Purism announced key leadership roles to support its growth plans. Chief Security Officer, Kyle Rankin, will step up to hold the responsibilities of Purism as its President. Chief Technology Officer, Nicole Faerber will serve as Vice- President (VP) in addition to her CTO role. Todd Weaver, the Founder and CEO of Purism will maintain his position.
After a lifetime of work as a software developer, architect, and technology advocate, Todd Weaver founded Purism to make high quality, safe, and secure hardware that respects civil liberties, freedoms, and privacy. In 2014, Weaver started Purism with crowdfunding a 15-inch Librem laptop for a quarter million-dollar funding goal. Purism has grown substantially and now has a sophisticated portfolio of digitally responsible, high-quality, and safe products, software, and services that allow people the default position of complete freedom with the choice to ‘opt’ into features they desire.
“I met Kyle just after the start of Purism, we scheduled an hour meetup and chatted for three. He has been instrumental in all aspects of Purism’s growth from advisor, free software developer, hacker, manager, to executive. I asked Kyle to be the President of Purism in the hopes he would be able to spread his expertise into more departments, I am elated he accepted this important role.” said Weaver.
“Ever since I first met Todd Weaver to review his prototype Librem 15 laptop for Linux Journal, I’ve believed in Purism’s mission. I worked behind the scenes as an advisor for years before ultimately joining Purism full-time as CSO. Now as President, I am looking forward to help bring freedom, security, and privacy to even more people. I’m humbled by the trust Todd has given me with this important role.”, said Kyle Rankin, Chief Security Officer and the new President. Rankin is a thought leader, who frequently writes and talks about current issues regarding cybersecurity and open-source software. He is the author of Linux Hardening in Hostile Networks, DevOps Troubleshooting, The Official Ubuntu Server Book, Ubuntu Hacks, Linux Multimedia Hacks, Knoppix Hacks, and Knoppix Pocket Reference, and was a columnist for Linux Journal.
“The title of Vice President was an obvious fit for Nicole who will now serve as VP and the CTO. I got in touch with Nicole in 2016. She also served on Purism’s advisory board until we could hire Nicole full-time, a decision that I have enjoyed every single day since.” shared Weaver.
“Computer hardware has been my passion since my childhood. But hardware has no worth without software. The spirit and ethics behind the open source and free software movement not only resonate well in me, they have become my career, my life. At Purism I am blessed with the opportunity to put my 20+ years of experience in business to good use, to lead the development of hard- and software products for the people based on the very same principles that became my life’s most profound guidelines. I am very well aware of the privilege it is to be able to serve Purism as CTO and I feel humbly honored being appointed Vice President now.” said Nicole Faerber, CTO and newly appointed Vice-President. Faerber has been the force behind the development of Purism’s “Librem” mobile phone, the journey towards convergence, and Purism’s computing products based on Free and Open Software.