Katherine Maher
Executive Director

Katherine Maher is the Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit organization that supports Wikipedia and free knowledge for all. She is a longtime advocate for free and open societies, and an expert in leveraging technology for social impact.

Katherine was appointed Executive Director in July 2016, after serving as the organization's first Chief Communications Officer. She has lived and worked around the world, leading the introduction of technology and innovation in human rights, good governance, and international development. She was a founding member of the UNICEF Innovation team, where she helped introduce open source innovation for health and child welfare. She has worked with the National Democratic Institute, the World Bank, and Access Now on programs supporting open technologies for democratic participation, civic engagement, youth entrepreneurship, open government, and human rights. 

Katherine is a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Council on Human Rights, a fellow at the Truman National Security Project, a member of the advisory board of the Open Technology Fund and a trustee of the Project for the Study of the 21st Century. She lives in San Francisco.

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