The 20 Most Influential People In The Domain Industry, 3 Years Later

2010 December 6
by Michael H. Berkens

As I was coming up to the 3rd anniversary of TheDomains.com I reviewed some of my earliest posts and came across a Post Entitled “The 20 Most Influential People In The Domain Industry“.

Now I’m going to tell you right off the bat that I did NOT  come up with the list, I just reported on it.

I thought it would be interesting to review the list to see how much things changed in the last 3 years.

Here is how the list read 3 years ago:

Vinton Cerf
Former ICANN Chairman/ VP and chief Internet evangelist for Google

Rick Schwartz
CEO, President and Cofounder of T.R.A.F.F.I.C.

Ron Jackson
Editor and Publisher of DNJournal

Monte Cahn
Founder and CEO of DomainSystems

Kevin Ham
The Man Who Owns The Internet

John Postel
Editor of the RFC document series, and for managing the creation and allocation of Top Level Domains and IP addresses in the pre-ICANN era.

Frank Schilling
Pioneering Domain Investor /Sevenmile.com

Adam Dicker
Owner, DNForum.com / Go Daddy VP of Domain Name Aftermarket

Russell C. Horowitz
CEO, Marchex / Chairman of the Board Director

Yun Ye
Elusive and successful domain pioneer

Tim Schumacher
Co-Founder and CEO, Sedo

Tim Berners-Lee
Director of the World Wide Web Consortium/ WWW Inventor

John Berryhill
Patent Attorney and UDRP legal specialist

Chris Chena
Pioneering Spanish domainer

Bob Parsons
CEO, Go Daddy

Craig Nine
Founder, IDN Forums

Sahar Sarid
Co-founder Recall Media Group/ Conceptualist.com

Ron James
Founder, NamePros.com/ Director 1Plus.net

Rick Latona
Founder, DigiPawn

The 20th spot was reserved for “YOU” as in all of us could have a huge influence on the industry

That’s the way the list read 3 years ago.

With the exception of the Yung Yee, which has seemed to disappear from the domain business after his Marchex deal, and those involved with ICANN and the Internet’s infrastructure that got a mention in the article, it’s pretty amazing how many of those on the list are still among the most influential people in the domain industry.

The domain business certainly has grown in the past 3 years and we may need more like a 50 most influential people list at this point.

Congrats to all who had the staying power and did the hard work to still shape, influence and move the industry

21 Responses leave one →
  1. 2010 December 6

    hard to become part of the list

    great part of them are big domain names investor$$$

    if it’s that easy, also TheDomains should be in the list and (maybe) someday, also my DomainersGate directory :)

  2. 2010 December 6

    I have a question for you domain pro’s….

    From a domain-investor perspective, do you feel like it would be worth trading BeachMarket.com for GoPoker.com on an even basis. Estibot values each of these domains in the same range. Thanks.

  3. 2010 December 6
    OuMun permalink

    Just my opinion but Yung Yee is my favourite.

    Never trumpeted his deals or money as many other domainers do and basically left the business with as much money as he could after a few years. The smartest strategy in the industry.

  4. 2010 December 6
    landon white permalink

    @ MHB

    What about Howard Neu …

    The Brain behind the Scenes,

    i am sure an oversight, not even a mention ?

  5. 2010 December 6
    MHB permalink

    Landon

    Again this is a list published 3 years ago by someone else.

  6. 2010 December 6

    and everywhere a man might try to perch… was owned by yun ye… or the catholic church.

  7. 2010 December 6

    why not include the company that has bought $100 million f insurance-related domains?

  8. 2010 December 6
    MHB permalink

    That would be QuinStreet

  9. 2010 December 6
    Bruce permalink

    They deserve it but the other guys will never ever be noticed if you continue to focus on the guys that we know about. How about focusing on the up and coming guys once in awhile.

  10. 2010 December 6
    Michael Collins permalink

    I think that Michael Berkens should included on this list. Thank you for all that you have done for the industry!

  11. 2010 December 6
    James permalink

    Michael Mann?

  12. 2010 December 6
    MHB permalink

    Bruce

    again this list is 3 years old.

    I think the list could be expanded to 50 people and if you want to suggest some of the “up and coming guys” feel free

  13. 2010 December 6
    Pragmatic permalink

    How about the DNS creator?

  14. 2010 December 6

    and Marc Andreessen

  15. 2010 December 6

    because the web and its domains are useless without a browser that surf them

  16. 2010 December 6
    ripe permalink

    i don’t know about “influential” (anyone can self-promote and exert influence), but it terms of key people to the domain industry, i would nominate
    1. the people who decided they should try charging a fee for being listed in the list of hosts, aka “registering a domain name”.

    up to that point it was all free.

    needless to say, it worked. people are indeed willing to pay. and, as we have seen, with the evolution toward auctions, much more than anyone had ever imagined.

    2. the originators of what came to be known as ppc. without such a centralised advertising system, most domainers probably could not support the costs of their large portfolios. of course there are other alternative ways to generate revenue, but, in general, ppc drives domaining.

    neither 1. nor 2. are necessary for a functioning network or a functioning web, but, at present, they are both necessary for a “domain industry”

  17. 2010 December 6
    Meyer permalink

    The 50 Most Influential People In The Domain Industry in 2010.

    Hank Alvarez (halvarez) ???

  18. 2010 December 7
    landon white permalink

    WHY DID THEY THROW HALVEREZ UNDER THE BUS?
    ———————————————–
    @ Meyer

    Yes, i agree
    Outstanding Contribution:
    (years 2006,2007,2008,2009)

    As Employee Shill Bidder for “SAPnames” Auctions (ha)

    Halvarez was is in 99% of them. he was known by his victims as the …

    King of the $60 Dollar Domain … (Pigion S**t Pusher)

    of course SAPnames knew nothing of this (cough)

    ://www.dnforum.com/f557/important-message-snapnames-2-thread-197282.html

  19. 2010 December 7
    kandyjet permalink

    the colombian (i forgot his name) who invented the .co out of .com?

  20. 2010 December 7
    Frantisek Mrazek permalink

    How old is the list ?

  21. 2010 December 7
    MHB permalink

    As the post said 3 years

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