Mitchell Baker

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Mitchell Baker at OSCON 2005

Winifred Mitchell Baker, better known simply as Mitchell Baker, is President of the Mozilla Corporation, a subsidiary of the Mozilla Foundation that coordinates development of the open source Mozilla Internet applications, including the Mozilla Firefox web browser and the Mozilla Thunderbird email client. Trained as a lawyer, Baker coordinates business and policy issues and sits on both the Mozilla Foundation Board of Directors and the Mozilla Corporation Board of Directors. In 2005, Time magazine included her in its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world and she has affectionately been given the title of "Chief Lizard Wrangler" at the Mozilla Corporation.

1 Education and early employment
2 Netscape Communications Corporation and mozilla.org
3 Open Source Applications Foundation
4 Mozilla Foundation and Mozilla Corporation
5 Trivia
6 External links
- 6.1 News articles
- 6.2 Interviews

[edit] Education and early employment

Baker received an AB in Asian Studies from the University of California, Berkeley in 1979, achieving a Certificate of Distinction. She received her JD from the Boalt Hall School of Law in 1987 and was admitted to the State Bar of California in the same year. From January 1990 until October 1993, she worked as a Corporate and Intellectual Property Associate at Fenwick & West LLP, a law practice that specialises in providing legal services to high technology companies. She then worked for Sun Microsystems as an Associate General Counsel from November 1993 until October 1994.

[edit] Netscape Communications Corporation and mozilla.org

In November 1994, Baker was hired as one the first employees of the legal department of Netscape Communications Corporation. Reporting directly to CEO Jim Barksdale, she jointly set up the initial department. She was responsible for intellectual property protection and legal issues relating to product development, reporting to the General Counsel. She also created and managed the Technology Group of the Legal Department. She was involved with the Mozilla project from the outset, writing both the Netscape Public License and the Mozilla Public License. In February 1999, Baker became the Chief Lizard Wrangler (general manager) of mozilla.org, the division of Netscape that coordinated the Mozilla open source project. In 2001, she was fired during a round of layoffs at America Online, by then the parent of Netscape. Despite this, she continued to serve as the Chief Lizard Wrangler of mozilla.org on a volunteer basis.

[edit] Open Source Applications Foundation

In November 2002, Baker was employed by the Open Source Applications Foundation, helping to guide the group's community relations and taking a seat on OSAF's Board of Directors. From the outset, she also had part of her time assigned to working on mozilla.org issues. However, the division of her hours gradually became more and more weighted towards her Mozilla work at the expense of her OSAF duties, leading to her decision to return to Mozilla full time in January 2005. She retained her seat on OSAF's board.

[edit] Mozilla Foundation and Mozilla Corporation

Baker was instrumental in the creation of the Mozilla Foundation, an independent non-profit that was launched on July 15, 2003 as America Online shut down the Netscape browser division and drastically scaled back its involvement with the Mozilla project. Baker became the President of the Mozilla Foundation and was appointed to the five-person Board of Directors.

When the Mozilla Corporation launched as taxable subsidiary of the Mozilla Foundation on August 3, 2005, Baker left her post as the President of the Mozilla Foundation to become the President of the Mozilla Corporation. In addition, she joined the Mozilla Corporation's Board of Directors, though she also kept her seat on the Mozilla Foundation's board.

[edit] Trivia

Has traveled in the People's Republic of China, Republic of China, Vietnam and Singapore and speaks conversational Mandarin Chinese.
Many who have not met her frequently assume that she is male, because Mitchell is primarily a male name.
Has several years' experience as a trapeze artist, "flying" two or three times a week. [1][2][3]
Is married and has a son. [4]