Cherie Lagakali is the Pacific Liaison and Advisory Board member 2020-2022 for the Global Forum Cyber Expertise (GFCE). Cherie is Chair of the Board of PICISOC (Pacific Islands Chapter of the Internet Society) and a member of the Asia Pacific Regional Internet Governance Forum (APrIGF) Multistakeholder Steering Group (MSG) where she has served in the Fellowship and programme committees and recently co-chaired the Drafting committee for the 2021 Synthesis Document.
Cherie engages extensively in the Pacific, consulting with experts, collecting information on technical training needs, having conducted cyber-related scoping and needs assessments. Through her role on PICISOC Board Cherie has assisted in the organising of Pacific IGF 2018 in Vanuatu and Pacific IGF 2021- a virtual hybrid event with 7 in-country Pacific hubs.
Cherie is passionate about bringing people together for a talanoa (discussion) or kanavata (eat together) and believes in connecting people, needs and resources and solving problems.
As a mum to preteen and preschooler boys, Cherie is a privacy and online-child safety advocate, an Internet Governance enthusiast with experience navigating the ICANN ecosystem.
Cherie is an avid supporter of Women in ICT and as founding member of Pacific Women in ICT (PICwICT) she is keen to introduce more women from the Pacific to global cyber capacity building and internet governance discussions.
In her 15-year technical career, Cherie worked in the banking and tourism sectors, specialising in application development, systems analysis and business process modelling and redesign.