Team
Anuj Ahooja, CEO & Executive Director
Anuj is an engineering leader and writer dedicated to building a viable open social web. He's worked with organizations like Flipboard, WeDistribute, and sub.club, and is focused on delivering The Last Network Effect to finally center the social web on people, not platforms.
Anuj blogs at augment.ink. You can find him across the social web on Bluesky, Threads, and Mastodon, all bridged via Bridgy Fed.
Ryan Barrett, CTO
Ryan is an engineering leader who's spent over two decades building infrastructure, organizations, and open source social web projects like Bridgy Fed. He fell in love with the open web while writing HTML by hand in high school, then fell in love with tech as an intern at WebVan in 1999. (Ask him for stories!)
Ryan blogs, and does pretty much everything else, at snarfed.org. You can find him across the social web on Bluesky, Threads, and the fediverse, all bridged via Bridgy Fed.
Erin Kissane, Board Member
Erin Kissane is a writer, technologist, and researcher focusing on making and mending networks for conviviality and collective survival at her studio, wreckage/salvage. She co-founded and co-led the volunteer-powered Covid Tracking Project at The Atlantic, was a founding member of (Knight-Mozilla) OpenNews, and previously spent a decade advocating for the open web and leading editorial strategy projects for clients including Brookhaven National Laboratories, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and W.W. Norton.
Erin blogs on wreckage/salvage and her website. You can find her across the social web on Mastodon and Bluesky
Ben Werdmuller, Board Member
Ben is a technology leader who cares deeply about building platforms to support a more informed and equal society. He currently leads technology at ProPublica. Previously, he co-founded Elgg and Known, was the first CTO at The 19th, and supported mission-driven startups at Matter.
He blogs every day at werd.io. You can find him across the social web on Mastodon, Bluesky, and Threads.
Susan Mernit, Board Member
Susan is a strategist, writer, and nonprofit leader passionate about building sustainable, people-centered networks. She has worked at the intersection of media, technology, and social impact, leading organizations like Hack the Hood while supporting nonprofits through AI coaching, fundraising, and organizational development. A former VP at AOL and Senior Director at Yahoo!, she now consults on nonprofit strategy, AI integration, and fundraising innovation.
Susan shares her insights on nonprofit growth, AI, and social impact through her blog and newsletter. You can find her across the social web on Bluesky, Threads, Mastodon, and LinkedIn.