Jeffrey Zeldman announced in a tweet this morning that he’s joining Automattic‘s board of advisors. Zeldman is the king of web standards and has been a huge presence in the web community for over 15 years. He’s the founder of Happy Cog and co-founder of A List Apart, and An Event Apart, and A Book Apart.
Zeldman.com is one of the oldest blogs on the internet, and now runs WordPress. Zeldman’s company, Happy Cog, also designed the dashboard for WordPress 2.5 in 2008.
With his new role on Automattic’s board, it’s a great opportunity for the company to receive valuable insight from someone who perhaps has as much perspective about the general web as anyone else.
I asked Matt Mullenweg for his thoughts regarding Zeldman joining the board:
Jeffrey was a huge influence in getting me involved in web development through his work helping the world discover web standards. He continues to be an inspiration and one of the leading voices of the independent web. It’s an honor to have his advice as we grow Automattic, WordPress.com, and Jetpack.
The most recent interview I know of between Matt Mullenweg, Automattic’s founder, and Zeldman, is this episode of The Big Web Show in 2010, which is entertaining to look back on.
Zeldman’s show, The Big Web Show, is still running and now airs on Mule Radio, and is one of my favorite podcasts.
Jeffrey Zeldman is the latest addition to the small board of advisors of the company that makes WordPress.com. Below is a list of the leadership team and board members I’m aware of. I’ve emailed Matt Mullenweg to request a complete list. Update: Mullenweg informs me they don’t have a public list of advisors.
- Matt Mullenweg (Automattic Founder)
- Tony Schneider (Automattic CEO)
- Tony Conrad (Director) – Founding Venture Partner, True Ventures
- Hunter Walk (Advisor) – Partner at Homebrew
- Jeffrey Zeldman (oncoming Advisor) – founder of Happy Cog
Also, as announced in September, long term board member Polaris stepped down when they sold over two thirds of their shares of the company. I’m not sure whether or not Tiger Global took that place on the board or not.
Congratulations to Jeffrey Zeldman and Automattic. The pairing seems like a great match to me.
