Katherine Maher is a topic that has captured the attention of millions of people around the world. Since its emergence, it has generated intense debate and has aroused great interest among both experts and the general population. Over the years, Katherine Maher has evolved and taken different forms, adapting to social, political and technological changes. In this article, we will explore in depth the impact of Katherine Maher on our lives, analyzing its many facets and reflecting on its relevance in contemporary society.
Katherine Roberts Maher (/mɑːr/; born April 18, 1983) is an American businesswoman. She is the chief executive officer (CEO) and president of National Public Radio (NPR) since March 2024, having succeeded John Lansing. Prior to NPR, she was the CEO of Web Summit and chair of the board of directors at the Signal Foundation. She transitioned to the role of non-executive chairperson at Web Summit in March 2024. She is a former chief executive officer and executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation.
Maher grew up in Wilton, Connecticut, and attended Wilton High School. Her father was a Goldman Sachs executive, Gordon Roberts Maher, and her mother was a Connecticut State Senator, Ceci Maher.
In 2007, Maher returned to New York City, where from 2007 to 2010, she worked at UNICEF as an innovation and communication officer. She worked to promote the use of technology to improve people's lives. She traveled extensively to work on issues related to maternal health, HIV/AIDS prevention, and youth participation in technology. One of her first projects at UNICEF involved testing MediaWiki extensions related to accessibility in Ethiopia. Another project received USAid Development 2.0 Challenge grant funding to work on the use of mobile phones to monitor nutrition in children in Malawi.[citation needed]
From 2010 to 2011, Maher worked at the National Democratic Institute as an ICT program officer. From 2011 to 2013, Maher worked at the World Bank as an ICT innovation specialist and consulted on technology for international development and democratization, working on ICT for accountability and governance with a focus on the role of mobile phones and other technologies in facilitating civil society and institutional reform, particularly in the Middle East and Africa. She co-authored a chapter on "Making Government Mobile" for a World Bank publication entitled Information and Communications for Development 2012: Maximizing Mobile. In 2012, Maher's Twitter feed on issues related to the Middle East was noted for its coverage of the Arab Spring.
Maher became interim executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation in March 2016 following the resignation of executive director Lila Tretikov and was appointed executive director on June 23, 2016.
In 2019, Maher became CEO of Wikimedia.[failed verification]. She proposed potentially paying contributors to help address gaps in diversity. Maher stepped down from her positions as CEO and executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation on April 15, 2021.Maryana Iskander was appointed as her successor.
Maher states that she focuses on global digital inclusion as a way to improve and protect people's rights to information through technology. In a speech to the Atlantic Council Maher spoke about the challenge of combating disinformation, particularly around critical events like elections and the Covid pandemic. She described the First Amendment as a "number one challenge" in regulating content and fighting disinformation. She also said during a TED Talk that "our reverence for the truth might be a distraction that’s getting in the way of finding common ground and getting things done.”
In January 2024, Maher was named CEO of NPR, and started her job in late March. She subsequently resigned from the Foreign Affairs Policy Board, but continued on the board of the Signal Foundation.
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In April 2024, Uri Berliner, NPR senior business editor, published accusations of left-wing bias at NPR in The Free Press. Following Berliner's accusations, conservative journalists including Christopher Rufo criticized Maher for tweets she'd made supporting progressive policies and about Donald Trump in 2018. On April 17, Berliner resigned after 25 years at NPR and criticized Maher's appointment as CEO in his public resignation letter.
Larry Sanger criticized Maher harshly for saying that Wikipedia's founding mission of being "free and open" would be "recapitulating" power structures. He told Christopher Rufo: "For the ex-CEO of Wikipedia to say that it was somehow a mistake for Wikipedia to be ‘free and open,’ that it led to bad consequences—my jaw is on the floor".
Maher, Katherine; York, Jillian C. (2013). "Origins of the Tunisian Internet". In Hussain, Muzammil M.; Howard, Philip N. (eds.). State Power 2.0: Authoritarian Entrenchment and Political Engagement Worldwide. Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing Group. ISBN978-1-4094-5469-4. OCLC940726016.