Why I’m Joining Mozilla’s Board

Today, I joined Mozilla Corporation’s Board of Directors. I’ve long admired Mozilla’s people, values and noble mission to ensure the internet is free, open and accessible to all. This ideal, with Firefox as it’s product expression, catalyzed a global movement and a defining moment in the web’s evolution. Today, keeping the web open, safe and healthy is more crucial than ever.

The internet is the most potent force for good ever invented. It is the democratic air half our planet breathes. It has put power into the hands of billions of people that didn’t have it. Ensuring the internet continues to serve our humanity, while reaching all of humanity is more vital than ever today.

Mozillians walk this talk by working in a massively distributed, radically transparent and crucially equitable way. This culture is also an emanation of its leadership, past and present. Over the years, I’ve had the pleasure and privilege to know Mitchell Baker, Reid Hoffman, John Lilly and Sean White, and recently Mozilla’s CEO, Chris Beard. Their sincerity, intellect, character and competence are a prominent feature of everything they touch. It’s an inspiring honor to collaborate with and learn from them.

Mozilla’s mission is to ensure the Internet is a global public resource, open and accessible to all. An Internet that truly puts people first, where individuals can shape their own experience and are empowered, safe and independent.

Mozilla’s mission is bold and simple, but not easy. Preserving the rights of individuals involves a delicate balance of power among stakeholders — namely private, commercial, national and government interests. A never ending challenge by it’s very nature. It’s also a deep study in choice, consequence and unintended consequences over the short, medium and long term. Understanding the complex, nuanced and dynamic forces at work so that we can collaboratively and skillfully architect a massive digital organism that’s in service to the greater public good is the very definition of responsible innovation. Not for the faint of heart, but incredibly worthwhile and consequential to securing the future of the internet.

Harnessing the democratizing power of the internet to enable a more just, abundant and free world is the long running purpose and red thread in my work. The companies and products I helped conceive and lead have democratized access to information, communication, collaboration and capital on a mass scale. None of this would have been possible without a free and open internet that enabled fair access. All the more why helping Mozilla fulfill it’s mission is profoundly meaningful for me.