CIRA plays a critical role in Canada’s internet. As the steward of .CA, CIRA operates and protects a national digital resource that millions of Canadians, businesses, organizations, and communities rely on every day. CIRA’s work also extends beyond domain names. Through DNS expertise, cybersecurity services, internet performance initiatives, policy leadership, and Net Good investments, CIRA helps build an internet in Canada that is trusted, secure, resilient, open, and accessible.

Much of CIRA’s most important work happens behind the scenes. When .CA is stable, secure, and trusted, most people do not notice the infrastructure, policy, governance, and operational discipline required to make that possible. As the internet evolves, CIRA must continue to protect what has made .CA successful while adapting to new challenges and opportunities: advances in AI and quantum technologies, Web3, increasing cyber threats, evolving privacy, security and speech policies, and questions of digital sovereignty and identity.

I want to serve on CIRA’s board because this mission aligns directly with my experience and values. Inspired by those who fight for one open internet for the world, I’m energized to work alongside CIRA, on behalf of members and Canadians, to extend Canadian digital values into the future.

A strong example is my role leading the ad hoc board committee responsible for CIRA’s most recent strategic plan.

My role was to help guide the board and executives through a collaborative strategy process that aligned vision, mission, goals, objectives, and priorities. I worked with directors and senior leaders to create space for open discussion, constructive challenge, and shared ownership of the plan. This included facilitating conversations that helped bridge different perspectives, simplify language, clarify strategic intent, and ensure the plan was both ambitious and grounded in CIRA’s core mandate.

I also challenged the organization to think entrepreneurially and look ahead to emerging risks and opportunities, including the impact of AI, Web3, and other evolving technologies.

As part of this work, I led discussions around risk appetite and risk tolerance, which contributed to the development of CIRA’s Risk and Opportunity Frameworks.

The outcome was a strategic plan that evolved through multiple thoughtful iterations, was adopted by the board, and which guides CIRA’s direction, objectives, priorities, and KPIs.

CIRA’s next 3–5 years will be shaped by a rapidly changing internet. AI is changing how people search, discover, create, trust, and abuse online information. Quantum computing may alter long-standing assumptions about encryption and security. Web3 continues to challenge traditional ideas of identity, ownership, naming, and governance. Cyber threats are increasing in volume and sophistication, while global political tensions are making critical internet infrastructure more strategically important.

These shifts matter directly to CIRA. As steward of .CA, CIRA must protect the trust, stability, and value of a national digital resource while ensuring it continues to evolve. The next new gTLD round will create new competition and opportunity. Evolving laws and expectations around privacy, security, speech, digital sovereignty, and identity will require CIRA to remain nimble while staying committed to its values.

CIRA’s challenge is not simply to respond to change, but to help shape it in a way that reflects Canadian values. My experience as a chair, communicator, facilitator, collaborator, and leader helps me build strong relationships with directors and executives, creating space to challenge, share, and ask questions. A strong board has the ability to bring diverse ideas, to bring people together, and to support each other.