Dear colleagues, I am pleased to announce the appointment of Hisham Ibrahim as our new Chief Community Officer, leading our community and engagement activities. Engagement is at the heart of all our activities as the secretariat to the RIPE community and as a membership organisation. Our community and engagement activities include community development, public policy and Internet governance, learning and development, communications, membership engagement, event organisation and our web presence. Hisham has over 15 years of experience in Internet policy and technology and a deep knowledge of the European, African and Middle Eastern markets, and is actively involved in several NOGs, peering and technical forums across three continents. I welcome him to this new role and look forward to seeing him strengthen our efforts to better serve the community and membership. Kind regards, Hans Petter Holen Managing Director, RIPE NCC