On Tuesday  DomainIncite.com reported that Akram Atallah, the President of ICANN's Global Domains Division (the # 2 position at ICANN) had left that position to become the new CEO at Donuts Inc., the world's largest operator of new gTLDs with over 240 domain extensions in their portfolio. That report has now been confirmed in a press release posted on the Donuts corporate blog. Atallah will assume his new duties on November 12, 2018. 

Donuts said current CEO Bruce Jaffe is stepping down and will continue to act as a senior advisor to the company during this transition.  Erik Brooks, managing partner at Donuts parent Abry Partners and a Donuts board member, said, “We thank Bruce for his stewardship of Donuts, during which in his tenure as president and CEO, the company raised over $100 million in debt financing to acquire Rightside, and successfully engaged in a process to sell Donuts to Abry Partners."

With respect to Mr. Atallah, Brooks said, "We are delighted to welcome Akram to Donuts. His deep experience in managing global

Akram Atallah
CEO, Donuts Inc.

organizations and rapidly-growing technology companies will be essential to driving Donuts’ next phase of growth. We are confident that Akram’s proven track record in and outside the domain name industry will broaden Donuts’ reputation as the innovative industry platform for new top-level domains and will enable the company to pursue rapid growth along multiple pathways.”

As ICANN's GDD President Atallah oversaw the management of generic domain operations, domain name industry engagement and web services. He stepped into that role after initially serving as ICANN’s Chief Operating Officer. Atallah said, “I am thrilled to join the Donuts team. I relish the challenge of further expanding overall awareness of the company’s incredible top-level domain (TLD) assets, discovering new ways to use and leverage TLDs, and through its growth and success making Donuts a recognized, global innovation platform for people and organizations to create and manage their digital identities.”