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Staff and Board

byFree Software Foundation Contributions Published onAug 10, 2016 10:43 AM
Meet the staff, board of directors, and voting members of the Free Software Foundation.

    Staff

  • Photo of Zoë Kooyman

    Zoë Kooyman, Executive Director

    zoe@fsf.org

    Kooyman joined the Free Software Foundation (FSF) as programmanager in 2019, in charge of public activities and communications,and became the executive director in February 2022. As programmanager, she led the FSF to new records for attendance and submissionsat the annual LibrePlanet conference, organizing and leading theconference for three years (2020-2022). The 2020 event was convertedinto a successful virtual conference in just five days at the onset ofthe COVID-19 pandemic, and continues virtually for the timebeing. Kooyman directed the development of a series of animated videoshighlighting and increasing awareness of important free softwareissues. She also drove successful efforts in associate memberrecruitment and fundraising.

    Prior to coming to the FSF, she was already a highly experiencedinternational project manager and event producer. She has demonstratedskills in leading technology and social justice initiatives.

    Kooyman holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Media and Culture and aMaster of Arts in the Preservation and Presentation of the MovingImage, both from the University of Amsterdam. Born in the Netherlands,she has lived in seven countries and worked in twenty-two countries onfour continents, soaking up life lessons along the way. She has a deepinterest in the visual and digital nature of modern society, is alwaysup for an adventure outdoors and, in true Dutch style, prefers totravel by bicycle.


  • Photo of Anouk Rozestraten

    Anouk Rozestraten, Deputy Director

    anoukr@fsf.org

    Anouk joined the Free Software Foundation (FSF) as a contractor back in 2022 to support the foundation in various accounting and operational duties. After learning the inner workings of the foundation, she transitioned to the role of Deputy Director in mid-2023. In her new role, she's responsible for the day to day operations of the foundation and managing the Boston office.

    Prior to her move to the USA in 2022, Anouk worked as a care coordinator for a Dutch specialized care provider. She was responsible for a group of young adults with mental health challenges, designing tailored care plans to help increase their independence, personal growth, and participation in society.

    Anouk holds both a Bachelors and a Masters of Science in Education and Child Studies from Leiden University, Netherlands, specializing in clinical child and adolescent studies.


  • Photo of Craig Topham

    Craig Topham, Copyright & Licensing Associate

    craigt@fsf.org

    For general licensing questions:licensing@fsf.org

    Craig has been an Associate Member since 2007, and he came to work for the Free Software Foundation as a Copyright and Licensing Associate at the end of 2018. Prior to the FSF, Craig worked as a PC/Network Technician for the City of Eugene, Oregon for twelve years. Some of Craig's FSF duties include: handlingcopyright assignments,GPL compliancefor FSF-copyrighted works, and helping with theRespect Your Freedomprogram. Besides the desire to see free software thrive, Craig also envisions a world where everyone's inner light shines bright. You can find him every Friday hosting theFree Software Directory meetingon libera.chat #fsf from 12:00-15:00 Eastern time.


  • Photo of Dawn B. Peterson

    Dawn Bryanton Peterson, Business Operations Manager

    dawnbp@fsf.org

    Dawn joined the Free Software Foundation in 2019, bringing a diverseset of skills to the Foundation. With a degree in accounting, sheworked in investment banking as project manger, for accounting, data,and payroll systems, before moving to work in the nonprofit sector. Atthe FSF, she handles incoming and outgoing accounting activities forall its member projects as well as finance, budgeting, humanresources, and risk management for the Foundation.

    In her free time, Dawn can be found in a yoga studio, swimming, orspending time with her family.


  • Photo of Greg Farough

    Greg Farough, Campaigns Manager

    gregf@fsf.org

    Greg's introduction to free software came by way of the Punkcast video blog in 2006, when intending to see a concert bootleg, they saw an RMS speech instead. From that moment forward, they resolved to use an exclusively free system. Greg has previously worked as a goat herder, labor organizer, and tutor of Attic Greek. Greg is a straight edge vegan, and is an emeritus of many loud and talentless bands in the American Midwest. They have a special fondness for glitchy guitar pedals, horror movies, and GNU Emacs (which gives some people just as many nightmares).


