Nominet's board is responsible for making strategic and policy decisions.

The board meets regularly to discuss strategic, policy and operational issues and the communique from the meetings are archived here.

Baroness Rennie Fritchie DBE - Chair

Baroness Fritchie DBE is an Independent Crossbench Peer, Chair of the 2gether NHS Trust for Gloucestershire, a consultant on strategy and leadership working out of Mainstream Development and Vice Chair of the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman Audit and Advisory Committee. She was appointed as Chair of Nominet in June 2010 following a competitive selection process.

She was Chair of the Web Science Research Initiative at Southampton University and MIT until 2009 and is a former Pro Chancellor of Southampton University.

She was Vice Chair of Stroud and Swindon Building Society until 2008.  In 1999 she was appointed Commissioner for Public Appointments and a Civil Service Commissioner, a post she held for seven years.

Baroness Fritchie DBE is the holder of seven Honorary Degrees from the Universities of Southampton, York, Oxford Brookes, St Andrews, The Open University, Hull University and Queen’s University, Belfast. She is also a Fellow of the University of Gloucestershire, City & Guilds, London, the Chartered Institute for Public Finance and the Sunningdale Institute, part of the National School of Government. She was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1996 and a life peer in 2005.

Lesley Cowley OBE - Chief Executive

Lesley Cowley OBE has been Managing Director/Chief Executive of Nominet since 2002.

She is responsible for leading Nominet and for the development and implementation of strategy.

She leads relationship building and liaison with Nominet members and stakeholders and international representation and leadership in the Internet field.

In 2011, Lesley was awarded an OBE for services to the Internet and e-commerce.

In 2010 she was the Chairman’s award winner at the IoD London & SE Director of the Year.  In 2007, she won the CBI First Women Award for Technology and in 2006 she was a top five finalist in Britain’s Best Boss awards and received a special commendation. 

Lesley is an elected Council Member and Chair of the Country Code Names Supporting Organisation (ccNSO) of ICANN. She is a Fellow of: The Institute of Directors, The British Computer Society, The Institute of Credit Management, The Chartered Management Institute and the Royal Society for Arts. She is a Member of The Inspirational Women Network, is a STEM Ambassador to schools and a Freeman at The Worshipful Company of Information Technologists.
 
Lesley was a founding Trustee of the Nominet Trust charity and served on Board of the Trust until December 2010. She is currently a Trustee of the Jenner Hall charity. She has an MBA, with distinction.

Glenn Hayward – Director of Finance

Glenn has been Director of Finance since 2008 and also takes responsibility for Nominet's Business Development and Business Analysis functions.

Glenn qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1998 while working for a medium-sized practice in Chester.  Glenn stayed in practice for a further 2 years after qualification, working for Arthur Andersen in their Assurance and Business Advisory division, where he took on responsibility for large company audits and due diligence projects for company acquisitions and disposals.  Since then Glenn has performed senior finance and analysis roles for Psion, Go Fly, easyJet and most recently for Northgate Information Solutions where he was the Finance Director for the SME division focussed on payroll and HR outsourcing. Glenn also has extensive Acquisitions experience, having project managed a number of acquisitions during his time at Northgate.

 

Clive Grace - Non-Executive Director

Clive has a keen interest in the internet as an end user across the range of his business and personal interests, and a particular commitment to its self regulation. He was co-opted to the Board in December 2008 following a search by recruitment consultants Veredus, and a competitive selection process.

He has extensive Board level experience in the not-for-profit, public and commercial sectors.  He Chairs the Research Councils’ Shared Services Centre Ltd, Supporta plc, the Local Better Regulation Office, and the Advisory Forum of the Board of BT Wales.  He is the Honorary Secretary of the Solace Foundation, and an Honorary Research Fellow at Cardiff  Business School.
 
He is a Life Member of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (though not a professional accountant), and has been a CIPFA Council member since 2003 and Chairs their International Board.  Until 2007 he served on the Financial Reporting Council (which is the steward of the Combined Code of Corporate Governance) with a special remit for not-for-profit bodies.
 
