I have been a board member of Public Interest Registry since July 2016. I am fairly new to the world of whole sale domain operators, but am very interested in the nexus between the Internet and civil society. I have worked on civil society issues since 1987, both as an international development practitioner as well as a 'pracademic' in academia (USA). The Internet is crucial for civil society's infrastructure as well as an important public good for civil society to promote and protect. I hope to attend ICANN in person in 2017.