  • Photo of Ian Kelling

    Ian Kelling, Senior Systems Administrator

    iank@fsf.org

    Ian was an FSF volunteer before joining the FSF in May 2017 as a seniorsystems administrator. He's also a free software developer and hascontributed to various projects including GNU Emacs.


  • Photo of Jeanne Rasata

    Jeanne Rasata, Membership Coordinator

    jeanne@fsf.org

    Jeanne Rasata started at the FSF in 2006 as the program assistant. She is now the membership coordinator.



  • Photo of Krzysztof Siewicz

    Krzysztof Siewicz, Licensing and Compliance Manager

    ksiewicz@fsf.org

    Krzysztof (Chris) started as the Free Software Foundation's licensing and compliance manager in October 2023. He holds a doctorate in legal studies from Universiteit Leiden, the Netherlands, for a thesis which discussed the optimal framework for the protection of software freedom. His experience includes practicing law in Poland, advocating, and educating in the area of free and permissive licensing in various projects carried out by NGOs, educational, academic, and cultural institutions from Poland and other EU member states. Krzysztof also worked as a project coordinator, including in software development.


  • Photo of Michael McMahon

    Michael McMahon, GNU/Linux Systems Administrator

    michael@fsf.org

    Michael joined the FSF tech team as Web Developer in January 2019 after working with GNU/Linux in manufacturing, gaming, and education. Michael became a Systems Administrator in September 2023. He enjoys tinkering, board games, TTRPGs, DJing, public speaking, parenting, and cats.



  • Photo of Miriam Bastian

    Miriam Bastian, Program Manager

    miriam@fsf.org

    Miriam fell in love with GNU/Linux when her old, slow computer couldno longer process the bloated and inefficient operating system thatcame preinstalled. She was not going to accept that throwing awaythe otherwise good computer was the only option. Free software gavethe old computer new life!

    Prior to coming to the FSF, Miriam completed her PhD in ancienthistory at the University of Zurich and worked as a freelancejournalist and teacher.

    Miriam loves being in nature, playing Dungeons & Dragons, riding herbike to work, mountains, vegan food, and a (not so vegan) latte withespresso from the portafilter.


  • GPG keyring of the FSF staff and boardandGPG signature.

    Board of directors

    More about the role of the FSF's board of directors

  • FSF board member Christina Haralanova

    Christina Haralanova

    Christina is an academic researcher, free software activist, technicaltrainer, and university lecturer. She has been an active free softwaresupporter since 2000, helping over 30 women's rights-defendingorganizations and community centers understand the importance ofsoftware freedom and migrate to free software. Founding member of theFree Software Association, Bulgaria, and later Board member of Koumbit,member ofFACIL– for the adoption of free software in Quebec(FACiL, pour l'appropriation collective de l'informatique libre),Christina has been working in the intersection of technology, feminism,and social justice. Christina's Master's thesisanalyzed women'scontribution to free software development(2010). Her Ph.D. thesisdiscovered how to transform hacking spaces to become more accessible, diverse, and pedagogically engagingdiverse, andaccessible to everyone (2019). In her current practice,Christina is exploring ways to help Canadian community organizationscreate strategic and sustainable technological practices in their dailyusage.

    Photo of Geoffrey Knauth

    Geoffrey Knauth, President and Treasurer

    Geoffrey is an independent software contractor, has worked as a programmer, senior associate, systems engineer, and systems analyst at various companies and has contributed to the GNU Objective-C project. He is fluent in Russian and French and has a working knowledge of German, which helps him maintain relationships with computer scientists, mathematicians, and physicists of the Russian Academy of Sciences and with United States economists, scientists, and agencies. He holds a BA in Economics from Harvard University and is the treasurer of the FSF.




    Gerald J. Sussman, Professor of Electrical Engineering at MIT

    Gerald has been involved in artificial intelligence research at MIT since 1964. He co-authoredStructure and Interpretation of Computer ProgramsandStructure and Interpretation of Classical Mechanicsand is the recipient of numerous awards, including ACM's Karl Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award and the Amar G. Bose award for teaching. He is a fellow of numerous institutions including the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Association for Artificial Intelligence, the ACM, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the New York Academy of Arts, and Sciences.

