<< Back

Henry A. "Hal" Lubsen
02/07/2023

Hal Lubsen, former CEO of Afilias, passed away peacefully on February 7, 2023. Hal was an American entrepreneur, businessman and a visionary leader who dedicated his life to the growth and advancement of the domain name industry. Hal made significant contributions to the success of Afilias, DomainBank and Altronics, and was instrumental in the founding of Public Interest Registry (PIR), the non-profit that is the steward of the .org domain.

Hal was born in 1942 in Newton, New Jersey. He received a degree in psychology from Muhlenberg College and went on to start and run several businesses in disparate fields, until he started up companies in the late 1990s and early 2000s in the then-fledgling Internet domain name industry.

In 2001, Hal was appointed CEO of Afilias, a leading provider of registry services for top-level domains. Under his leadership, Afilias experienced unprecedented growth and became one of the largest and most successful companies in the industry, prior to its acquisition by Donuts, Inc. (now called Identity Digital).

Known for his strategic thinking and innovative approach to solving complex problems, Hal supported the idea of an open and interoperable internet and promoted Afilias’ strong advocacy and involvement in ICANN, ISOC, IETF, PIR, SSAC and the Internet governance space. Afilias became known for building for the long term, ethics, a strong commitment to public service and doing the right thing for the future of the internet.

The Lubsen family wish to remain private in their mourning of Hal, and request well-wishers to make contributions to the World Wide Fund for Nature (https://www.worldwildlife.org/) in the name of Henry A. Lubsen, Jr.  Arrangements are by Nicos C. Elias Funeral Home, Allentown.