Sep 18, 2002 — www.creativecommons.org
— Creative Commons today announced its newly formed leadership
team, expanding its efforts to cultivate a vibrant public
domain within the current copyright system.
Founding Executive Director Molly Shaffer Van Houweling
recently completed her long-planned transition from Creative
Commons to become Assistant Professor at the University
of Michigan Law School and member of the Creative Commons
Board of Directors.
“We are proud to have had Molly lead the team to where it
is today – her extraordinary contributions helped make Creative
Commons a reality,” said Creative Commons Chairman Lawrence
Lessig. “Our new management’s impressive track record will
help bring our efforts to a new level by bridging the copyright
world with the public domain and removing barriers to creativity.
We are poised for tremendous success.”
Former Deputy Director Glenn Otis Brown, now Executive Director,
has worked closely with Van Houweling to ensure a smooth
transfer of responsibilities that include overseeing the
organization’s strategic, technical, and development activities.
Brown joined Creative Commons early 2002, having worked
for the Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Miami and
the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law
School. He is a published author on copyright issues with
works appearing in The Economist, the Harvard Law Review,
and The New Republic.
“The founding team raised awareness about the unexplored
possibilities for interplay between copyright and the public
domain,” said Brown. “We are now focused on helping the
public take part in this mission. We’re excited about launching
our copyright licenses free of charge this autumn; soon
people will be able to express a preference for sharing
their work on their own terms.”
Other additions to the management team are:
– Associate Director Neeru Paharia, formerly of McKinsey
& Company and Coro Fellow in Public Affairs. A noted
filmmaker, illustrator, and blues guitar player, her work
has been showcased in various film festivals and publications.
Paharia received her Master of Science in Public Policy
and Management with a concentration in Information Systems
from Carnegie Mellon University.
– Consulting Technical Director Ben Adida, founder and CTO
of open source technology consultancy Open Force. Best known
as co-founder of ArsDigita, Adida helped develop the ArsDigita
Community System, the first free toolkit for building collaborative
database-backed Web sites. Adida received his Master and
Bachelor degrees in Computer Science from MIT. His writings
have appeared in IEEE Internet Computing, IEEE Software,
and Open Magazine.
– Consulting Communications Director Sally Khudairi, communications
strategist for the Apache Software Foundation and Web Standards
Project. Active in the Web for nearly a decade, she directed
communications strategies for some of the industry’s most
prominent specifications, including XML, HTML 3.2 and 4.0,
and HTTP/1.1. Khudairi is a leading proponent for emerging
initiatives such as the Semantic Web, Web Services and Intellectual
Property Rights.
Biographic information on the Creative Commons team can
be found at www.creativecommons.org/learn/aboutus/people
About Creative Commons
Bridging the copyright world with the public domain, Creative
Commons promotes the innovative reuse of all types of intellectual
works. An assemblage of renowned cyberlaw, intellectual
property, and technology experts collaborated on Creative
Commons’ first initiative planned for public release in
Autumn 2002. Through this project, copyright holders can
choose from a collection of licenses to easily inform others
that their works are free for copying and other uses under
specific conditions. Creative Commons is an independent,
non-profit organization based at Stanford Law School. For
more information, visit www.creativecommons.org
