Alan Barrett is to resume office as AFRINIC’s new chief executive officer on April 20 following his appointment by the African Network Information Centre’s (AFRINIC) Board of Directors.

AFRINIC said Barrett who replaces AFRINIC’s founding CEO, Adiel A. Akplogan would assume the position of the CEO as from the 20th of April 2015 for an initial three-year term.

AFRINIC Board Chair, Mr Sunday Folayan said “After a long recruitment process, we are delighted to announce that Mr Barrett will be coming on board to take this role.

“Mr Barrett has been an integral part of the development of AFRINIC and Africa’s Internet since 1989, is a long-standing member of the AFRINIC community, and is a familiar and well-respected face on the global Internet scene. With Mr Barrett as CEO, we are ready to take AFRINIC to the next level of its evolution.

“Oh behalf of the Board, our members, the AFRINIC staff, and the local and global Internet community, please join me in congratulating Mr Barrett. We wish him all the best in his new position”.

Barrett had been involved with the Internet since 1989 as a lecturer in the Electronic Engineering Department at the University of Natal, Durban, South Africa. In 1990 and 1991, he played a key part in the transformation of the South African universities network to the TCP/IP protocols and in its connection to the global Internet.

He operated the primary name server for .ZA at that time and, in 1993, was a co-founder of South Africa’s first commercial Internet service provider.

In 1997, he was one of the four authors of the proposal to form AFRINIC, and served on the AFRINIC Board from its inception until 2009.

Barret is currently a member of the Consolidated RIR IANA Stewardship Proposal (CRISP) Team, which drafted the number resource community’s response to the IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group’s (ICG) request for proposals.

He was also one of the founding members of the South African Chapter of the Internet Society, and a founding member of Namespace ZA, an organisation that was intended to oversee the .ZA ccTLD before that role was taken over by legislation.