The web is one of our most valuable public resources — it’s Mark Surman’s job to protect it.
Mark is Executive Director of the Mozilla Foundation, a global community that does everything from making Firefox to taking stands on issues like privacy and net neutrality. Mark’s main job is to build the movement side of Mozilla, rallying the citizens of the web, building alliances with likeminded organizations and leaders, and growing the open internet movement. Mark’s goal is nothing short of making the health and accessibility of the internet a mainstream issue around the world.
Mark has been doing work like this for 20 years: standing up for open source and putting technology into the hands of everyday people. Mark was the founding Director of telecentre.org, a $26M initiative connecting community technology centers in more than 30 countries. He ran the Commons Group for 10 years, a boutique consulting firm that provided advice and insight on networks, technology and social enterprise to nonprofits and governments around the world. Mark was awarded the prestigious Shuttleworth Foundation fellowship, where he explored how to apply open source approaches to philanthropy in the year before he joined Mozilla. More
Leader & Advisor
Mark unites a global team of professionals — engineers and designers, teachers and advocates — under one banner: ensuring the web is a force for good. With his leadership, Mozilla has established itself as a driving force in the effort to create and protect the open web. Mark also leads a global community of 10,000+ active Mozillians. As an advisor, Mark has lent his expertise to a range of public, nonprofit and educational organizations — helping them make smart and inclusive strategy and technology decisions.
- Building Mozilla Learning Together Presentation
- Web Literacy: Building a Generation of Digital Makers Presentation
- From the Ground Up: The evolution of the telecentre movement Book
- Planning, Partnership and People: Keys to successful non-profit technology projects Report
Entrepreneur & Innovator
Mark is a social entrepreneur and digital innovator — he thinks big, takes risks and galvanizes others to develop ideas that improve the web and digital education. In addition to creating innovative learning networks and tools at Mozilla, Mark co-founded the Commons Group — a Toronto-based consulting firm recognized globally as a leading source of advice and insight on networks, technology and social change. He has also written and spoken extensively about his vision and approaches.
- Why Web Literacy Should Be Part of Every Education Article
- Freedom Fighters: Teaching digital literacy for the open web Presentation
- The Digital Revolution: Riding the Next Wave of Innovation Presentation
Speaker
Mark has presented at 100+ conferences, speaking on topics ranging from innovating education to the infrastructure of the web.
View Talks
Author
In addition to blogging regularly, Mark has written two books, dozens of papers, and several case studies and practical guides.
PublicationsRecent Posts
- A Third Way on AI
- Introducing Mozilla.ai: Investing in Trustworthy AI
- Mozilla Ventures: Investing in Responsible Tech
- Exploring better data stewardship at Mozilla
- Wearing more (Mozilla) hats
- Next steps on trustworthy AI: transparency, bias and better data governance
- Mozilla’s Vision for Trustworthy AI
- Launching the European AI Fund
- Request for comment: how to collaboratively make trustworthy AI a reality 1 comment
- Privacy norms and the pandemic
Twitter Bio
Building communities, tools and partnerships to protect the open web. Executive Director @Mozilla.
Short Bio
The web is one of our most valuable public resources — it’s Mark Surman’s job to protect it. Mark serves as Executive Director of the Mozilla Foundation, a global community that does everything from making Firefox to taking stands on issues like online privacy. Mark’s biggest focus is building the movement side of Mozilla: rallying the citizens of the web, building alliances with likeminded organizations and leaders, and growing the open internet movement. Before Mozilla, Mark was the Managing Director of telecentre.org and president of boutique consulting firm Commons Group. In 2007, he was awarded the prestigious Shuttleworth Foundation fellowship, where he explored how to apply open source approaches to philanthropy. Mark lives in Toronto with his sons, Tristan and Ethan.
Extended Bio
The web is one of our most valuable public resources — it’s Mark Surman’s job to protect it.
Mark is Executive Director of the Mozilla Foundation, a global community that does everything from making Firefox to taking stands on issues like privacy and net neutrality. Mark’s main job is to build the movement side of Mozilla, rallying the citizens of the web, building alliances with likeminded organizations and leaders, and growing the open internet movement. Mark’s goal is nothing short of making the health and accessibility of the internet a mainstream issue around the world.
Mark has been doing work like this for 20 years: standing up for open source and putting technology into the hands of everyday people. Mark was the founding Director of telecentre.org, a $26M initiative connecting community technology centers in more than 30 countries. He ran the Commons Group for 10 years, a boutique consulting firm that provided advice and insight on networks, technology and social enterprise to nonprofits and governments around the world. Mark was awarded the prestigious Shuttleworth Foundation fellowship, where he explored how to apply open source approaches to philanthropy in the year before he joined Mozilla.
Mark is a prominent thinker and thought leader — his analysis and opinions have been featured in The Washington Post, NPR, CNN, Fast Company and dozens of other publications. A seasoned and charismatic speaker, Mark has delivered keynotes on five continents at major global events as diverse as Mobile World Congress, Personal Democracy Forum, TEDx Kids, World Innovation Summit on Education and the O’Reilly Open Source Summit.
Mark is a past board member of Peer-to-Peer University, the World Bank Solutions for Youth Employment Consortium, the Toronto Arts Foundation, Connected Learning Alliance, Telefonica’s Think Big, the Association for Progressive Communications, Wild Canada and rabble.ca.
Mark lives in Toronto with his sons, Tristan and Ethan. He holds a BA in the History of Community Media from the University of Toronto.