Karen Sandler Named New Executive Director of the GNOME Foundation
June 21, 2011
The Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) today announces with its client, the GNOME Foundation(GNOME), that GNOME has appointed SFLC’s Karen Sandler as Executive Director. Sandler’s dedication to software freedom, her non-profits experience and her involvement in a wide range of free and open source software communities distinguish her as the logical choice for GNOME. “I’m very excited that Karen is joining the GNOME Foundation as Executive Director!”, says Stormy Peters, former Executive Director who has recently joined the GNOME Board as a new Director, “Karen brings a wealth of experience in free software projects and nonprofits as well as a passion for free software. That experience will be invaluable as GNOME continues to expand its reach with GNOME 3.0 and GNOME technologies.”
Sandler joins the GNOME Foundation from the Software Freedom Law Center where she has been General Counsel, advising a wide range of free and open source software organizations such as the Free Software Foundation, the Apache Software Foundation, the X.Org Foundation, Software in the Public Interest and the Software Freedom Conservancy. With SFLC, she also led an initiative advocating for free software on implantable medical devices. “Karen Sandler has been essential to the success of SFLC over the last six years,” said SFLC’s founder and executive director, Eben Moglen. “As our general counsel, she has been in the truest sense a lawyer’s lawyer. In representation of our clients she has been a superbly creative and conscientious practitioner. As mentor to younger lawyers here, she has set the finest of examples. The GNOME Foundation could not have chosen more wisely.” Sandler will continue to work on some legal matters pro bono at SFLC.
Sandler is a frequent speaker on free and open source software issues at corporate based conferences such as the the O’Reilly conferences and the Linux Foundation conferences, as well as community and nonprofit driven events such as the Free Software Foundation’s LibrePlanet and SCaLE. Prior to SFLC, she held legal positions at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, LLP and Clifford Chance, LLP. Sandler earned her legal degree from Columbia Law School and her engineering degree from the Cooper Union.