Management Team

Per Darnell, President
Per Darnell started his Internet experience in 1998, when he was assigned to build up a company to run the ccTld .SE in Sweden. Before that Per had worked as a CEO in mainly consulting and educational businesses. .Se had been administered by an individual on voluntary basis, and was growing too big. So the IIS Foundation in Sweden became the designated manager of .SE and started a commercial company, NIC-SE AB, to be the registry of .SE. Per was hired as CEO and built the company from scratch to a company administering 150,000 domain names and more than 50 resellers.

Per was an early adopter of new technology and .SE was considered one of the leading ccTld's in both management and technology. In his role as CEO, Per was one of the founders of CENTR and also supported the birth of ICANN.

In 2001 Per resigned from .SE and worked mainly on assignments with the boards of different companies. Through his experience in management, economics and nonprofit organizations he was able to develop a wide range of skills. This led to him being elected chairman of the biggest sportsclub in Sweden, Djurgårdens IF, a voluntary role.

Late in 2002 he was contacted by his friend Bill Semich, who wanted him to be manager of Nordic Operations in Sweden for .NU. Per accepted since .NU is a very highly recognized Tld in Sweden, known for its very high usage and creative users. Per worked closely with both the Nordic resellers and the Swedish Government to make .NU one of the most secure and highest valued Tld's in Sweden.

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Frank Lui, CNZM, Chairman
Frank Lui, CNZM, was Premier of Niue for six years from 1993-1999 and a member of the Niue legislature for 33 years. In the 1999 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was awarded the Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the people of Niue.

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J. William Semich, President Emeritus
The Internet has been blessed with brilliant technological innovators. Their achievement is the reliability and ease with which the World Wide Web works. But how the Internet conducts itself--the standards of good practice that it expects of its citizens and upon which it insists from its entrepreneurs--has depended upon a group of little-known stewards who care for and have cared about what users experience when they go online. One of these stewards is J. William (Bill) Semich.

The guiding light and driving force behind IUSN and free Internet for Niue, Bill Semich is the American Internet pioneer who enabled and registered the .NU domain name in the mid-1990's. Under Semich, .NU became the only domain to ban its outright use for spam, denial of service attacks and search engine flooding. In addition, it consistently demonstrated moral leadership by forbidding illegal uses such as hate sites and child pornography. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), the Stockholm Police and others have praised these policies instituted by Semich.

In 1997, Semich had agreed to work with the Government of Niue to help the island join the novel but unproven "World Wide Web." He formed the non-profit corporation now known as The IUSN Foundation to develop and fund an Internet service for the people of Niue through revenues generated by registrations of the .NU domain name.

Today, Semich's virtual vision has become a reality on Niue. Not only is Internet access for Niueans efficient and free (after a one-time $25 connection fee), but the continually upgraded network infrastructure is world-class and has operated with no interruptions since its beginnings in 1997.

Currently Creator/Founder of WorldNames, Inc., Semich previously served as President and CEO at .NU Domain Ltd. He is a recognized leader within major Internet governing bodies such as ICANN, IETF, APTLD and ISOC. Through these industry connections, Semich is able to leverage his contacts and influence for the charitable benefit of the Niuean people.

Semich, in fact, was a founding member of ICANN in 1998 and was an active participant at the first official meeting of ICANN in Singapore in 1999. He also served as an initial member of the ICANN Domain Name Supporting Organization's Names Council at ICANN's initial organizing meeting in Berlin in 1999. He continues to be an ongoing participant in ICANN to the present day; in this capacity, he is a member of the Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO), a body within the ICANN structure created for and by ccTLD managers.

In addition, Semich is a founding member and former board member at the Dot Asia Organization. He is also a member and participant in the Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) Working Group of the IETF, the APTLD, the Pacific Islands Chapter of ISOC, Internet New Zealand, Inc. (InternetNZ), the World Affairs Council and the PEN American Center.

Semich is the former Editor-in-Chief at Datamation Magazine, Executive Editor of Web Week and Internet World Magazines and Senior Editor at Reed Business Information. His prior professional background also includes a decade of public service with City of Boston as Assistant to the Mayor for Tax Policy and Planning, Deputy Director of the Economic Development and Industrial Commission (EDIC), Director of Financial Analysis in the Office of Fiscal Affairs and, finally, City Auditor.

Semich holds a B.A. in English from Boston University and a M.A. in Economics from Tufts University.

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Garth Miller, Director
Garth Miller is a Founder and Director of Christmas Island Internet Administration Limited, a community-owned company that manages the .cx country code domain and helps fund internet and economic development activities on Christmas Island. He is also Founder and Director of CoCCA Registry Services Limited, a company that provides registry software and services to domain name managers - mainly in developing countries.

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Stafford Guest, Administrative Contact (Niue)
Stafford Guest has played a key role as the Niue administrative contact for IUSN since it was established in 1997. A former journalist, he is the author of the Niue Confidential blog and co-owner with his wife Salome of the Coral Gardens Motel and Bar about 7 km from the Niue capital Alofi.

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Mark Zuroff, Financial Advisor
As a C-Level Manager of both private and public companies, Mark Zuroff has been responsible for international management of 23 subsidiaries in 15 countries. His experience includes large-scale financial system conversions, securing outside debt and equity investment exceeding $60 million, several M&As, multiple turnarounds and investor relations.

He has over 28 years experience in-house and as an entrepreneur leading organizations in strategic and business planning; designing and implementing accounting, forecasting and control procedures; and developing plans to return companies to profitability.

Zuroff is a member of the Financial Executives Institute, the Turnaround Management Association, the Executives Club of Boston, the Association for Corporate Growth and the Institute of Management Accountants.  Zuroff received a B.A. from Oberlin College and an MBA from Boston University.  He has been awarded Beta Gamma Sigma and Phi Beta Kappa memberships, a research fellowship at the Hoover Institute at Stanford University and a National Science Foundation Award.

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TaniRose Fakaotimanava-Lui, Executive Secretary

TaniRose Fakaotimanava-Lui, or TaniRose as she is popularly known on Niue, is literally the face of the island nation. Her face has been seen on printed and online Niue Tourism promotional material since 1995, and on Niue postage stamps since 1999.

In addition to serving as Executive Secretary to the IUSN Foundation Board since 2010, she currently manages her family’s IT business – RockET Systems – that owns and operates the WiFi network on Niue. Since 2006, she has also been a Private Business Owner for e7 SporTAR Limited. Previously, she served as Finance and Administration Officer with the New Zealand High Commission and as a legal assistant in the Attorney General’s Office (now Crown Law Office).

Well known for her highly visible and active role in Niuean sports and cultural programs, TaniRose is the current President of the Niue Athletics Association. A world-class athlete in her own right, she has represented Niue in netball, touch rugby and athletics competitions since 2003. She also served as a solo cultural performer for official delegations from 1993 to 2003. Talented in Niuean sivaivai hand embroidery, she has been winning National Constitution competitions in the craft since 1999.

Married with five children on Niue, TaniRose is currently studying law.

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