Thursday, April 07, 2022

PSF Welcomes New Executive Director Deb Nicholson

The Python Software Foundation (PSF), the non-profit home of the Python programming language community, welcomes Deb Nicholson as its new Executive Director. With 15 years of open source experience and over 25 years of non-profit experience, Deb is joining the organization just in time for the first in-person PyCon US since 2019. Community members and supporters will have a chance to meet her at this year’s conference, later this month in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Lorena Mesa, PSF Chairperson comments, “After many years of successful growth under former PSF Executive Director Ewa Jodlowska’s leadership, the PSF has matured into a stable organization and is uniquely positioned to expand upon on our successes, while continuing to lead the way in diversity and inclusivity for Pythonistas and the broader community of technology users and creators alike.”

Following inaugural PSF Executive Director Ewa Jodlowska, who was with the PSF for nearly eleven years, Deb is taking the reins from Thomas Wouters who has been serving as the Interim General Manager. Ewa grew the PSF from a small organization into a financially sustainable home for the world’s most popular programming language, for which the community will be forever grateful.

“Deb is an incredibly community-minded person with a wealth of experience that will help the Foundation grow and deepen our connections with Python users around the world. I’m looking forward to working with her and seeing what the PSF will accomplish next with her at the helm,” said Thomas Wouters, Board Director and Interim General Manager.

Deb Nicholson most recently served as the Interim General Manager for the Open Source Initiative during a transitional year for the critical policy organization. She’s also been a longtime supporter of the Python community with her work as a founding Board member and tutor at OpenHatch and local organizer for the Boston Python User Group. She’s looking forward to combining her experience in non-profit management and open source communities in service of the Python community.

Please join us in welcoming Deb to the PSF! If you have any questions, please email psf@python.org.