Bernadette Meehan
CEO, Wikimedia Foundation
Before running Wikipedia's nonprofit, she was a Wall Street banker, the White House's national security spokesperson and U.S. ambassador to Chile.
- Born
- The Bronx, New York, U.S.
- Now
- Chief Executive Officer, Wikimedia Foundation
- Studied
- Boston College
Interesting facts
- Before AI
Spent years on Wall Street as a vice president at JPMorgan and then Lehman Brothers before switching to the U.S. Foreign Service in 2004.
en.wikipedia.org - Early start
At 16 she moved to Río Gallegos, at the southern tip of Argentina, as a high school exchange student.
en.wikipedia.org - Detour
Was the White House National Security Council's spokesperson from 2012 to 2015, then helped plan Barack Obama's 2016 visit to Cuba.
en.wikipedia.org - Before AI
At J.P. Morgan she helped design one of the bank's first web-based client platforms.
meta.wikimedia.org - Numbers
As ambassador to Chile she backed the Humboldt Cable, the first subsea cable linking South America with Asia.
diff.wikimedia.org - In their words
Says Wikipedia content is core to generative AI but often lacks clear attribution back to Wikimedia sites.
reuters.com
Career
- Wikimedia FoundationChief Executive Officer2026 to now
- U.S. Department of StateU.S. Ambassador to Chile2022–2025
- Obama FoundationExecutive Vice President of Global Programs2017–2021
- White House National Security CouncilSpokesperson and Special Advisor to the President2012–2017
- U.S. Department of StateSpecial Assistant to the Secretary of State, Foreign Service2004–2012
- Lehman BrothersVice President, Asset Management2003–2004
- JPMorgan ChaseVice President, Private Banking1997–2003
Education
- BA, Political science, Boston College