Patrick J. Gannon (patrick.gannon@oasis-open.org) is President and CEOof OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured InformationStandards). In addition to serving on the OASIS Board of Directors, Mr.Gannon has served since 2000 with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), as Chairman of the Team of Specialists for Internet Enterprise Development, which advises governments in transitional economies on best practices for electronic business. He also serves on the ebXML (electronic business using eXtensible Markup Language) Joint Coordinating Committee together with management from UN/CEFACT.He has worked for BEA Systems, where he served as Senior Vice Presidentin the E-Commerce Integration Division. Prior to BEA, Mr. Gannon servedas Vice President of Marketing and Industry Programs at NetfishTechnologies and as Vice President of Strategic Programs for theCommerceNet Consortium, directing research and development efforts innew Internet commerce standards such as XML. While at CommerceNet, heserved as the first Project Leader for RosettaNet and as ExecutiveDirector for the Open Buying on the Internet (OBI) initiative.Mr. Gannon is co-author of the book: "Building Database-Driven WebCatalogs," and is an international speaker on electronic business. Mr.Gannon has also provided guidance to governmental leaders (ministers andheads of state) on adoption of electronic business (Information &Communication Technology) strategies to facilitate economic growth;which has included Lee Teng-hui, President of the Republic of China, andAskar Akayev, President of the Kyrgyz Republic.