Dr. Willie Black, Nominet Chairman, Resigns

Nominet Announcement 09/09/04

Well known industry figure, Dr Willie Black, today announced his intention to resign as Chairman of Nominet, the .uk internet domain registry, after nine years of leading the company. Dr Black was the founder of Nominet and its very first employee. He oversaw the growth of the company from its inception with 3 staff to a company with a £10m turnover and 130 staff, firstly as Managing Director and Chairman and more recently as Chairman.

Nominet's Managing Director, Lesley Cowley said, "Willie's foresight, guidance and leadership have helped to establish Nominet as one of the World's most successful and highly regarded domain registries, and we are profoundly grateful for his substantial contribution."

Dr Black is also well known internationally on the internet stage. He has been a strong advocate of the not-for-profit registry model, where the registry acts in the interest of all stakeholders, and has been a notable and constructive contributor to the ICANN process.

Dr Black said, "The challenge nine years ago was to set up a stable registry for the .uk domain name space. I feel satisfied that Nominet now has a strong and effective senior management team, financial stability, provides excellent customer service, and has gained substantial respect both from the industry and from government. Now that this has been achieved, I feel that it is the right time for me to move on and apply the knowledge I have gained to new challenges elsewhere."

After he has left Nominet, Willie plans initially to take up a number of non-executive director positions so that other organisations can benefit from his wealth of expertise and experience.

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