Mozilla announced Monday that it has appointed former long-time employee Chris Beard, a company insider, to serve as interim CEO.
Beard is also joining the company’s board of directors, which Mitchell Baker, Mozilla’s chairwoman claims to be an idea that the company has been exploring for some months.
This appointment comes 11 days after former CEO Brendan Eich made the decision to step down, after his donations to anti-gay marriage campaigns in California came to light.
Mitchell Baker wrote in a blog post, “Along with my fellow board members Reid Hoffman and Katharina Borchert, I am pleased to announce the next step in this transition: the appointment of Chris Beard to the Mozilla Corporation Board of Directors, and as our interim CEO.”
Beard also tweeted stating “Excited to step in as interim CEO to continue shaping the future of the Web for public good w/ fellow Mozillians.”
Baker said that there is no better person than Beard to lead them through the time of transition and added that Beard has one of the clearest visions she has ever seen and is also a strong candidate for CEO.
Beard previously held a number of roles at Mozilla in his eight years of service before joining Greylock Partners as an executive in residence in July 2013. Beard started off as products VP in the year 2003 to 2007, and was chief marketing officer in 2004, as well as chief innovation officer from 2007 to 2010.
Beard follows Jay Sullivan to be named interim CEO. Sullivan was the chief operating officer of Mozilla, who held the role of CEO after Gary Kovacs resigned in the spring of 2013. Sullivan left Mozilla with Brendan Eich being named CEO.
Eich, the creator of JavaScript, lasted just 10 days after his appointment as CEO last month. Eich’s support for the anti-gay marriage initiative, led to Mozilla employees urging him publicly to resign, while three board members also called it quits. OkCupid, a dating website, also called for his resignation and asked Firefox users to switch browsers.
However, Baker claimed Eich to have voluntarily stepped down from his role and made the decision “for Mozilla and our community.”
