Hard to Put Into Words

This week, ICANN finally approved the Applicant Guidebook—essentially the RFP—for the 2026 round of new gTLDs. This marks the single biggest milestone toward accepting applications in just about six months’ time.

Most people will never fully appreciate the amount of work that went into this moment—more than a decade in the making. Some of us began this effort back in 2014–2015, right as the first wave of new gTLDs was still being launched. At the time, it was nearly impossible to get anyone to focus on “the next round.” I vividly remember scrambling to get even a few minutes on meeting agendas.

Avri Doria, Cheryl Langdon-Orr, and I would often joke that we had to coerce volunteers just to join our early calls to begin the policy process. But those few early believers laid the groundwork for what became a true community movement. Over the years, what started as a handful of passionate advocates turned into a working group of more than 150 dedicated participants—people who invested hundreds upon hundreds of hours in meetings, drafting sessions, and debates that sometimes stretched late into the night.

By 2016–2017, we began to turn a corner. The idea that “another round” could actually happen was no longer dismissed as wishful thinking. We started to earn time on the agendas of each ICANN stakeholder group, the GNSO Council, and—what I’m most proud of—the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC). Our team became the first Policy Development Process in ICANN’s history to not only include GAC members as participants, but to welcome them as part of the leadership team itself—particularly in our work on geographic names at the top level. That collaboration helped bridge long-standing gaps between community policy development and governmental concerns, setting a precedent for how inclusive policy can be achieved.

For me, this milestone is personal. Over the past two decades, I’ve had the privilege of working across every corner of the gTLD ecosystem—from serving as Vice President of Registry Services at Neustar (helping launch .biz, .us, and .co) and supporting more than 300 applications in the 2012 new gTLD round, to now leading the policy and implementation planning for the upcoming 2026 round. Through JJN Solutions, I help registries, registrars, and brand owners navigate every stage of the gTLD process—from application strategy and evaluation readiness to post-delegation operations and compliance.

If your organization is thinking about applying for a new gTLD, now is the time to start. I’m one of the few people in the world who can offer applicants a complete, practical understanding of what it takes—not just how to apply for a new gTLD, but how to be a successful registry operator once you have one.

Reach out—I’d love to help you make the most of this historic opportunity.