He has been appointed to Nominet’s Audit Committee.
 
He is a former Deputy-Auditor General of Wales, and the former Chief Executive of Torfaen County Borough Council.

He has a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Birmingham, a Master’s Degree from the University of California, a Doctorate from the University of Oxford, and a Professional Diploma in Management from the Open University.  He is also a qualified (but non-practising) lawyer.

 

Sebastien Lahtinen - Non-Executive Director

Sebastien has a B.Sc. Management and M.Sc. Management of Information Systems degree from the London School of Economics.

An entrepreneur with a strong interest in Internet related projects, Sebastien is director of NetConnex, a hosting company, Chairman and director of LONAP, a not-for-profit Internet Exchange Point and co-founder of thinkbroadband.com, an independent broadband information site.

Previously (from 2007 to 2009) he was a non-executive director of Nominet.  He was also a member of Nominet's Policy Advisory Body for four years, two of them as Chair.  

Nora Nanayakkara - Non-Executive Director

Nora is an experienced Business Development, Marketing and Communications professional. From experience gained at Sedo (United Internet), Nominet and IPRota, she has an excellent understanding of the domain name industry and the role of registries and registrars in keeping the Internet secure, stable and interoperable.

Nora is a Member-elected Non Executive Director at Nominet, where she also serves as Chair of the Nominations Committee and a member of the Audit committee.  She is also a Trustee of the Nominet Trust and provides independent business development and marketing/communications consultancy services.

Nora has also served as an elected Member of Nominet’s policy advisory body and provided business consultancy services to small charities through Pilotlight, a UK charity that works to help small local charities build sustainable operating models.  A fluent German speaker, Nora brings an informed perspective of the international domain name industry and a wide network of strong and positive relationships with key stakeholders.

Nora holds an MBA from Rheinische Fachhochschule / University of East London (Germany / UK) and a BA with Joint Honours in German and European Studies from University College Cork in Ireland

 

Thomas Vollrath - Non-Executive Director

Thomas is an accomplished, results oriented international business executive with experience in establishing, acquiring, integrating, and leading diverse operations in multiple international locations.

He has succeeded in delivering business growth in a variety of contrasting situations, including turning around and realising significantly enhanced value in previously underperforming divisions.

Thomas is currently CEO of the Host Europe Group, which comprises two leading Internet services’ businesses.  He is also Co-founder of three high growth, profitable new operating divisions.

Thomas holds an MBA in International Management from Long Island University, NY, as well as a BA in International Business Management from Franklin College, Switzerland.

Piers White MBE - Non-Executive Director

Piers is an experienced non-executive director, with an extensive board level business career. He was appointed as a non-executive director of Nominet in June 2010 following a competitive selection process.

Piers  is a non-executive director at Ordnance Survey and has been Chair of their Audit and Risk committee for the past eight years.  He is also a non-executive director of Croydon Economic Development Company Ltd, ACS International Schools Ltd and CIPFA Business, the commercial arm of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy. Pro bono, Piers makes time to act as Chair of The Larks Nursery School, as Deputy Chair of Hazelwood School and as a Governor of Croydon College.

Piers had a successful executive career in banking including Service Director for all Barclays UK branches, senior executive roles at Flemings and UK Chief Executive Officer of Insinger de Beaufort, the Anglo Dutch Private and Investment Bank.

Piers has a degree in Economics and Statistics from Exeter University and an MBA from Henley Management College. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and an associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers. He was awarded an MBE for public service in 2009.

Dickie Armour - Non-Executive Director

Dickie has extensive experience of the internet services and the domain name market, having set up, run and sold two successful hosting businesses, and from his current role as General Manager of Fibranet Services Ltd, a domain name registrar and software development company.

Dickie joined the Nominet board as a non-executive director in May 2011. He has been appointed to Nominet’s Investment Committee.

Dickie is founder of the Business Mentors Club, set up to help businesses in the South West share best practice and take advantage of social media opportunities. He is also an active member of 4Networking and runs regular group sessions in Bristol.

Prior to his work with internet-related businesses, Dickie spent 16 years as a stockbroker in the City of London.