Today, Mark Surman begins as the new Executive Director of the Mozilla Foundation. David, Zak and I would like warmly to welcome him, but we also want to take a moment to recognize Frank Hecker’s excellent work as our ED from 2006 until today.

While Frank is staying with the Foundation, this is still a significant change for him and a good chance for us to show that we still like him even when he isn’t signing our paycheques :-)

Over that last few years, we’ve seen Frank’s character in many different situations, including some that have been rather trying. In each case we’ve appreciated, benefitted from and sometimes marvelled at Frank’s diligence, wisdom, kindness, generosity and good nature.

Frank tends to contribute very quietly. Much of the good work that he does goes unsung, but he has had a hand in many of the positive things that have happened in the community since the Mozilla project began ten years ago. He’s been a particularly strong champion of accessibility for Firefox and for the web, and the community’s work in this area has led to Mozilla products becoming highly respected by, for example, the visually impaired.

Frank’s blog regularly demonstrates that has a strong understanding of where Mozilla has been over the years and also many insights into where the community should be going in the future, so all three of us feel fortunate that we will continue to be able to work with Frank as he moves to a new role.