Marilyn Cade (November 24, 1947 – November 3, 2020) was an Internet activist and one of the co-founders of

ICANN The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN ) is an American multistakeholder group and nonprofit organization responsible for coordinating the maintenance and procedures of several databases related to the namespaces ...

Education

Cade received an Master of Social Work in

Organizational Development Organization development (OD) is the study and implementation of practices, systems, and techniques that affect organizational change, the goal of which is to modify an organization's performance and/or culture. The organizational changes are ...

from

Saint Louis University Saint Louis University (SLU) is a private Jesuit research university with campuses in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, and Madrid, Spain. Founded in 1818 by Louis William Valentine DuBourg, it is the oldest university west of the Mississip ...

Career

Cade started her career in the 1970s as a social worker in

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, and spent 10 years working in various

nonprofit organizations A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

and

state governments of the United States State governments of the United States are Administrative division, institutional units exercising functions of government at a level below that of the Federal government of the United States, federal government. Each U.S. state's government hold ...

positions.

AT&T

In the 1980s, Cade began working at AT&T, working her way up through a number of management positions with AT&T’s business units in sales, marketing, business operations and strategy. By the early 1990s, Cade became a major fundraiser for

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

, working her way up to become AT&T's chief lobbyist on technology policy issues as the Director of Internet and E-commerce Advocacy. Cade was appointed to support AT&T's participation in the

International Telecommunication Union The International Telecommunication Union is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information and communication technologies. It was established on 17 May 1865 as the International Telegraph Unio ...

Secretary General's High Level Expert Group on Cyber Security in early 2008. Cade helped to found and lead numerous industry coalitions and initiatives, ranging from

e-commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain manageme ...

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...

and

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...

, cyber crime, child safety online, and

internet governance Internet governance consists of a system of laws, rules, policies and practices that dictate how its board members manage and oversee the affairs of any internet related-regulatory body. This article describes how the Internet was and is currentl ...

. Her leadership was paramount in the restructuring of the Ad Hoc Copyright Coalition, the Online Privacy Alliance and GetNetWise.

2000s

After retiring from AT&T, Cade founded a consulting business, mCADE ICT Strategies. She advised organizations such as the World Information Technology and Services Alliance about international internet policy matters.

Activism

She was also Chief Catalyst at the Internet Governance Forum USA. She helped IGF become a global platform, working to help other countries organize their own national IGF conferences, and worked for the inclusion of communities from developing countries to help them with their own National, Regional and Youth initiatives. Cade emphasized what was called the " multi-stakeholder model" of internet governance, working to maximize inclusive policymaking and taking an active role in mentoring. She was a founder of ICANN's Business Constituency trying to help NGOs work alongside businesses to work on Internet infrastructure issues.

Awards

Cade was posthumously awarded the 2021 ICANN Community Excellence Award, alongside Rafik Dammak.

Personal life

Cade grew up in the

rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are describ ...

town of Ava, Missouri with one sister who passed away in 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cade, Marilyn 1947 births 2020 deaths People from Ava, Missouri Saint Louis University alumni Technology evangelists