RE: [npoc-voice] Obituary Alain Berranger

[MGR Framericas <MGR@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I am shocked and at the same time I feel guilty for not having understood the 
gravity of his health conditions. His abrupt withdrawal from the scenes should 
have given me an indication.

I am inconsolable because one year ago he came to Washington along with Klaus 
to personally invite me joining NPOC. This was for me such a pleasure because 
it refreshed the memories when we happily worked together at the time I was at 
the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) and he was with the Canadian 
International Cooperation.

He always was a virtuoso of mixing business and commitment with pleasure and 
good life.

RIP

Danilo
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-npoc-voice@xxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-npoc-voice@xxxxxxxxx] On Behalf 
Of mlemineur@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thursday, February 06, 2014 10:30 PM
To: npoc-voice@xxxxxxxxx
Subject: [npoc-voice] Obituary Alain Berranger


Alain Berranger sadly passed away shortly before Christmas 2013 after a long 
illness.

Within the GNSO he was better known as being the first elected Chair of ICANN's 
Not-For-Profit Operational Concerns Constituency (NPOC) from 2011 when the 
Constituency was first formed, after ICANN 41 in Singapore, until July 2013. He 
was originally appointed as the Acting Vice-Chair in 2011, and later won the 
Constituency's first elections.
He rose to the challenge successfully.  Today, NPOC is what it is because of 
Alain's continuous effort to strengthen the Constituency. He truly believed in 
the key role Not-for-Profits should and could play in the GNSO and the ICANN 
ecosystem as a whole. He strove to strengthen its Executive Committee by 
recruiting new members and constantly encouraged them to contribute to the 
policy issues at hand. His commitment to the NPOC mission was reflected through 
the numerous Working Groups he joined and actively participated in while he was 
Chair.  

His professional achievements outside the GNSO are numerous.  After completing 
his Bachelors degree, he joined Noranda Inc. and then worked for Touche Ross 
Daihatsu, Tecsult, as well as for Dominion Bridge. Alain served as Vice Chair 
of the Executive Committee at the Global Knowledge Partnership foundation from 
2009 to 2011, moving on to become a member of the Board. He was an 
Executive-in-residence at Schulich School of Business at York University in 
Toronto. Alain also filled the position of Vice Chair of the Canadian 
Foundation for the Americas for two years and from
1996 to 2006 he acted as Director of Partnerships and Business Development for 
the International Development Research Center of the Canadian Government.

Much of his career was focused on international development. To that intent, he 
worked with aid agencies, management and engineering consulting firms, as well 
as with the private sector. He travelled extensively, undertaking assignments 
for Expedia in Mexico, Microsoft, the Omar Dengo Foundation and the CRUSA 
Foundation both in Costa Rica, UNDP in Egypt and Vietnam, the Chasquinet 
Foundation in Ecuador. He conducted training in strategic partnering and 
resource mobilization for civil society, foundations, government and 
development agencies.

Whilst we deeply mourn his passing, we should remember that Alain gave us 
numerous reasons to be grateful and to celebrate his life. Alain was unique. He 
was at home on a Golf course, spending a lot of time spinning the balls and 
spinning the wheels of business, but he was equally at home everywhere in the 
world where those passed by economic developments needed support to get 
economic development going. As a pioneer, he bridged worlds, bravely he often 
performed tight rope acts to unite what seemingly did not belong together. To 
us he was always a reliable colleague whose friendship has made us better 
people and the world we inhabit a better place to be. Alain loved life and he 
loved to enjoy everything on offer but what made him so important was that he 
was equally prepared to put in the hard work that after completion makes 
achievements even sweeter. Alain has left his mark with everything he did. It 
remains for us to honor his life by continuing his legacy by taking what his 
life has taught us and to move forward with his spirit on our side.