Byron Holland is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA). Byron assumed this role in January 2008.
Under Byron’s leadership CIRA has transitioned from a tech start-up to a mature organization. The organization has been strategically refocused to ensure effective stewardship of the dot-ca domain and operational excellence of the organization. Significant improvements have been made in the communication practices of the organization. These changes have resulted in opening up a constructive dialogue with the organization’s members and channel partners. Further, the value proposition of registering a dot-ca for either personal or business use has been sharpened. During his tenure the company has achieved the milestone of having over one-million dot-ca domain names in the registry.
An important part of Byron’s role is his engagement with industry peers in international Internet-governance organizations such as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the Council of European National Top Level Domain Registries (CENTR). In this capacity, Byron was appointed Vice-Chair of the Country Code Names Supporting Organisation Council (ccNSO) of ICANN for a 12 month term, beginning in June 2009. Byron is the North American representative to the ccNSO for a three year term running from 2009 — 2012.
Prior to joining CIRA, Byron was the founding partner and the Chief Operating Officer of Futura Rewards, the third largest coalition loyalty program in Canada. He oversaw the development and growth of the company from a start-up to a publicly traded company with over 100 brand partners and 400,000 members. Before that he was the Managing Partner in an Ottawa-based sporting goods retailer. During his tenure, he turned the foundering organization into a top-tier, profitable business.
Byron holds a Bachelor of Arts with Honours from the University of Western Ontario and a Master of Business Administration from Queen’s University.