LOS ANGELES - The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced in a press release that Alexandra Kulikova will take over for Michael Yavushev as Head of Global Stakeholder Engagement for Eastern Europe & Central Asia. She will be assuming this role in September, following Yakushev's departure from ICANN.
"We would like to thank Michael Yakushev for playing an integral part in building ICANN's presence and engagement strategy in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and we hope to work with him in the future, as a member of the ICANN community," said Sally Costerton, ICANN's Senior Vice President for Global Stakeholder Engagement. "Building on the excellent work already done by Michael in this important part of the world, Alexandra brings substantial knowledge of ICANN, Internet governance and cybersecurity to the role. She will be using that experience to further enhance our engagement program for ICANN and the community. I'm looking forward to working with her."
Alexandra will continue to work closely with the rest of the ICANN organization and its senior management, including Regional Vice President for Europe, Jean-Jacques Sahel, to serve the region and its users.
Alexandra joined the organization in 2015, as Global Stakeoholder Engagement (GSE) Manager for Eastern Europe and Central Asia. In this role, she drove engagement initiatives across the region in close partnership with local Internet communities.
Alexandra has a strong background in Internet governance and cybersecurity, having led the Global Internet Governance and International Information Security research program at the PIR Center, the Moscow-based non-governmental think-tank that focuses on global security issues. Alexandra holds an MSc (Hons) in Media and Communication Governance from the London School of Economics and Political Science in the United Kingdom, and an undergraduate degree in linguistics and multicultural communication from Moscow State Linguistic University in Russia.
ICANN's mission is to help ensure a stable, secure and unified global Internet. To reach another person on the Internet, you need to type an address – a name or a number – into your computer or other device. That address must be unique so computers know where to find each other. ICANN helps coordinate and support these unique identifiers across the world. ICANN was formed in 1998 as a not-for-profit public-benefit corporation with a community of participants from all over the world.