Katherine Maher Succeeds Paddy Cosgrave as CEO of Web Summit

Katherine Maher, who served as Wikipedia’s CEO for the past five years, has also taken on the role of Chair for Signal Messenger, a messaging platform. Her appointment as the new leader of Web Summit follows the recent resignation of co-founder Paddy Cosgrave. Remarkably, even after stepping down as CEO, Paddy Cosgrave retains an 81% ownership stake in the company.

Web Summit made an official statement this morning, announcing the appointment. Just two weeks ahead of the company’s flagship conference in Lisbon, Ms. Maher assumes her position as the head of the organization.

Ms. Maher emphasized, “Our immediate priority is to refocus on what we do best: facilitating dialogues among those involved in technological advancement.”

Ms. Maher has a distinguished background, with memberships in the Council on Foreign Relations as a term member and a role as a non-resident Senior Fellow for Democracy and Technology at the Atlantic Council. She is also a security fellow at the Truman National Security Project and holds the title of Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum.

Additionally, Web Summit has announced the appointment of Damian Kimmelman as a non-executive board director. Mr. Kimmelman, a technology pioneer, has co-founded several successful businesses and organizations in the United States and Europe, including the edtech firm Batelle.com, the nonprofit FoundersPledge.com, the business bank Rho. co, and the business data supplier DueDil.com (now known as Completecircl).

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