An ICANN spokesman called the creation of the new position a key to continuing to improve ICANN’s operational effectiveness.
Brent, who has more than 25 years of experience working with such companies as IBM, Packet Designs and Andes Networks, will handle finance, administration, human resources and compliance issues for the organization in charge of overseeing the domain name registration system.
The ICANN spokesman also said Brent, known as an innovator of network routing and traffic analysis solutions, would contribute to issues of policy.
Brent is expected to help organize and help set the agenda of ICANN’s regular international conferences where technology leaders from around the globe gather to discuss issues concerning the Internet.
Brent’s hiring follows on the heels of ICANN’s decision to revisit the issue of a .XXX sTLD registry nearly eight months after its board shelved ICM Registry’s plan.
This latest round of debate on .XXX is seen by many as a proxy battle for the larger issue of U.S. dominance of ICANN. When .XXX died, many international critics of ICANN cried foul, saying that the U.S. Commerce Department, which recently extended its oversight of the organization, exerted too much influence in the debate over .XXX.
Brent will be based in ICANN’s Marina Del Rey office.