Chris Beard (executive)

Last updated
Chris Beard
Chris Beard, CEO of Mozilla.jpg
Alma mater University of Ottawa
University of Edinburgh
OccupationSoftware executive
TitleCEO of the Mozilla Corporation
Signature
Chris Beard signature.png

Chris Beard is a Canadian business leader, and former CEO of the Mozilla Corporation.

In January 1998, he co-founded The Puffin Group in Ottawa, Canada, which was acquired by Linuxcare less than two years later. [1] Since then, Beard has mostly worked in senior product and marketing roles in a range of companies, including HP, Cluster File Systems, Inc. (acquired by Sun Microsystems) and Mozilla. He joined Mozilla in 2004, [2] specifically to launch the Firefox browser but also having responsibilities for other areas of the organisation, including product, marketing, innovation, communications, community and user engagement at different times during his nine years there. [3] Prior to his appointment as CEO he most recently served as Chief Marketing Officer.

In July 2013 he joined Greylock Partners as an executive in residence, [4] [5] though remaining an advisor to Mitchell Baker, Mozilla's Chair.

Beard was appointed in April 2014 as the interim CEO at Mozilla Corporation. [6] [7] [8] On July 28, Beard was confirmed in the position. [9]

He is a runner, his first half-marathon being the 2010 Walt Disney World Half Marathon [10] and his first full marathon being the 2013 Rock 'n' Roll San Diego Marathon. [11]

In 2014, he was appointed to the national board of the Make-a-Wish Foundation. [12]

He has an MBA in International Business from the University of Edinburgh Business School (2002–04), where he was also awarded the John McFarlane Prize for Leadership. He previously read economics and biochemistry at the University of Ottawa (1994–96).

On August 29, 2019, Mozilla and Beard jointly announced that 2019 will be his last year as CEO of Mozilla. [13] [14]

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References

  1. ↑ "Linux Today - National Post: California firm buys Ottawa Linux developer the Puffin Group". linuxtoday.com.
  2. ↑ "People on the Move". lizardwrangler.com.
  3. ↑ "Chris Beard Named CEO of Mozilla". lizardwrangler.com.
  4. ↑ John's Tumblr - Announcing Chris Beard as Greylock Executive-in-Residence. Lilly.tumblr.com (2013-07-08). Retrieved on 2014-02-20.
  5. ↑ "Team". Greylock Partners. Archived from the original on 2014-04-15. Retrieved 2014-04-14.
  6. ↑ "Mozilla Moving Forward". The Mozilla Blog.
  7. ↑ "Mozilla names interim CEO". SiliconBeat. Archived from the original on 2014-04-15. Retrieved 2014-04-14.
  8. ↑ "Mozilla names insider Chris Beard as interim CEO". CNET. CBS Interactive. 14 April 2014.
  9. ↑ "Chris Beard Named CEO of Mozilla". The Mozilla Blog.
  10. ↑ "CHRIS BEARD's results for 2010 Walt Disney World &reg Marathon". Active.com.
  11. ↑ "2013 Rock 'n' Roll San Diego Marathon - Individual Results". Archived from the original on 2017-12-01. Retrieved 2017-11-25.
  12. ↑ "Make-A-Wish® America: George Barrios, Chris Beard and Susan Moon Appointed to Make-A-Wish® National Board".
  13. ↑ Beard, Chris. "My Next Chapter". The Mozilla Blog. Retrieved 2019-08-29.
  14. ↑ Baker, Mitchell. "Thank you, Chris". The Mozilla Blog. Retrieved 2019-08-29.
Preceded by Interim CEO of
Mozilla Corporation
14 April 2014 – 28 July 2014		Succeeded by
CEO of Mozilla Corporation
28 July 2014 – December 2019
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