Mike O’Connor

Retired

I became moderately famous in Minnesota as the co-founder of an ISP called Gofast.net and one of the people who popularized the Internet back in the mid-90’s.  I’m also one of the geeks who registered a few one-word domain names (who knew where that would wind up) and got involved with ICANN as a result.  These days I help Marcie restore 500 acres of Driftless Area habitat in Wisconsin (Prairie Haven).  During the COVID years, I’ve also been helping musicians rehearse, perform and produce over the Internet.

My background tended toward managing large-scale technology projects and leading non-profit sector development efforts. A few highlights include: starting a community radio station (WORT-FM – Madison, WI), co-founding the National Federation of Community Broadcasters (NFCB), successfully opposing “frac sand” mining in in our Wisconsin county (FracSandFrisbee), doing cool complicated projects as a Managing Associate at what is now called PwC, and falling in love with that “Internet” thing as Associate Vice President of Finance (and Controller) at the University of Minnesota.

I graduated from Grinnell College with a Bachelors Degree in Economics, and received a Masters in Business Administration from the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University.