Issue 11 2020

8 CEO MONTHLY / ISSUE 11 2020 , Sep20521 At the Cutting Edge of Technological Innovation While maintaining and protecting the national registry in a changing digital landscape is one part of the challenge of leading the company, so too has been managing the impact of Covid-19. Russell Haworth, CEO since 2015, has risen to the challenge, guiding the business seamlessly to remote working, maintaining all business activity and overseeing the provision of physical, mental and financial support to staff. “Our people are so important in everything we do so it was crucial to help them cope with what has been an anxious time,” he says. Nominet also looked to help the wider community, setting up a fund for registrars and pivoting existing charitable activity to help those in greatest need: the digitally excluded. But this is only the most recent chapter in a story of a business that must evolve to survive in rapidly-evolving digital times. Using his previous experience in senior roles across both established and emerging markets, Russell has delivered an ambitious plan to diversify Nominet and ensure the company is helping to create a digital future that includes, connects and secures all within it. He has created new revenue streams and positioned Nominet as a cyber security leader, Nominet sits at the heart of digital infrastructure in the UK, operating what has grown to become one of the largest domain registries in the world, the .UK namespace, with over 10million domains under management. In addition to acting as guardians of this critical national asset, relied on bymillions of businesses and individuals, Nominet also runs the Welsh Top Level Domains (TLDs) .cymru and .wales and provides registry services for some of the world’s leading brands. using in-house expertise from over two decades defending a registry to create a cyber division. Nominet’s world-leading capabilities have attracted the attention of national governments seeking to protect their vital public services. Nominet now delivers a Protective Domain Name Service (PDNS) for the National Cyber Security Centre, which forms part of their Active Cyber Defence programme. “A new contract was signed this year and sees us delivering an enhanced solution,” says Russell. In addition to its work in the UK, Nominet is now working with the wider international security community. Underpinning all activity at Nominet is a commitment to operate as a ‘profit with a purpose’ organisation; a proportion of profits are invested into making a positive impact on wider society. Under Russell’s leadership, this charitable activity has sharpened its focus to support young people facing the challenges of growing up in a digital world. To date, Nominet has donated over £49million to tech for good initiatives and is on track to achieve its ambition of impacting one million young lives a year.