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Ms. Sophia Bekele studied and received an MBA in Management Information Systems (MIS) from Golden Gate University, San Francisco and a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Computing and Business Information Systems, at San Francisco State University. She is also a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), Certified Control Specialist (CCS), Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT (CGEIT), as well as a Rotary Paul Harris Fellow (PHF) and active as an ambassador in various Rotary clubs. Ms. Bekele’s key experience and interest is  focused on nation building projects and activities.

Ms. Bekele currently heads DotConnectAfrica (DCA), an Independent ,non partisan and  non-profit organization registered in Mauritius and currently has its base in Nairobi, Kenya, as its Executive Director.   DCA has been given the endorsement for the “.Africa” continental domain name from key governmental bodies and international stakeholders and has enjoyed overwhelming support from many African public and  private sector actors.

Ms. Bekele has the experience of a business and corporate executive, who, through education, entrepreneurial experience and international exposure, has performed superlatively in roles that straddle both the public and private sectors. Ms. Bekele’s has worked for multinational consulting firms and large financial/banking companies in Corporate America such as Price WaterhouseCoopers, Bank of America, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi/Union Bank of California, San Francisco, to mention but a few. From these initial corporate environments, Her experience included business management in diverse areas such as technology risk assessment of financial markets and instruments, financial engineering risk management, computer quality assurance, information systems security/auditing and control, technology evaluation and project management in private international and transnational corporations.

Ms Bekele then broke-off from her corporate career to pursue her passion in International Technology development and founded CBS International, a California based company over a decade, ago, which she currently serves as President and Chief Executive Officer. During these affirmative years in global development, Ms. Bekele has set up local affiliate African based companies such as SbCnet, and has successfully delivered major strategic Internetworking projects (e-government initiative) for such clients like the UN, OAU, a.k.a. African Union, and is also involved in similar e-government initiatives in Ethiopia, that are nation building projects.

Under CBS International, Ms. Bekele and her company advises international organizations in the fields of development, governance and long-term strategic planning. in corporate development/communications programs for various start-ups and OTC.  Most recently, Sophia and her company are engaged in assisting  US Clients in the public markets, primarily in corporate governance and risk management areas, including the recent Sarbanes-Oxley ACT. She has successfully built international and national clients.

Ms. Bekele is also involved in high-level public policy advisory boards, where she provides strategic direction in diverse fields where policy formulation, direction and leadership have proved critical.  She has served as policy advisor to various international organizations, including ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), where she also championed the International Domain Name (IDN) policy dialog and implementation,  United Nation’s Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), and Information Communications Technology (UNICT), Global Alliances for ICT Development (UNGAID) and where her vision for building the next generation of information and Internet society crystallized.

She is a founding member and elected Executive Board member of Internet Society (SFBay Chapter, ISOC), a former Board Member of Information Systems and Control Association (ISACA-SF), and serves as an advisory member to the World Affairs Council in Contra Costa country and in 2008 elected as Alumni Board member of Golden Gate University.

Ms Bekele’s work above plays a pivotal role in building, guiding, and directing the overall future of private/public sectors in a collaborative fashion with members of Executive and Senior management and high level Public Authorities to identify, define and evaluate key strategic issues and develop appropriate policy and remediation guidelines to mitigate exposures.

She has been invited to speak on varied subjects on current and emerging issues, such as the impacts of global internet governance, ICTs, the impacts of global economic crisis, globalization, and being a CEO to mention few.  She has spoken in various parts of US, and globally, including United Nations General Assembly high-level meetings in New York.

Ms. Bekele has been involved in public affairs commentary, published various position papers and continues to write articles on technology for development, good governance, regional economic integration, business, and women’s issues, politics; that have been published in different newspapers, journals and websites.