The Mozilla Board of Directors has announced that co-founder and current Chief Technology Officer Brendan Eich will be appointed to the role of CEO of Mozilla, effective immediately.
Li Gong will be named Chief Operating Officer and a number of functions will move under his organization including Cloud Services, IT, Marketplace, Mobile & Research, and Platform Engineering.
Mitchell Baker will remain Mozilla Executive Chairwoman and will continue the long and successful partnership with Brendan as co-founders who lead the Mozilla project to fulfill our mission to promote openness, innovation and opportunity on the Web.
Jay Sullivan, our acting CEO during the executive search, has led Mozilla passionately and will leave a lasting impact on the project. Under Jay’s leadership Mozilla has delivered a number of key products, including several versions of the Firefox Web browser and the very successful launches of Firefox OS. After six years at Mozilla, Jay will stay on through the transition to support the team and then leave to pursue new opportunities.
Brendan Eich, Mozilla co-founder, has been deeply involved in every aspect of Mozilla’s development starting from the original idea in 1998. He has deep expertise in both the technical and product sides of the organization, as well as the Web in general. His technology vision and general acumen have quietly shaped not only Mozilla, but large parts of the Web over the past two decades. He is the creator of JavaScript, a key technology of the Web. Brendan brings Mozilla’s founding vision and boldness to our current initiatives. These traits are a unique asset as Mozilla brings openness and choice through new initiative such as Firefox OS and cloud services. Brendan and Mitchell’s fifteen-year history of co-founding Mozilla and working together is an asset in this time of necessary organizational and community growth.
“Mozilla speaks for the open Web, where consumers and developers alike can prosper and express themselves free from the constraints imposed by commercial, profit-driven technologies. Mozilla’s organization and Firefox products help keep the Web balanced to every individual’s interests, and not just for the highest profit”, stated Reid Hoffman, Mozilla Board Member. “Brendan Eich, as a founder and a well-respected innovator of Web technologies, is uniquely equipped to lead Mozilla with his deep understanding of the organization’s core values and technology vision.”
Mozilla is unique in how we operate, because every Mozilla contributor and user around the world is an important part of driving our mission forward, reaching our goals and, ultimately, shaping the future direction of the Web.
Mozilla has delivered significant accomplishments across the project, including the upcoming major release of Firefox that will include new user experience enhancements, and Firefox Accounts which provides easier syncing and other benefits; Mozilla partnering with Unity Technologies and with Epic Games to provide developers with tools for delivering superior games on the web without plugins; Firefox OS devices launched in 15 countries with 4 operators and 4 device manufacturers, capped-off by another amazing industry reception for Mozilla and Firefox OS at Mobile World Congress 2014, the world’s largest mobile industry trade show.
“I would first like to thank Jay Sullivan for his contributions to Mozilla and to the Web. He has been a passionate force at Mozilla whose leadership, especially during the last year, has been important to our success, in particular with Firefox OS. Thank you, Jay!” said Brendan Eich, Mozilla CEO. “I am honored to have the role of leading Mozilla, as we look forward to our audacious goals across all of our products and the project as a whole.”
For more information:
