15 years ago today, September 19, I joined the Internet Society to advocate for deployment of Internet standards such as IPv6, DNSSEC, and TLS. Being who I am, I wrote a long post back in 2011 about WHY I was making this change – much of which is still applicable today!

Coming from several startups, I kind of expected to perhaps be at “ISOC” for a couple of years and then move on. 🤣 So I find myself both amazed and delighted that 15 years later I’m still at the Internet Society – and with no interest in working anywhere else! As several people have asked why I’m still here, I think there are three reasons.

1 – The Mission

First is the vision and mission of the Internet Society. The vision is simply: “The Internet is for everyone.” The mission statement has actually changed from when I first joined and is now a bit longer and more detailed, but I’ll quote the first line: “The Internet Society supports and promotes the development of the Internet as a global technical infrastructure, a resource to enrich people’s lives, and a force for good in society.” The following lines go on to speak of building communities, advancing technologies and open standards, and advocating for policies to support these views.

I mean… how do you beat that? It’s a powerful view into ensuring the Internet works FOR us, and benefits society. All the problems and challenges I wrote about 15 years ago are still here – and in many cases they have only become worse (more walled gardens! more governments wanting to assert control!) and more challenging (the decline in trust in the Internet). Someone needs to be out there as a voice “for the Internet” and “for the people using the Internet”.

I am lucky enough to wake up every day with a job focused on trying to make the online world better for everyone. And I wake up excited to go to work – if anything, I struggle to “shut down” because I enjoy the work so much. That’s why I’m still here!

[Oh, and we’re hiring! Not many open positions right at this moment, but keep an eye out as we do have more at different times.]

2 – The People

Second, the people in the Internet Society community are AMAZING. Every day I meet people – staff or community members – who are incredible in their own ways. While I know a great amount about Internet technologies and the Internet community after 40-ish years working online, there are always people who know more… on technologies or regions or communities or more. One day I’ll learn something about quantum communications from someone deep in that world… another day I’ll learn about daily activities in Cameroon… or how government agencies work in Australia… or some new form of encryption… or differences in languages… or how someone who is blind engages with the Internet… or… or…

Or I’ll be inspired by a community network set up by an indigenous community or the amazing activities of Internet Society Chapters around the world. Just this week I was blown away by some powerful projects from this year’s group of Early Career Fellows (one of whom of course had me at “Wikipedia” and “multilingual”! 😀).

If you can surround yourself with passionate people who are smarter than you on some topics, it’s a beautiful thing for someone who likes to learn!

3 – The Ever-Changing Role

Third, my role keeps changing. When I began in 2011 it was for accelerating deployment of Internet protocols – and building a “hub” website for information users could use to help with that deployment. 15 years later, I am amusingly again building a web “hub”, but this time for online trust and safety resources! And I’m engaging with various technical communities and working on building a culture of accessibility within the organization.

In between 2011 and 2026, I’ve done MANY different things. For about 8 years I was in our communications team, leading the redesign of our website in 2017 and for a while being responsible for all the 25+ websites the organization operates. I was also involved in social media, content development, speeches, live-streaming, and many other comms-things – and for some time was very prolifically writing. Outside of communications, I led projects related to accelerating open standards, understanding low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites (like Starlink), supporting technical communities, and also routing security. I learned all about filing amicus briefs through supporting a project around that, and I spent multiple years documenting Internet shutdowns for our Pulse measurement platform.

And then in 2024 I changed to support our new President & CEO with her communications, which then evolved into creating a new role as her Chief of Staff in early 2025 – which was something completely new and interesting to learn! – and then evolving that role by the end of the year into something different for someone else. And then in 2026 I’ve taken on a new role focused around our online trust and safety work – and deepening our connection with several technical communities.

The point is that the Internet Society is a place where there are opportunities for those who wish to pursue them – and THAT is definitely what has kept me here over 15 years.

Succession Planning

As I’ve passed this milestone, one change I’ve noticed over the past couple of years – and that will continue to be a focus in the time ahead – has been my own orientation toward looking at how to help further develop the next generations of staff within the organization.

The reality is that next month I’ll turn 59 and just biologically there are only so many “working” years ahead of me. Maybe 10… maybe 15… maybe more… but maybe less, too. Bodies age, minds slow, medical issues arise, etc.

I think it’s incumbent upon all of us as we rise in seniority to figure out how we can ensure there are people in the pipeline who can carry on the work we’ve been doing – and even perhaps grow it even more and better beyond what we’ve done! 🎉 I’ve been lucky enough to have some great examples and mentors – and I need to be providing that to those who are coming up behind me.

So that has been – and will continue to be – something I’m increasingly focused on. I want to do all I can to help ensure the Internet Society, its community, and its ecosystem of organizations continues to grow and thrive over the many years ahead. Its voice and activities are needed now more than ever!

Next?

The reality is this 15-year anniversary is just another day… nothing changes on Monday when I go back online to work. I’m in the middle of focusing on delivering an online trust & safety website by the (rapidly approaching!) end of this month. I’m starting to do more writing and in fact should have a blog post dropping on Monday for an announcement. I’ve got some travel coming up to ICANN, IETF, and Marconi Society events. There’s emerging technology to continually monitor (ex. AI, LEOs, quantum). There’s email to read… Slack messages to go through… documents to update… and so much more.

And as I said at the beginning, the challenges to the open Internet that I outlined 15 years ago STILL PERSIST, and if anything have only gotten worse.

But the good news is that there are amazing people and communities around the world working on solutions and doing what they can to ensure the Internet is a force for good in the world.

It’s been an honor and privilege to be part of that for 15 years… and I’m looking forward to seeing where this all goes in the years ahead!