LilaTretikov (WMF)

Lila Tretikov was the Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation from 2014 to 2016. The Foundation is a non-profit organization that provides equal access to knowledge through services like Wikipedia, the world's largest encyclopedia, available in 285 languages and the fifth most popular website in the world.

Lila has been a leader in the technology space since 2001. Most recently, she served as the Chief Product Officer for the open-source, cloud-based software vendor SugarCRM. SugarCRM sponsored an open source project with more than 30,000 contributors and deployed by over 1.5 million individuals in 120 countries and 26 languages. Lila’s responsibilities during her tenure included product strategy, engineering, operations, IT, product management, professional services, marketing, and user experience. Under her guidance, SugarCRM was recognized as a visionary leader in Customer Relationship Management and Lila was awarded the 9th Stevie Award For Women in Business.

Lila began her career as an engineer at the Sun-Netscape Alliance working on the Java server. She later founded and grew information technology startups to offer support for customers in telecommunication, retail and banking. Her customers included Bank of America, Ameritrade, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Her work on the Human Genome Browser at Berkeley allowed her to combine her passion for large data systems with intelligent user interfaces.

Born in the Soviet Union, Lila experienced first-hand the rise of openness and transparency in government through the policy of glasnost. She developed a commitment to free and open information made possible by passionate people equipped with technology; a commitment she brought to her work at the Wikimedia Foundation and in the Wikimedia movement.

Lila studied Computer Science and Art at the University of California, Berkeley, where she did research work in machine learning. Lila holds patents for intelligent data mapping, dynamic language applications, and other technology innovations.

When I was the chief executive of the Wikimedia Foundation, I was responsible for leading the Foundation, setting its strategy, and managing day-to-day operations. It's a central position in a complex global volunteer-driven movement, which is building the largest collection of shared knowledge in human history, used by over a half-billion people around the world.