Pierre Verbaeten was professor of the Computer Science department at the University of Leuven until October 2010. For more than ten years he was chairman of this department, the largest in Belgium with more than 30 professors and 180 researchers. He led the DistriNet research group, which conducts basic and applied research in computer networks, security, middleware, multi-agent systems and embedded systems; the group numbers more than 70 researchers. Since December 2012 he has been a member of the board of trustees of the University. In 1989 Mr Verbaeten became the first manager of the .be registry, which was transferred to the not-for-profit organisation DNS Belgium on 1 January 2000.

Marko Bonac received a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics (1981) and a masters in computer science (1988) from the University of Ljubljana. Between 1981 and 1992 he worked as a researcher and project leader in the field of computer networks. Since 1992 he has been the Director of Arnes, the Academic and Research Network of Slovenia, which is also the registry for the Slovenian top-level domain, .si.

Mr Maršálek is an independent IT consultant and member of the CZ.NIC collegium, a body associated with CZ.NIC, the registry for the .cz top-level domain. Previously he was a chairman of CZ.NIC and the Managing Director of the Czech Neutral Internet eXchange node (NIX.CZ). After graduating from the Czech Technical University in Prague with a masters degree in radio electronic science, he began his professional career at AT&T. Mr Marsalek is a cofounder of GTS, the biggest alternative telecommunications operator in the Czech Republic. He also helped establish the IP network in Central and Eastern Europe on behalf of British Telecom.

Dr. Domenico Laforenza is the head of nic.it, the registry for Italy’s .it top-level domain. He is also the Director of the Institute for Informatics and Telematics of the Italian National Research Council in Pisa. Between 2003 and 2007 Dr. Laforenza was a member of the Next Generation Grid Expert Group, which was selected by the European Commission to define the priorities of future research in the Grid technologies sector. He has also been a consultant to various EU Member research agencies in Austria, France, the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Netherlands. He holds a doctoral degree in Computer Science from the University of Pisa.

Sandra Hoferichter is the Secretary General of the European Dialogue on Internet Governance (EuroDIG), the European IGF. As a board member of Medienstadt Leipzig e.V., a German non-profit organisation, she became involved in Internet Governance matters in 2006 by coordinating inter alia, the European Summer School on Internet Governance (EuroSSIG), ICANN Studienkreis, and experts meetings on the Internet of Things. Sandra holds a degree in Architecture from the Leipzig University of Applied Sciences (HTWK) and was working as a self-employed Architect from 1997‐2011.

Stéphane Van Gelder has been active in the domain industry since 1999, serving as a long-time member of the Internet Governance community. He served as an elected Board member for the French registry AFNIC from 2004 to 2010. He was also nominated as a member of EURid's Requirements Panel and its Code of Conduct Council. In addition to co-founding French based registrar, Indom, Stéphane is the General Manager of the StartingDot. Stéphane also currently serves as Vice Chair of the Registry Stakeholder Group, ICANN's domain industry representative body. Stéphane earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Sussex University (UK).