Alejandro Pisanty is at present Director General for Academic Computing Services of the National University of Mexico (UNAM), in Mexico City. He served the community as a member of the ICANN Board of Directors (term ending in June 2007), Chair of ISOC Mexico, and a member of the Board of Directors of CUDI, the Mexican Internet 2 consortium, of which he has been Founding Chair.
Alejandro Pisanty was educated in Mexico, with B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D. Degrees in Chemistry and in Physical Chemistry. He made a postdoctoral stay in the Max Planck Institute for Research on the Solid State, in Stuttgart, Germany, in 1984-1986.
His career has been involved with computing since 1972, and with networks and the Internet since the late 1980's. At UNAM he has been Technical Secretary of the Computing Advisory Council, Coordinator of Open and Distance Education, and Director General for Academic Computing Services.
Since 1997 he has been a member and later Chair of ISOC Mexico. From there and from his position at UNAM he has contributed to the expansion of the Internet and the Web, and of services running on them, such as the introduction of virtual reality, digital signatures, Internet 2 projects, and online elections. ISOC Mexico and UNAM were among the participants in keeping open the 5.7-5.8 Ghz band for wireless communications.
He led the formation of CUDI and continues to be a member of its Board of Directors. CUDI now groups some 170 institutions and is the platform for advanced research using networks in Mexico, a partner of UCAID, GEANT, CLARA, and other similar efforts. UNAM provides key services for all these networks. He has also been instrumental in promoting computer and network security efforts in Mexico and elsewhere, fostering the growth of UNAM-CERT, whose leader, a collaborator of Alejandro's, has recently received an award.
Alejandro Pisanty was among the founders of the Non-Commercial Domain Name Holders Constituency (now the NCUC) of ICANN and was subsequently voted a member of ICANN's Board of Directors. In the ICANN Board Alejandro has served as Vice-Chair for several years, led the Evolution and Reform Committee which transformed ICANN in 2000-2003, was the first chair of the Board Governance Committee, and co-chair of the Board-GAC Joint Working Group.
He was also selected to be a member of the Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG), set up during the World Summit for the Information Society (WSIS). In the WGIG Alejandro defended and promoted the multiple-stakeholder, problem-oriented, consensus-based model for Internet governance, successfully contributing with other community members to the continuity and diffusion of the Internet community's model in face of a strong attempt by intergovernmental organizations and government officials to shift the model closer to governmental control. He has continued these activities as a member of the Internet Governance Forum's Advisory Group.
