The Ada Initiative Announces Advisory Board

The Ada Initiative Announces Advisory Board

Thursday, February 24, 2011

The Ada Initiative, a non-profit promoting women in open technology and culture, announced the members of its advisory board today. Members include world-class leaders from Wikipedia, open source software, and remix/fan culture. “Free culture and open technologies are reshaping our world, and we need women to be part of that process. Advising the Ada Initiative is one way I support this goal,” said Sue Gardner, Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation. The advisory board will work closely with the Ada Initiative founders in planning and executing their projects.

The Ada Initiative’s advisors include:

• Donna Benjamin, community organizer and director of Creative Contingencies
• Alice Boxhall, Google software engineer and Australian women in technology activist
• Rachel Chalmers, research director of infrastructure with The 451 Group
• Francesca Coppa, co-founder of the Organization For Transformative Works
• Selena Deckelmann, database consultant and analyst for Emma and open source community leader
• Sue Gardner, Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation
• Leigh Honeywell, HackLab.TO co-founder and president, and Ubuntu Women co-leader
• Danielle Madeley, Telepathy developer and GNOME Outreach Programme for Women mentor
• Denise Paolucci, co-owner of Dreamwidth Studios
• Kirrily Robert, founder of the Geek Feminism blog and wiki, experienced open source software developer, prolific writer and public speaker
• Nóirín Shirley, Executive Vice President at the Apache Software Foundation and board member of the Open Cloud Initiative
• Matt Zimmerman, Chief Technology Officer and chair of Technical Board for Ubuntu

Complete biographies for our advisors are available at:

http://adainitiative.org/advisors

About the Ada Initiative

The Ada Initiative is a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing participation of women in open technology and culture, founded by long-time women in open technology activists and programmers Valerie Aurora and Mary Gardiner. The Ada Initiative is named for Countess Ada Lovelace, widely recognized as the world’s first computer programmer. The Ada Initiative partners with organizations and communities to increase the participation of women in ways that shape the technology, such as software design and development, writing for Wikipedia, and community leadership.