Chris Messina co-founded the Flock web browser and led the community marketing of Firefox. He also co-founded San Francisco-based Citizen Space and started the coworking and BarCamp communities. He was named one of the Digital Utopians and People Who Populate Web 2.0 by the San Francisco Chronicle. He is board member of the OpenID and Open Web Foundations, and a frequent speaker at technology conferences such as Web 2.0 Expo. He is quoted in The New York Times, Business Week, LA Times, MIT Technology Review and Wired. Chris received the 2008 Google Open Source Award in recognition for his work advancing technology initiatives such as OpenID, OAuth, Activity Streams and microformats.

Short version (50 words)

Chris Messina is a San Francisco-based advocate of the open web, known for advancing such communities as Spread Firefox, BarCamp, coworking, and technology initiatives such as OpenID, OAuth, Activity Streams and microformats. He is on the board of the OpenID and Open Web Foundations and works on the Diso Project.

Testimonials

“Chris' shepherding of the Barcamp movement has changed the world.” -Alexander Muse, CEO, Big in Japan

“Chris is the guy with the vision. He, more then anyone, helped us define a vision for what Flock should be all about, and was then able to articulate that vision to the world and get people excited about it. It's an amazing talent.” -Bart Decrem, Founder and CEO, Flock, Inc

“Chris needs no introduction. He's the pragmatic visionary testing the hypotheses that aver a more sovereign, interoperable and innovative Web. It's extremely likely that you don't know how much *you* need him to succeed.” Rob Lord, Co-Founder of Winamp and Songbird

“How does Chris Messina always manage to have the best ideas about the most interesting work two years before the rest of us? I have no idea and I don't care. The ability to harness the future for the benefit of others and not simply yourself? That's a cowboy I want to ride with.” - Kevin Smokler, CEO, Booktour

“Chris has turned out some amazing and elegant designs for our events that have made them stand out as professional affairs. His visual genius is matched only by his genteel nature. A true friend, visionary, and thinker.” David Weekly, Founder and Chairman of PBWorks (formerly PBwiki)