Nominee: Che-Hoo Cheng

Che-Hoo has accumulated over 12 years experience and knowledge of Internet infrastructure in the Asia Pacific through services on the APNIC Executive Council, his regional responsibility in Level 3 Asia and FLAG Telecom Asia, and his active participation in other AP Internet activities such as the .ASIA TLD (Top Level Domain) application.

Che-Hoo is regarded as an Internet pioneer in Hong Kong. His 15-year stint at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) saw him help establish the first Internet link in Hong Kong (1991); help establish the .hk domain name registration service (1993-1994); and establish the Hong Kong Internet Exchange (HKIX) (1995). He also helped with the set up and operations of the campus network for the whole university. In 2000, he joined Level 3 as Senior Director, Global IP Services, Asia and was in charge of the IP Line of Business in Asia. After Reach took over Level 3 Asia in 2002, he joined the Hong Kong Internet Registration Corporation (HKIRC) as CEO. HKIRC is officially in charge of the .hk domain name registration. In January 2003 he started his own business venture. From January 2004, he led the application of the .ASIA TLD together with a number of ccTLDs and regional organizations. The ICANN Board approved the application in Oct 2006 and the launch of the .ASIA TLD to the general public occurred in early 2008.

From July 2005 to October 2007, he was FLAG Telecoms Head of IP Business, Asia Pacific. In November 2007, he re-joined CUHK as Associate Director (Infrastructure) of Information Technology Services, heading the network, systems and operations teams.

Che-Hoo also holds key positions in the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC), the Hong Kong Internet Service Providers Association (HKISPA), the Hong Kong Information Technology Federation (HKITF), the DotAsia Organization and the Internet Society Hong Kong Chapter (ISOC-HK).

Che-Hoo holds BSc and MSc degrees from The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK).

Che-Hoo is very knowledgeable in the area of Internet infrastructure. He is very familiar with the Internet industry in Asia through his 12-year service on APNIC EC, his regional responsibility in Level 3 Asia and FLAG Telecom Asia and his active participation in other AP Internet activities such as APNG and APAN plus his leadership in .ASIA TLD application and DotAsia Board. His continuous services and contribution on APNIC EC will certainly benefit the APNIC community and provide the necessary continuity for APNIC EC. The next 5 years will be a tough period for APNIC because of IPv4 address exhaustion, slowness of IPv6 deployment and the associated politics which is against APNIC's bottom-up policy development approach. Therefore, APNIC needs a veteran like Che-Hoo to help get past the hurdles ahead.