News for and about the Internet2 community

[Lauren Rotman <>]

Internet2 Names Mark Johnson as U.S. UCAN Interim Executive Director 

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - January 31, 2011 – Internet2 today announced the 
appointment of Mark Johnson as Interim Executive Director of the United 
States Unified Community Anchor Network (U.S. UCAN) project effective 
immediately.

Johnson brings over 25 years of leadership experience in the management, 
engineering, and operations of Internet technologies and will serve as the 
first Executive Director of U.S. UCAN – a new project intended to help 
connect the 200,000 U.S. community anchor institutions like public libraries, 
schools, community colleges, research parks, public safety and health care 
institutions across the country to next-generation Internet-based 
applications.

The U.S. UCAN project will provide these services through the Internet2 
Network, which recently received over $62 million in stimulus funding from 
the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s Broadband 
Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) to significantly upgrade its national 
network for this purpose.

Johnson is on short-term assignment from his role as Chief Technology Officer 
and Vice President for Operations and Infrastructure at MCNC – the regional 
research and education network serving the State of North Carolina‘s K-20 
Public and Private Education Institutions. MCNC has received two BTOP awards 
that are helping to create a robust middle-mile network throughout rural 
North Carolina.

Internet2 president and CEO H. David Lambert said, “Mark’s success in 
building advanced networking communities in North Carolina made him the 
logical choice to lead our initial efforts in building the coordinating body 
necessary to support community anchor institutions nationwide.  We are 
grateful to our regional partner, MCNC, for enabling Mark to take on this 
important opportunity for 2011 for which our entire community will benefit.”

In collaboration with several assigned Internet2 staff, Johnson’s primary 
responsibilities will include strategic business planning, community building 
and engagement, and development of the necessary outreach programs in support 
of deploying a sustainable business model for U.S. UCAN.

“I am honored to take on this role as executive director of U.S. UCAN and 
look forward to replicating the success we’ve been fortunate to have in North 
Carolina on a national scale.  I am confident we have all the right pieces in 
place, and I look forward to this opportunity” said Johnson.

Johnson will also work extensively with the newly developed Taskforce on 
Community Anchor Network Economic Models – led by Mike Roberts who was the 
organizer and first director of Internet2 and one of the founders and the 
first executive director of the Internet Society (ISOC). This taskforce was 
created with the purpose of developing an economic model(s) that will assist 
community anchor institutions and partner regional and national R&E networks 
in addressing the programmatic, operational and financial challenges 
contained within the federal Broadband Technology Opportunity Program (BTOP).

The search for a permanent U.S. UCAN Executive Director will continue 
concurrently to Johnson’s term. 

About Internet2
Internet2 is an advanced networking consortium led by the research and 
education community. An exceptional partnership spanning U.S. and 
international institutions who are leaders in the worlds of research, 
academia, industry and government, Internet2 is developing breakthrough 
cyberinfrastructure technologies that support the most exacting applications 
of today—and spark the most essential innovations of tomorrow. 
http://www.internet2.edu.

About MCNC
MCNC is an independent, non-profit organization that employs advanced 
Internet networking technologies and systems to continuously improve learning 
and collaboration throughout North Carolina's K-20 education community. MCNC 
provides advanced communications technologies and support services that 
enable access to 21st century learning applications and offers the 
opportunity to improve teaching, learning, research and collaboration among 
North Carolina’s education community. For a more than a quarter century MCNC 
has operated a robust, secure, exclusive communications network that has 
connected the institutions of the University of North Carolina System, Duke 
University and Wake Forest University to each other and through advanced 
research networks such as Internet2 and National Lambda Rail, to the world. 
Visit www.mcnc.org.

Media Contact:
Lauren Rotman

202-331-5345