The Appeals Centre is announcing the appointment of three new Non-Executive Directors: Miguel Maduro, Göran Marby and Mary O’Brien. They join our existing Non-Executive Directors Cherine Chalaby and Kate O’Regan, while Marie Wieck will be stepping down from the Board.

Our Non-Executive Directors play a crucial role in overseeing the strategy and governance of the Appeals Centre and ensuring our independence, impartiality, and expertise. They are not, however, involved in making decisions on disputes submitted by people using Facebook, TikTok and YouTube.

Chairperson, Cherine Chalaby, states: “Our new Non-Executive Directors come from Portugal, Sweden and Ireland and bring extensive experience in areas such as law, technology and business. Their appointments will enrich our work and help ensure the Appeals Centre delivers exceptional out-of-court dispute settlement.”

Meet our New Directors

Miguel Poiares Maduro is Dean and VdA Chair in Digital Governance at Católica Global School of Law. He is Doctor of Laws by the European University Institute (Florence), first winner of the Rowe and Maw Prize and winner of the Prize Obiettivo Europa. Miguel was honoured by the President of the Portuguese Republic with the Order of Sant’Iago da Espada for literary, scientific and artistic merit and was awarded the Gulbenkian Science Prize in 2010. He is the Director of the Future Forum at the Gulbenkian Foundation and Visiting Professor of the School of Transnational Governance at the European University Institute where he was Professor and Director. Miguel is former Advocate General at the European Court of Justice, former member of the EU High Level Group on Media Freedom and Pluralism and former Chairman of the Governance and Review Committee of FIFA. He was also Minister Adjunct to the Prime Minister and Minister for Regional Development in Portugal.

Göran Marby is Senior Policy Advisor at Ybram Inc., where he gives advice to companies and governments about the implication of regulation in Internet function and services. He has more than 35 years’ experience in the IT industry in various leading positions. Göran served as CEO and President of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) from May 2016 to December 2022, where he headed the transformation of the organization into both financial and organizational stability, and oversaw the implementation of a new structure of ICANN after the so-called Transition from the US Government. During his time as member of the Berec board (2010-2016), Göran was involved in the strategy and development of a new European telecom regulation including fending off proposals for the so-called “fair share” regulation and roaming that improved pricing and availability for mobile users throughout all of Europe. He was also the Director-General of the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (PTS) from 2010 to 2016. Göran was a member of the Swedish Delegation at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Plenipotentiary 2010, 2014, and in 2018, as the CEO of ICANN, was the first ever non-Governmental representative invited to give an address during the opening ceremony.

Mary O’Brien is the General Manager of M&A Integrations at IBM, responsible for integrating all acquisitions into IBM. Prior to this Mary was the General Manager of IBM Security where she led a global team focused on delivering IBM’s extensive security product and services portfolio. Before taking over as head of the IBM Security unit, Mary led Research and Development for the division. Having joined IBM in 2007, she spent her time making sure the research, proof of concepts, and thought leadership evolved into viable products. With more than 30 years of industry experience developed through tenures in the UK, US and Ireland, Mary spends a lot of her time mentoring others and ensures that those who work for her have mentors as well. Mary is passionate about incubating innovative ideas to solve clients’ needs and seeing those ideas through to viable products.

Miguel, Göran and Mary join our existing Non-Executive Directors Cherine Chalaby and Kate O’Regan. Cherine has held leadership roles in consulting, venture capital, banking and internet governance, and has considerable Board experience, including as Chairman of the Board of ICANN. Kate is Director and Professor of Human Rights Law at the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights at the University of Oxford and is a former Judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa.

In addition, one of our existing Non-Executive Directors, Marie Wieck, is stepping down from the Board. We are grateful to Marie, as one of our inaugural Non-Executive Directors, for her immense contribution to the Appeals Centre. In particular, her knowledge of emerging technologies and fast-growth companies has been invaluable in our early days. We wish her all the best for the future.

What’s Next

Our new Non-Executive Directors have taken up their new roles and are helping to set the future direction of the Appeals Centre. In the coming months, we will make further announcements, including expanding our scope to new platforms and content types, and publishing our first transparency report.

For media enquiries, please contact media@appealscentre.eu