Q&A: Alexa Raad, CEO of .org - Page 2

Q: What is your key goal for .org?

Obviously .org is a business. It's a non-profit but it's also a business. It has to be run in a way that is foundationally sound. That's part one without that we can't do our other activities.

As an example our DNSSEC activities are not revenue producing for us. It is something that we do as part of our mission for doing good for the Internet.

So part of it is to run a successful stable business. The other part is to engage in policies and advocate positions that may not be as feasible for others to do but is in the interest of the greater good for all.

Another example is what we do with the RISG group, where we bring together registries and law enforcement, ultimately to benefit people like my parents who are on e-mail. They are being targeted by phishing attacks, just like everyone else, and unless we step up as an industry and try to understand the problem from a holistic point of view, criminals are just going to get better and smarter, moving from one TLD to another.

We think we're uniquely positioned [relative to] other TLDs. We have a good reputation as a company for taking the long term and the right viewpoint.

Q: What's wrong with the registry business today? What would you like to change?

One of the things I'd like to see is more industry collaboration. A lot of the problems that we face are not singular problems. We do not live in a silo, the Internet is a great equalizer and we all own part of that real estate.

To run a registry with a singular outlook that is simply about the success of yours and nobody else's is shortsighted. I think what we've seen with the DNSSEC coalition is that a lot of the kudos go to our partners that have stepped up providing talent and resources.

The positive trend that I'm seeing is we are realizing that it's not just about us, it's not our neighborhood it's about THE neighborhood. We all bear a sense of responsibility and we can't wait for someone else to solve the problems, it is our turn now to step up and do it.

Q: What are your biggest challenges in growing .org?

Running a good business, running it in a form where everyone at .org is fulfilled. Not just in terms of job satisfaction, but also in terms of what they are able to accomplish for the greater good.

What keeps me up is how do we balance all the responsibility that we've taken on with running a really stable and good business and actually making good on all the challenges we've taken on.