Vivaldi hires Molly E. Holzschlag, 'Fairy Godmother of the Open Web'
OSLO, NORWAY: Vivaldi Technologies, the maker of the Vivaldi browser, is proud to announce that Molly E. Holzschlag, one of the most influential women in the world of open web, has joined the company looking after Developer Relations. Making her comeback in the industry, Molly will further bolster the mission of Vivaldi – giving power back to its users.
Her induction into Team Vivaldi will help shape the browser’s further development by bringing web designers and developers closer to the development process. At the same time, Molly will also help the team build Vivaldi in a way that promotes both the technical and philosophical truths of the open web.
Internationally recognized as a colorful, energetic spark of passion and advocacy for the open Web, Molly E. Holzschlag has spent the better part of a 30-year IT career working to create, advocate and ultimately advance the Web as the largest, most democratic and lowest-cost global communications system humanity has ever known. Named one of the top 100 American women in Computer Science, Molly is a prolific writer of more than 35 books and hundreds of articles. She has been honored for her advocacy of the human side of technology. In 2015 she received the Outstanding Contribution to the Web Industry by the Net Awards and won the OpenAIR lifetime achievement award. This year, she added the O'Reilly Web Platform Award to her growing list of achievements. Above all, she is fondly referred to the Web's "Godmother", an honor she takes seriously.
Co-founder and CEO of Vivaldi, Jon von Tetzchner, commented, "Molly is one of the finest people in the industry who has the dexterity, stamina and drive to increase the conversation around the Open Web among the developer, designer, and user experience design and engineering communities. More than this, she believes in the philosophy of Vivaldi and we are very excited to have her in our team to help deliver borderless, game-changing ideas that help our mission to provide a web browser for our friends.”
On joining the Vivaldi team, Molly says, "I am energized by the diverse, talented and energetic culture here at Vivaldi, so I am beyond excited to get started in my new role in developer relations. I look forward to working alongside such an empowering team, refreshing my passion to produce work that makes a difference on the Web and for all people. Here's to many great days ahead representing a strong and capable browser built using the technologies we love and know as being of the Web, by the Web and for the Web.”
Industry leaders have expressed enthusiasm at Molly’s return to the World of Web browsers. Simon St. Laurent, Strategic Content Director at O'Reilly Media, lauds her return, writing, "Molly Holzschlag has rallied developers time and time again for a better Web . . . delighted to see her return to web innovation"
Conference Chair at CSS Dev Conf, Christopher Schmitt added, "Molly's natural position is that of a fierce advocate fighting for us – users of the web. Seeing her coming back to the browser world after time away is reassuring – the dev, design and UX communities are getting depth of knowledge and expertise to forge features needed for the future."
“Anyone who makes a living from what we now call the Internet (and let's face it, that statement pretty much covers everybody doing business today) owes at least some debt of gratitude to Molly Holzschlag. Her early work championed the potential of what free, accessible and unified web operability could provide to users of all abilities and backgrounds. Speaking as someone who has personally benefitted from Molly's pioneering efforts, I'm thrilled to see her continuing to instruct and inspire on behalf of Vivaldi.”
