People

Markus Kummer is a Senior Advisor at DiploFoundation and Geneva Internet Platform. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Number (ICANN) and the Chair of the Internet Governance Forum Support Association (IGFSA). He was also Vice Chairman of the Internet Society’s Swiss Chapter and a member of a Swiss government-appointed group of experts on research related to cyber-risks.

Until September 2014 he was the Internet Society’s Senior Vice President. He joined the Internet Society in 2011, to assume the position of Vice President in charge of public policy. Before, he worked for the United Nations, first as Executive Coordinator of the Working Group on Internet Governance and subsequently of the Secretariat supporting the Internet Governance Forum. In this capacity he was responsible for preparing and organizing the first five annual IGF meetings between 2006 and 2010. In 2013, he was asked by the United Nations to chair the preparatory process for the annual IGF meeting held in Bali, Indonesia.

Markus joined the United Nations in 2004, after holding the position of eEnvoy of the Swiss Foreign Ministry. He was a member of the Swiss delegation during the first phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) where he chaired several negotiating groups, including the groups dealing with human rights and Internet governance.

Markus served as a career diplomat in several functions in the Swiss Foreign Ministry since 1979. He was posted to the Embassies of Switzerland to Portugal, Austria. Norway and Turkey as well as the Swiss Mission to the United Nations in Geneva.

Between 1998 and 2002, he was seconded to the European Free Trade Association (EFTA).

Markus is based in Geneva, Switzerland.