Australia’s peak internet industry representative body is facing generational change, with its long-serving chief executive Peter Coroneos announcing yesterday he would leave after 13 years in the line of duty at the organisation.
The executive will step down in June, according to a source at the Internet Industry Association’s gala dinner in Sydney’s Doltone House in Pyrmont last night, where Coroneos’ decision was announced by IIA chairman Bruce Linn.
Coroneos has been one of the main faces representing internet service providers and other online-focused companies in Australia since his appointment in 1997. In that time the industry has weathered many storms — ranging from the dot com bubble of the late 1990’s and the succeeding bust; the debate about online copyright infringement, Labor’s internet filter provision and the development of the National Broadband Network project.
When national broadband network provider iiNet faced off against the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft over the past several years, Coroneos was one of the chief spokespeople representing the ISP industry, which had maintained a broadly hostile outlook to the organisation’s plans. The IIA has also been instrumental in representing ISPs to the current Labor government over its internet filter plans.
Prior to his appointment in 1997, Coroneos had had what his biography describes as “a diverse life” — with roles as a science educator, marketing consultant and senior officer dealing with Australia’s national competition and telecommunications regulatory environment and even as a state convendor with the Australian Republican movement.
Coroneos has sat on a long list of ministerial and departmental working groups engaging with the industry and has been a frequent attendee at public hearings such as Senate committees. The IIA will now commence a search to find his replacement.
Image credit: IIA
Well done Peter, a sterling job over many years.
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