The Rust Foundation, an independent non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the Rust Project, today announced the appointment of Rebecca Rumbul as the organization’s Executive Director and CEO. Rumbul will lead the new non-profit as it pushes forward with an ambitious agenda to support the work of Rust language maintainers, a global community that governs and develops the Rust programming language.
Rumbul comes to the Rust Foundation with deep expertise in international non-profit management and as a leading, global advocate for digital democracy and information rights. Rumbul most recently served as Director of Research and Engagement at mySociety, where she worked to bring transparency to governance and parliamentary systems within government, NGOs, and commercial enterprises around the world.
“The Rust Foundation has built a strong, strategic base in our first year, and Rebecca Rumbul is ideally suited to lead the organization as we build on this with more programs and initiatives to connect and support the work of the Rust Project,” said Rust Foundation Chair Shane Miller, who is also Senior Engineering Manager at Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS). “Bec combines deep, relevant experience with passion, as well as a warm collaborative style that make her a great fit, as we seek to match the needs of the Rust community with the resources of Rust Foundation members.”
Rumbul has extensive background working on executive and academic boards, having served as a Council member at the Advertising Standards Authority, as a Trustee at the Hansard Society and as the UK representative claimant at the Privacy Collective. She holds a PhD in politics, public administration and program governance, an MSc in public administration, and a bachelor’s in humanities, each from the Open University.
“The Rust community are doing important, inspiring work with the Rust programming language, and I am excited to be part of a collaboration that will have a significant impact on the world,” said Rumbul. “Rust’s core features position it to be globally impactful, including supporting the advancement of security and sustainability initiatives. It’s an honor to be a part of that and I look forward to joining this transformative community.”
“Rebecca brings deep leadership experience in nonprofit and digital governance,” said Bobby Holley, who chaired the Executive Director Search Committee, and who is also a member of the Rust Foundation Board of Directors and a Distinguished Engineer at Mozilla. “She’s a smart, collaborative leader with the vision and grit to build out the Rust Foundation and deliver the impact we’re here to make.”
In addition to Holley, the Executive Director Search Committee consisted of Shane Miller, Josh Stone, Project Director and Principal Software Engineer at Red Hat, Mark Rousskov, Project Director, Core Team and Rust Foundation Secretary, and Tyler Mandry, Project Director and Senior Software Engineer at Google.
