Veteran business leader Ashwin (“Ash”) Rangan joined ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) as the Chief Innovation & Information Officer in March 2014.  He currently serves as an Officer of the Corporation; and as ICANN’s SVP, Engineering and Chief Information Officer (CIO).  Ash is based in ICANN’s Los Angeles HQ.

Throughout his career, Ash has driven global expansion, with a keen eye on leveraging IT for economy, efficiency, and speed-to-value.  He has been at the forefront of innovation through the skillful leverage, use, and implementation of Information Technology systems, processes, infrastructure, and management.  Prior to joining ICANN, he served as the CIO for a variety of companies in different Industry-verticals, including (most recently) Edwards LifeSciences, Walmart.com, Conexant Systems, and Rockwell International.

Ash has published 2 books on the subject of serving as a CIO: @2008 – Tomorrow’s CIO – Strategic Conversations that align IT with the Board Room; and @2014 – The C-Suite CIO – Aligning Relationships with C-Suite Peers, both “cult classics” available on Amazon.

Ash serves on the Board of a few companies in Southern California. He also lends his time and talent to the Board of the American Red Cross in Orange County, California; the Board of the University of California, Irvine’s Center for Digital Transformation; and as an Industry Advisor to Chapman University’s Data Analytics Accelerator Program.

Ash holds a Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering & Management from the National Institute of Industrial Engineering in Mumbai, India; and a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Bangalore University, India. He is a long-standing member of the International MENSA.

Besides English, Ash is fluent in Hindi, Kannada, and Tamil.  He has a working knowledge of French.  And claims some fluency in Swahili.  His wife and he make a home for themselves in the hilly-heart of Orange County, California.