InternetNZ appoints Paul Swain as Chair of Executive Board

The InternetNZ Executive Board provides governance to the Executive Director’s office, and reports to the InternetNZ Council.

Swain will head the five-person board of directors, established as part of a structural review of InternetNZ. The board will administer the policy and advocacy arm of InternetNZ. Swain is presently Member of Parliament for the Rimutaka electorate and serves on Parliament’s Commerce and Finance and Expenditure committees. He is standing down from Parliament at the next election.

As former Minister of Communications and Information Technology, he implemented the Telecommunications Act 2001, establishing a regulatory regime for the New Zealand telecommunications industry.

He was also closely involved with Project Probe - an initiative to deliver broadband to provincial/rural New Zealand - and established a review of Telecommunications Act in 2004.

InternetNZ President Peter Macaulay says Swain’s broad personal network and considerable experience in telecommunications regulatory issues will be an asset to the fledgling board.

“InternetNZ is very keen to promote the benefits of the Internet to business, communities and New Zealand, and Mr Swain’s experience will help us achieve that goal. “One of his first roles as chair is to join the appointments panel, which is reviewing applications for the other Executive Board positions.

“We welcome Paul as the Society’s newest board chair and look forward to working with him and the other board members in providing quality governance and leadership of the InternetNZ Office.”

For more information:

Peter Macaulay

President

InternetNZ

021 488 485