New CEO for CENIC, California's High-Performance Research and Education Network Corporation

Louis Fox to Lead Non-profit Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC) Serving Virtually All of the Golden State's Public Education System

La Mirada, CA -- December 16, 2011. The Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC) today announced that Louis Fox would be assuming the position of Chief Executive Officer. Fox will begin his duties on February 1, 2012.

CENIC is a non-profit corporation created in 1996 by California.s research and education community in order to obtain cost-effective, high-bandwidth networking to support their missions and answer the needs of their faculty, staff, and students. Members of CENIC include the California K-12 system, all 114 campuses of California's Community Colleges, all 23 campuses of the California State University, all 10 campuses of the University of California, and prestigious private universities including Caltech, USC, Stanford, and others.

CENIC designs, implements, and operates CalREN, the California Research and Education Network, a high-bandwidth, high-capacity Internet network specially designed to meet the unique requirements of these communities. CalREN consists of a 3,000-mile fiber-optic CENIC-operated backbone to which schools and other institutions in all 58 of California's counties connect via leased circuits obtained from telecom carriers or via CENIC owned fiber-optic cable.

With CalREN connecting California.s research and educational institutions, high-performance collaboration can take place in a fraction of a second -- enabling global research and collaboration previously within the realm of science fiction thanks to CalREN's connections to similar networks around the world.

Formerly Associate Vice President of Computing & Communications at the University of Washington, Fox's background includes over 20 years as a faculty member and administrator at the University of Washington and, more recently, leadership roles at Duke University, Internet2, the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, and the Pacific Northwest Gigapop. He has worked extensively across all sectors of education and with all levels of government, and he has developed numerous partnerships with private sector telecommunications and technology companies in the US and abroad. He succeeds Jim Dolgonas as Chief Executive Officer, who joined CENIC in 2002 and guided the corporation to its current position of global prominence.

"I'm delighted that Louis will be joining CENIC," said CENIC Board of Directors Chair David Ernst, Chief Information Officer for the University of California system. "He brings exactly the right mix of leadership, technological expertise, experience with advanced research and education networking, and awareness of the advocacy issues surrounding the diverse communities CENIC serves. He's the perfect choice to ensure that California remains at the forefront of global innovation."