Vinton G. Cerf
Sr. Vice President for Internet Architecture and Technology
WorldCom
Vinton G. Cerf
is senior vice president of Internet Architecture and Technology for
WorldCom. Cerf's team of architects and engineers design advanced Internet
frameworks for delivering a combination of data, information, voice
and video services for business and consumer use.
Widely known as
a "Father of the Internet," Cerf is the co-designer of the TCP/IP protocols
and the architecture of the Internet. In December 1997, President Clinton
presented the U.S. National Medal of Technology to Cerf and his partner,
Robert E. Kahn, for founding and developing the Internet.
Prior to rejoining
MCI in 1994, Cerf was vice president of the Corporation for National
Research Initiatives (CNRI). As vice president of MCI Digital Information
Services from 1982-1986, he led the engineering of MCI Mail, the first
commercial email service to be connected to the Internet.
During his tenure
from 1976-1982 with the U.S. Department of Defense's Advanced Research
Projects Agency (DARPA), Cerf played a key role leading the development
of Internet and Internet-related data packet and security technologies.
Cerf served as
founding president of the Internet Society from 1992-1995 and recently
completed his term as chairman of the Board. He also is chairman of
the newly created Internet Societal Task Force that will focus on making
the Internet accessible to everyone and analyzing international, national
and local policies surrounding Internet use. In addition, Cerf is honorary
chairman of the newly formed IPv6 Forum, dedicated to raising awareness
and speeding introduction of the new Internet protocol. Cerf is a member
of the U.S. Presidential Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC).
He also sits on the Board of Directors for the Endowment for Excellence
in Education, Gallaudet University, the WorldCom Foundation, Nuance
Corporation, Avanex Corporation, CoSine Corporation, 2BNatural Corporation,
B2B Video Networks, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers,
the Internet Policy Institute and the Hynomics Corporation. Cerf is
a fellow of the IEEE, ACM, and American Association for the Advancement
of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the International
Engineering Consortium and the National Academy of Engineering.
Cerf is a recipient
of numerous awards and commendations in connection with his work on
the Internet. These include the Marconi Fellowship, the Alexander Graham
Bell Award presented by the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the
Deaf, the NEC Computer and Communications Prize, the Silver Medal of
the International Telecommunications Union, the IEEE Alexander Graham
Bell Medal, the IEEE Koji Kobayashi Award, the ACM Software and Systems
Award, the ACM SIGCOMM Award, the Computer and Communications Industries
Association Industry Legend Award, the Yuri Rubinsky Web Award, the
Kilby Award , the Yankee Group/Interop/Network World Lifetime Achievement
Award, the George R. Stibitz Award, the Werner Wolter Award and the
Library of Congress Bicentennial Living Legend medal..
In December, 1994,
People magazine identified Cerf as one of that year's "25 Most Intriguing
People."
In addition to
his work on behalf of WorldCom and the Internet, Cerf serves as technical
advisor to production for "Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict,"
the number one television show in first-run syndication. He also made
a special guest appearance in May 1998. Cerf appears on television programs
NextWave with Leonard Nimoy and on World Business Review with Alexander
Haig. Cerf also holds an appointment as distinguished visiting scientist
at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory where he is working on the design of
an interplanetary Internet.
Cerf holds a Bachelor
of Science degree in Mathematics from Stanford University and Master
of Science and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science from UCLA. He also
holds honorary Doctorate degrees from the Swiss Federal Institute of
Technology, Zurich; Lulea University of Technology, Sweden; University
of the Balearic Islands, Palma; Capitol College and Gettysburg College.