Former Board Members

Norman Paskin was an early proponent of the value of persistent digital identifiers paired with standardised metadata and laid the groundwork for the system and infrastructure that has made Crossref and eight other Registration Agencies so successful. Norman was also a key adviser and participant in many standards organisations and initiatives where he regularly provided key intellectual input to help improve digital communications. Norman founded the International DOI Foundation in 1998 and ran it successfully until the end of 2015 when he moved to a strategic role as an Independent Board Member.

Adama Samassékou was an internationally recognized leader in education, governance, and international development, bringing decades of high-level ministerial and institutional leadership to organizational boards. He served as Mali’s Minister of Education and government spokesperson (1993–2000), where he successfully spearheaded major national institutional reforms. On the global stage, Samassékou drove international policy as the President of the Preparatory Committee for the UN’s World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and served as the founding Executive Secretary of the African Union’s African Academy of Languages (ACALAN).

Mr. Rashid Ismailov is the Former Deputy Minister of Russia's Ministry of Communications. In this position, Mr. Ismailov oversaw the development of the IT industry while continuing to be involved with international cooperation. Prior to that, Mr. Ismailov was responsible for the development of international relations in the field of Communications, the expansion of relations with foreign partners and the strengthening of Russia’s image as one of the leaders on the global market for information and communication technologies.

Stefan Eberhard is a partner of the law firm OBERSON ABELS. He advises on Swiss business law with a particular focus on M&A, corporate and contract law. He also advises foundations and associations, in particular those involved in the sphere of the international organizations active in Geneva. A particular strength of OBERSON ABELS is its strong focus on tax.

Jonathan Clark was the Managing Agent for the DOI Foundation which is a not-for-profit membership organisation that manages the DOI (Digital Object Identifier) System and is the registration authority for the ISO standard (ISO 26324). The DOI system provides a technical and social infrastructure for the registration and use of persistent interoperable identifiers.