The awareness of OpenID continues to grow. At the same time, the OpenID Foundation – the organization founded to promote, protect, and enable OpenID technologies and community – has been growing too, adding new board members and sustaining sponsors. Today, another piece of the board came together, as the OpenID Foundation introduced its new executive director Don Thibeau.
As he moves into his new role, where will Thibeau focus? In a short interview on the OpenID Foundation blog, the new leader of the Foundation points to three goals:
“My short-term priorities are to build a foundation for growth. It’s not sexy but ‘plumbing’ is important. So my immediate focus will be on making sure the Foundations’ finances and governance issues are solid. The third priority is to begin planning for a major OIDF event later in the year.”
Thibeau comes to the Foundation most recently as an independent consultant. He has a history of executive roles at companies like QSent (which was acquired by TransUnion in 2006) and LexisNexis. In the early ’80s, Thibeau was a Presidential appointee to the US Department of Labor and served as White House liaison for the US Synthetic Fuels Corporation.
Thibeau succeeds Bill Washburn, the inaugural executive director for the organization.