14 DAY TRIAL // Mozilla has decided to give acting chief executive officer Chris Beard the job permanently. This puts an end to an internal crisis that lasted for several months after Brendan Eich's resignation following a scandal in which his name was involved.
“Chris has a keen sense of where Mozilla has been – and where we’re headed. He has unique experience connecting with every constituency that touches our products, including consumers, partners and community members. There’s simply no better person to lead Mozilla as we extend our impact from Firefox on the desktop to the worlds of mobile devices and services,” said Mitchell Baker, Mozilla Executive Chairwoman.
Brendan Eich, one of the company’s co-founders and former chief technology officer, was promoted to CEO in March. Two weeks later he had already resigned following public outcry due to a contribution he made in 2008 to the fight against gay marriage in California.
Eich’s decision to step down was a very important one and it left Mozilla not knowing what to do next. Several weeks have passed until Chris Beard was named interim CEO and member of the Board of Directors.
He has been with the company since 2004, just before Firefox 1.0 made its debut. During his many years at Mozilla, he was responsible for almost every part of the business, including product, marketing, innovation, communications, community and user engagement.
Most recently, he was the Executive-in-Residence at venture capital firm Greylock Partners, where he gained “a deeper perspective on innovation and entrepreneurship.”
“Over the years, Chris has led many of Mozilla’s most innovative projects. We have relied on his judgment and advice for nearly a decade. Chris has a clear vision of how to take Mozilla’s mission and turn it into industry-changing products and ideas,” Mitchell added.
She points out that since Beard returned to Mozilla, the company has been quite busy, releasing major updates to Firefox, launching Firefox OS with new operators, announcing the expansion of the Firefox OS ecosystem, defending net neutrality and kicking off Maker Party, an annual campaign to teach the culture, mechanics and citizenship of the Web through events organized around the world.
“Chris has been deeply involved with Mozilla for a long time but has also been able to gain a fresh perspective in the last year. He understands the importance of the Mozilla community and has a strong product vision. I’m confident that he is the right person to lead Mozilla and help fulfill the mission in a radically changing landscape,” said Katharina Borchert, CEO of Spiegel online and member of the Mozilla Board.