Former White House Advisor Joins Go Daddy’s Fight to “Do the Right Thing!”

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Former Obama policy advisor and powerhouse D.C. attorney Andrew Kline is joining Go Daddy to help in the fight to “do the right thing” when it comes to the Internet and keeping it safe for users all around the world.

“Like our General Counsel Christine Jones, Andrew is an attorney who knows how to get things done, a leader and a person who works to make a difference … and as fast as the Internet is growing, Go Daddy is going to stay ahead of it!”

Kline started his new position with the world’s largest provider of Web hosting, domain name registrations and net new SSL Certificates today. As Go Daddy’s new Deputy General Counsel for Global Policy, Kline will help Go Daddy in its invigorated quest toward international expansion and also help strengthen Go Daddy’s fight against online illegal activities such as rogue Internet pharmacies and copyright infringement.

“After seeing Go Daddy’s commitment and pledge to ‘do the right thing,’ I was inspired … and knew I could go into the private sector and make a difference,” said Kline, who has spent years focused on Internet enforcement issues and is a former federal prosecutor. “Go Daddy has demonstrated its commitment to keeping the Internet safe in a way that gets results and I want to be a part of that team.”

“Doing the right thing” has always been part of Go Daddy’s philosophy. Go Daddy’s General Counsel Christine Jones has testified before U.S. Congress many times about a broad range of Internet issues. In fact, the Go Daddy legal team has helped create federal laws to aggressively fight intellectual property violations, protect children from online predators and shut down rogue online pharmacies.

When serving as the Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor in the Office of U.S. Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement, Kline was responsible for cracking down on counterfeit pharmaceuticals and copyright and trademark infringement, many with links to organized crime, gangs and terrorism.

“Andrew’s record speaks for itself,” said Go Daddy CEO and Founder Bob Parsons. “Like our General Counsel Christine Jones, Andrew is an attorney who knows how to get things done, a leader and a person who works to make a difference … and as fast as the Internet is growing, Go Daddy is going to stay ahead of it!”

One-third of the Internet runs through Go Daddy’s servers right now. In the next four years, the Web is on track to quadruple¹, which puts Go Daddy in a key position to leverage this dynamic growth opportunity.

Go Daddy recently announced its plans to enter into partnership with KKR, Silver Lake and Technology Crossover Ventures, a move designed to accelerate Go Daddy’s growth and resources.

Kline will be based in Washington, D.C. and joins Vice President for Government Relations Martha Johnston, who started with Go Daddy in December of 2005. Previously, Martha served as Director of Legislative Affairs at the Federal Communications Commission under Chairman Michael Powell.

Founded in 1997, Go Daddy serves more than 9.4 million customers and manages more than 49 million domain names. Go Daddy has locations in Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Washington, D.C., Singapore, Toronto and The Netherlands, and is headquartered in Scottsdale, Ariz.

About The Go Daddy Group, Inc.

Go Daddy is a leading provider of services that enable individuals and businesses to establish, maintain and evolve an online presence. Go Daddy provides a variety of domain name registration plans and website design and hosting packages, as well as a broad array of on-demand services. Go Daddy has more than 40 cloud-based products and services. These include products such as SSL Certificates, Domains by Proxy private registration, ecommerce website hosting, blog software, search engine optimization utilities, podcast packages and online photo hosting. The Go Daddy Group has more than 49 million domain names under management. Go Daddy registers, renews or transfers more than one domain name every second of every day. GoDaddy.com is the world’s largest Web hosting provider and is the world's No. 1 domain name registrar according to Name Intelligence, Inc. In 2010, The Go Daddy Group registered more than one-third of all new domain names created in the top six generic top-level domains, or gTLDs, including .com, .net, .org, .info, .biz and .mobi.

¹ Cisco VNI Global IP Traffic Forecast, 2010-2015