Fadi Chehadé will be the next president and CEO of Icann, the organisation has announced.
He will succeed Rod Beckstrom, whose term comes to an end on July 1.
However, Chehadé will only take up the role "by October 1". Icann COO Akram Atallah will serve as interim CEO until then.
Chehadé formerly headed IBM's Middle East and North Africa global technology services business. He has also run software and e-commerce companies.
He is a citizen of Egypt, Lebanon and the United States and speaks four languages.
Speaking at the Icann meeting in Prague this week, he said he hoped to build consensus in the internet community.