EDRi’s leadership transition: laying the ground for just digital futures

Stepping down as Executive Director after six years

19 November 2024 marks the sixth anniversary of me stepping into the role of EDRi’s Executive Director. As the network grew into a strong, professional and impactful digital rights group, it is a good time for me to seek new challenges. As a result, I will be stepping down as the Executive Director of EDRi in the summer of 2025.

Delivering a vision for EDRi and the field

When I took over from Joe McNamee and Kirsten Fielder at the end of 2018, my mandate was to take EDRi through a phase of growth and impact, to ‘burst the digital rights bubble’ and to provide a clear direction and strategy to the network. The last few years were marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, the worsening climate emergency, geopolitical tensions and wars, and a conservative political climate adverse to human rights, justice and civic space.

Yet, I am proud that I built on the legacy of EDRi’s formative years, strengthened this collective project and connected it with the broader growing yet constantly changing ecosystem.

EDRi and its partners mobilised over 200,000 people across Europe to demand protection for encryption and the privacy of their online communications. We led a coalition of over 150 civil society organisations calling for a human rights respecting AI Act, and our Europe-wide Reclaim Your Face campaign visibly contributed to demands for a ban on biometric mass surveillance. EDRi’s efforts led to the most important tech laws of the decade, the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act, to successfully be adopted. All these advancements happened while the EDRi network continued to blow the whistle on some of the most worrying aspects of state surveillance, the discriminatory targeting of people on the move and increased police power.

During these years, EDRi’s first ever multi-annual strategy guided us to shape the EU agenda with a focus on the consequences technology has on people, the planet and democracy. As part of the same long-term strategy, we co-led a visionary and transformative decolonising programme for the digital rights field in Europe ,- and convened events and led coalitions across diverse civil society sectors. Since I became the Executive Director in 2018, EDRi’s budget has almost tripled and the Brussels’ office team has doubled. I am deeply grateful for the trust and efforts of EDRi’s members, team and Board that led to these achievements.

Time for a leadership transition

I have always been a firm believer in healthy leadership transitions, in recognition of the need for renewed energy, perspectives and visions for an organisation.

Our sector is gearing up for difficult times. The consolidation of fascist ideologies, policies and practices and the prioritisation of growth and market logic affect the way technology is governed and deployed. To counter this, EDRi and its partners are putting forward alternative visions for technology in the public interest. With a new college of EU Commissioners in place, now seems like a good time for new leadership to take the network to the next stage and lead the delivery of these visions.

What are the next steps?

The Board’s dedicated employment committee will lead the recruitment for new leadership. The position specification should be published within the next month – for a recruitment to take place in the first half of 2025. This timeframe allows for a solid, healthy recruitment process and a proper leadership hand-over. Please keep an eye on the EDRi channels for the publication of the job ad, and help us find the right fit for the role.

In the mean time, I will continue to prioritise the adoption of EDRi’s new multi-annual strategy, to assist the Board with a smooth ED transition and to oversee the delivery of our priorities.

This is not (yet) my farewell blog, and I hope to speak with many of you over the next few months. Feel free to contact me for a chat, as I will start exploring opportunities in the civil society sector, and in particular at the intersections of human rights, social and climate justice.