In a career that stretches back twenty years, Stephen Balkam has demonstrated a capacity for visionary leadership, forward planning, and advocacy at the highest levels of government, business and the non-profit sector. Stephen's remarkable career includes directorships of four organizations, including two start-ups. He has worked with over 100 organizations as a management consultant, trainer and facilitator and is an accomplished public speaker, regularly appearing on television, radio and in the press. He has worked extensively in Europe and the United States and is as much at home with small, local groups as with large, multi-faceted international organizations.

Currently Stephen is the Executive Director of the newly established Internet Content Rating Association and formerly the President of the Recreational Software Advisory Council, an independent, non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C. As the founding President of RSAC and now in his position as Executive Director of IRCA, Stephen has pioneered the development of RSACi - the world's leading content rating system on the Internet. His achievements have been recognized by both the President and Vice President at the first White House Internet Online Summit in July 1996. The RSAC site is regularly featured as one of the Top 100 most popular sites on the web. And in September, RSAC was awarded the prestigious 1998 Carl Bertelsmann Prize for outstanding innovation and responsibility in the Information Society.

During his time with RSAC, Stephen also worked on a consultancy basis as the first Director of the Internet Section of the Software Publishers Association. He coordinated the development and launch of the Electronic Commerce Web Resource - a unique online resource for companies doing business on the Web.

Prior to his appointment with RSAC, Stephen ran his own consultancy business operating in the US and UK, working on issues related to strategic planning, organizational review and restructuring, governance and staff development.

Stephen was the founding Director of the National Stepfamily Association in the UK, the head of the Islington Voluntary Action Council in north London and Director of Camden Community Transport. He worked in the arts at the Institute for Contemporary Arts in central London and was Center Manager at the multi-purpose community arts center, Inter-Action in the early eighties. He also spent time with West Nally - a leading sports sponsorship PR firm and with Burroughs Machines, now Unisys. Stephen has an honors degree (magna cum laude) is Psychology from University College, Cardiff and is the author of Assessing Your Board's Performance.