Lila Tretikov

Lila Tretikov (/ˈlaɪlə ˈtrɛtɪkɒf/) (born Olga (Lyalya)[3] Tretyakova, Russian: Ольга (Ляля) Третьяко́ва, January 25, 1978,[4] in Moscow) is a Russian–American engineer and manager, who was executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation from 2014 to 2016.

Lila Tretikov
Ляля Третьякова
Tretikov speaking at the Horasis Global Meeting; Portuguese Riviera, 2017.
Born
Olga Tretyakova

(1978-01-25) January 25, 1978
Moscow,[1][2] RSFSR, Soviet Union
NationalityRussian
OccupationFormer executive director of Wikimedia Foundation

Born in Moscow, Tretikov emigrated to the United States as a teenager and in 1999 began working as a software engineer in California, where she co-authored several software patents and also founded a technology marketing company. A specialist in enterprise software, she was chief information officer and vice president of engineering at SugarCRM Inc., before succeeding Sue Gardner at the Wikimedia Foundation in 2014, selected from 200 applicants. She left Wikimedia in 2016.[5][6]

Early life and education

Tretikov is of Russian heritage. Her father is a mathematician, and her mother was a filmmaker.[7] After moving to New York City at age 15,[8] she learned English while waitressing and attended the University of California, Berkeley, but left before completing her degree.[9] Her majors were computer science and art, and she researched machine learning.[9]

Career

In 1999, Tretikov started her professional career at Sun Microsystems as an engineer at the Sun-Netscape Alliance, where she worked on the Java server. She then founded GrokDigital, a technology marketing company, and was later appointed chief information officer and vice president of engineering at SugarCRM Inc.[10] In 2012, she was a Stevie Awards bronze winner in the category for "Female Executive of the Year‍—‌Business Services‍—‌11 to 2,500 Employees‍—‌Computer Hardware & Software".[11] She has co-authored several patents in intelligent data mapping and dynamic language applications.[12][13]

Tretikov was appointed executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation in May 2014 in succession to Sue Gardner[14][15] and took up the post on June 1, 2014. She had edited Wikipedia only once before her appointment.[12][9] Tretikov resigned from the Wikimedia Foundation as a result of the WMF's controversial Knowledge Engine project and disagreements with the staff,[5][6] with her last day being March 31, 2016.[16] She was succeeded by Katherine Maher in March 2016.

On March 16, 2016, it was announced that Tretikov had been invited by the World Economic Forum to join its "Young Global Leaders" community.[17] Tretikov is also on the boards of OpenEd[18] and Rackspace.[19]

See also

References
  1. "Lila Tretikov". CrunchBase. Retrieved May 10, 2014.
  2. Wikimedia is headed by an American of Russian origin. RIA Novosti
  3. Note: "Lyalya" is a Russian-language diminutive from the first name "Olga".
  4. Wikimedia Monthly Metrics and Analytics Meeting, May 2014
  5. Hern, Alex (February 26, 2016). "Head of Wikimedia resigns over search engine plans". The Guardian.
  6. "Online-Enzyklopädie: Chefin der Wikipedia-Stiftung tritt zurück". Spiegel Online. February 26, 2016.
  7. "Women band together, make inroads into tech" by Jon Swartz, USA Today, November 27, 2012.
  8. "Wikipedia 15: Lightning Talk Session". YouTube. January 16, 2016. Retrieved March 30, 2016.
  9. Seligman, Katherine (May 13, 2014). "The Woman To Run Wikipedia: Russian-born Former Cal Student Seen as "White Unicorn"". California Magazine. UC Berkeley. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  10. Executive Profile: Lila Tretikov, Bloomberg Businessweek, 2014. Retrieved May 1, 2014. Archived here.
  11. "Stevie Awards For Women in Business: 2012 Stevie Award Winners". stevieawards.com. Fairfax, VA: Stevie Awards, Inc. Retrieved May 1, 2014.
  12. Kiss, Jemima; Gibbs, Samuel. "Wikipedia boss Lila Tretikov: 'Glasnost taught me much about freedom of information'". The Guardian. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
  13. "Patent Search". United States Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved May 1, 2014.
  14. Elder, Jeff. "Wikipedia's New Chief: From Soviet Union to World's Sixth-Largest Site". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved May 2, 2014.
  15. Cohen, Noam. "Open-Source Software Specialist Selected as Executive Director of Wikipedia". New York Times. Retrieved May 2, 2014.
  16. Lila Tretikov (February 25, 2016). "Thank you for our time together". Wikimedia Foundation.
  17. "Meet the Young, Tech-Savvy, Civic-Minded Innovators Driving The Fourth Industrial Revolution - Press releases". World Economic Forum. March 16, 2016. Retrieved March 30, 2016.
  18. Hart, Michael (August 25, 2014). "Wikimedia Foundation Director Named to OpenEd Board". THE Journal.
  19. "Rackspace Appoints Lila Tretikov to Board of Directors". Digital Journal. September 22, 2014.
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