The three years Karen spent as Executive Director of the GNOME Foundation were a crash course in all things GNOME. Karen will share her thoughts on the GNOME community, the challenges we’ve faced and thoughts on where we should be going.

Karen M. Sandler

Karen M. Sandler is Executive Director of the Software Freedom Conservancy. She was previously the Executive Director of the GNOME Foundation. In partnership with the GNOME Foundation, Karen co-organizes the award winning Outreach Program for Women. Prior to taking up this position, Karen was General Counsel of the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC). She continues to do pro bono legal work with SFLC, the GNOME Foundation and QuestionCopyright.Org. Before joining SFLC, Karen worked as an associate in the corporate departments of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP in New York and Clifford Chance in New York and London. Karen received her law degree from Columbia Law School in 2000, where she was a James Kent Scholar and co-founder of the Columbia Science and Technology Law Review. Karen received her bachelor’s degree in engineering from The Cooper Union. She is a recipient of an O’Reilly Open Source Award and also co-host of the “Free as in Freedom” podcast.