    Henry Poole, founder of CivicActions

    Henry Poole is an Internet strategist with three decades' experience in information technology and more than a decade's with online communities and commerce. He was the first technologist to set up a blog for a member of the US House of Representatives. He has presented at conferences in Europe and in the US, and was the technical editor ofDemystifying Multimedia. He co-founded CivicActions, a grassroots campaign technology consulting firm in 2004, helping provide network-centric free software technology solutions focusing on transforming the world.

    Ian Kelling

    Ian holds a bachelor's degree in computer science and is a continuous user, developer, and advocate for free software. His past experience working as a software developer for proprietary software companies, while using, learning, and contributing to GNU/Linux on his own time, solidified his personal belief in complete software freedom. He now works exclusively on GNU/Linux. He has contributed to pieces of free software like GNU Emacs, community efforts like the Free Software Directory and others, and has been a speaker at the Seattle GNU/Linux conference (SeaGL). Ian joined the Free Software Foundation in 2017, where he is a senior systems administrator and the FSF union steward.

    FSF board member John Gilmore

    John Gilmore

    John Gilmore is a philanthropist, computer engineer, entrepreneur, civillibertarian, and nonprofit board member. He is a pioneer with thirty years ofexperience in the computer industry, including applications programming,systems programming, language implementation, management, andinvestment. He was the fifth employee at Sun Microsystems, cofounder ofthe Electronic Frontier Foundation, and a cypherpunk privacy activist.He co-designed the DHCP protocol that your phone or laptop uses daily to getits Internet address. He also contributed decades and more than $12million to improving United States drug laws. Gilmore has served as amember of many nonprofit and for-profit boards for four decades.

    He cofoundedCygnus Support, the successfulcommercial free software company that polished and supportedGCC,Binutils, and GDB; and invested tens of millions of revenue dollars intoengineers improving GNU tools. Gilmore also wrote, maintained, orimproved many free software programs. He wrote the program that becameGNU Tar, was theGDBmaintainer for years, improved theGNU Binutilsand theGNU manuals, and catalyzed and funded GNURadioandGnash.

    FSF board member Maria Chiara Pievatolo

    Maria Chiara Pievatolo

    Maria Chiara Pievatolo is a professor of political philosophy at theuniversity of Pisa, Italy. She is one of the earliest Italianproponents and practitioners of open (as in "free") scholarlyprinciples. She founded one of the oldest Italian Open Access journalsin the humanities and social sciences, the "Bollettino telematico difilosofia politica." Chiara is also a founding member of the ItalianAssociation for the promotion of Open Science (AISA), of which she iscurrently president."Openness" of sciencerefers to the freedomof knowledge commons from obstacles due to monopolies and secrecy,bureaucratic evaluation obligations, or academic hierarchy. Inspiredby the philosophy of GPL, free software, and copyleft she isinterested in alternative non-monopolistic forms of copyright (such asKant's), and thus that are capable of taking seriously the interest ofthe public use of reason and the knowledge commons.

    Odile Bénassy

    Odile uses only free software since the nineties and works as a freesoftware developer. She has been active in French volunteer groups likeassociation APRIL and Aful, Parinux, Ofset and the RencontresMondiales du Logiciel Libre.

    Richard M. Stallman

    GPG key: 6781 9B34 3B2A B70D ED93 2087 2C64 64AF 2A8E 4C02

    Richard Stallman founded the free software movement in 1983 when he announced he would develop the GNU operating system, a Unix-like operating system meant to consist entirely of free software. He has been the GNU project's leader ever since. In October 1985 he started the Free Software Foundation.

    Since the mid-1990s, Stallman has spent most of his time in political advocacy for free software. Before that, Richard developed a number of widely used programs that are components of GNU.

    Stallman pioneered the concept of copyleft, and is the main author of the GNU General Public License, the most widely used free software license.

    Stallman graduated from Harvard in 1974 with a BA in physics. During his college years and after, he worked as a staff hacker at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab, learning operating system development by doing it. He wrote the first extensible Emacs text editor there in 1975.

  • Voting members

    About the distinction between voting and board members

    • Geoffrey Knauth
    • Gerald J. Sussman
    • Henry Poole
    • Ian Kelling
    • Odile Bénassy
    • Richard M. Stallman
    • Alexandre Oliva

    Board governance information:

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