PERSON: Katherine Maher

CEO

Katherine Roberts Maher (/mɑːr/;[1] born April 18, 1983) is an American businesswoman. She is the chief executive officer (CEO) and president of National Public Radio (NPR) since March 2024, having succeeded John Lansing. Prior to NPR, she was the CEO of Web Summit and chair of the board of directors at the Signal Foundation. She transitioned to the role of non-executive chairperson at Web Summit in March 2024. She is a former chief executive officer and executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation.

A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Maher worked for UNICEF, the National Democratic Institute, the World Bank and Access Now before joining the Wikimedia Foundation. She subsequently joined the Atlantic Council and the US Department of State’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board.

Maher grew up in Wilton, Connecticut, and attended Wilton High School. After high school, Maher graduated from the Arabic Language Institute’s Arabic Language Intensive Program of The American University in Cairo in 2003, which she recalled as a formative experience that developed her interest in the Middle East. Maher subsequently studied at the Institut français d’études arabes de Damas in Syria and spent time in Lebanon and Tunisia.

In 2005, Maher received a bachelor’s degree from New York University in Middle Eastern and Islamic studies. Maher originally intended to be an academic and work for human rights and international development organizations.

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