Anil Dash (he/him)

Anil Dash leads the team behind Glitch, the friendly developer community where coders have collaborated to create and share millions of web apps, serving as CEO of Glitch until its acquisition by Fastly. Honored by the Webby Awards with its lifetime achievement award in 2022, Dash is recognized as a leading advocate for more humane, inclusive and ethical technology through his work as an entrepreneur, activist and writer.

He serves as a board member for organizations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the pioneering nonprofit organization defending digital privacy and expression, The Markup, the leading nonprofit investigative newsroom pushing for tech accountability, and the Lower East Side Girls Club, which serves girls and families in need in New York City. Previously, Dash was an advisor to the Obama White House’s Office of Digital Strategy, served for a decade on the board of Stack Overflow, the world’s largest community for coders, and was on the board of the Data & Society Research Institute, which researches the cutting edge of tech's impact on society. Today, he continues to advise respected startups and non-profits including DonorsChoose, Medium, The Human Utility and Project Include. In 2008, he led a MacArthur-backed research project that carried out pioneering research on social media's impact on policy making. And during his tenure as CEO of Glitch, the company became the first tech startup to voluntarily recognize its workers' union.

As a writer and artist, Dash was a contributing editor and monthly columnist for Wired, has written for publications like The Atlantic and Businessweek, co-created one of the first implementations of the technology now known as NFTs, had his works exhibited in the New Museum of Contemporary Art, and collaborated with Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda on one of the most popular Spotify playlists of 2018.

Described by the New Yorker as a “blogging pioneer”, his personal website has been cited in sources ranging from the New York Times to hundreds of academic papers. In 2013, Time named @anildash one of the best accounts on Twitter, and he is the only person ever retweeted by both Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Prince, a succinct summarization of Dash’s interests. Dash has also been a keynote speaker and guest in a broad range of media ranging from the Aspen Ideas Festival to Desus and Mero's late-night show. He's also guested on most of your favorite podcasts.

Dash is based in New York City, where he lives with his wife Alaina Browne and their son Malcolm. Like most people, he has never played a round of golf, drank a cup of coffee, filed a patent, or graduated from college.