Former Wikimedia Foundation CEO Katherine Maher is stepping into the now-infamous shoes of the Web Summit chief, Maher announced in a video message today (Oct. 30).
The post had been vacant for a week after turmoil at the top following founder and now ex-CEO Paddy Cosgrave’s remarks about the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and Israel’s retaliation. The backlash was swift, costing the Web Summit a number of dropouts and Cosgrove the post he had held since Web Summit’s inception 14 years ago.
In a company blog post today (Oct. 30) that praised the legacy of the conference itself—”a place for fresh ideas to find lightning-in-a-bottle opportunities, and for established wisdom to receive new hearing”—Maher left out mentions of her ousted predecessor.
A seemingly ideal candidate for the job, Maher’s resume sits at the intersection of tech and dialogue—much like the Web Summit she describes. In the past, she’s played advisor for the UNICEF, the National Democratic Institute, the World Bank, Access Now, among others. Fresh out of leading the global nonprofit behind Wikipedia, she continues to chair messaging platform Signal, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Maher did touch upon Cosgrave’s misstep, but shifted focus to her role going forward, starting with “delivering an event as compelling as any that have come before.” But her pitch could be a little too late. Besides individuals, behemoths like Google, Meta, Intel, Amazon, and Stripe have already decided to pull out, TechCrunch reported earlier.
Quotable: Shifting focus back to Web Summit
“In a present where technology is interwoven into every aspect of our lives, and in a future where it represents our greatest hope and our greatest disruptor, Web Summit’s role as a place for connection and conversation is more urgent now than ever.” —Web Summit CEO Katherine Maher
One big number: Web Summit 2023
70,000: Attendees Maher claims to still expect at the company’s flagship tech conference from Nov. 13-16 in Lisbon. That’s a huge step up from the first seminar, when 150 people crowded into a cramped lecture room in Dublin.
Person of interest: Paddy Cosgrave
Cosgrave’s initial stance opposing Israel’s actions in Gaza sparked immediate backlash from Israel’s tech community and beyond that in turn prompted clarifications on his part condemning the terrorist group Hamas. Many speakers and attendees dropped out of the flagship tech event taking place in Lisbon next month—some of them claim it’s forever.
Making things worse, Cosgrave was in Qatar at the time—a country accused of financing Hamas and sheltering the former Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal. It shed light on the Qatari government’s involvement in Web Summit’s February 2024 Qatar conference—a factor that led to more cancellations.
An Oct. 17 apology wasn’t good enough to stem the criticism for the leader and his organization, and five days later, Cosgrave resigned.