Academy (APIGA) event in Taipei, and has been participating in the Regional APIGA as a speaker and mentor since 2021.

Jordan Carter is the Internet Governance & Policy Director at auDA, which operates the ccTLD for Australia. Before that, for just over nine years, he was the Chief Executive of InternetNZ, a non-profit Internet organisation in New Zealand that is the ccTLD manager for the .nz domain. InternetNZ focuses on a broad "open Internet" agenda with some similarity to ISOC's work.

In the ICANN environment, Jordan is very active, especially in the ccNSO. He was also involved in the IANA Stewardship transition and continues to be part of ICANN accountability processes. He began his ICANN career in late 2013.

Ankita Rathi is a lawyer and a public policy professional with a background in evidence-based policy analysis & research, policy development, capacity building and data management. Her journey toward understanding Internet Governance started when she joined NetMission Academy as a youth ambassador (2023-2024). After that she has actively engaged with several organizations such as ICANN, ISOC, APNIC, KISA, .DotAsia, EngageMedia, etc in different capacities.  As part of her professional and academic journey, she has worked extensively with organizations on platform governance, information integrity and digital safety. She has developed a deep expertise in areas such as online safety, sustainable governance, human rights, technology policy. Her training in law, combined with her experience in various policy and research roles, has equipped her with a comprehensive understanding of complex issues within the field of Internet governance.

Samiran Gupta is Vice President, Stakeholder Engagement and Managing Director, Asia Pacific for ICANN.

Before rejoining ICANN in October 2023, Samiran was Senior Director of Global Government Affairs for India and South Asia with Twitter/X Corp. He previously served as ICANN’s Head of India, and Head of Stakeholder Engagement, South Asia from September 2014 until February 2022. Samiran rejoined ICANN to be the Vice President, Government and Intergovernmental Organization (IGO) Engagement for the APAC region, and Stakeholder Engagement for South Asia.