Ben Werdmuller

Senior Director of Technology

2024

I lead the development and execution of ProPublica's technology strategy. As well as a team of talented product developers, I lead an enterprise technology (IT) group that supports the organization's work.

Technology Consultant

2023 - 2024

Chief Technology Officer

2022 - 2023

The 19th is a non-profit newsroom focusing on gender, politics, and policy. I was its first CTO and defined the technology team’s role within the newsroom. I led the hiring and mentorship of engineers, cultivated an open, transparent team culture, and served as the lead engineer, building everything from features for the website to establishing a self-hosted encrypted VPN. I steered a transition to WordPress VIP as the core CMS platform, and developed an equity-focused process for making technology decisions overall. I was also an integral member of the senior leadership team, helping to shape organizational strategy.

Head of Engineering

2019 - 2022

ForUsAll aims to help more people save for retirement. I was the Head of Engineering, reporting to the CEO, and effectively acted as the CTO for the organization. I built and led a 22-person engineering team, and oversaw all technology decisions. This included revamping the hiring process for engineers to become more open and equitable. I also shepherded the company through a SOC 2 security audit process, established digital security practices like an encrypted VPN, and helped to transition the company to remote working in a post-Covid environment. ForUsAll pivoted to allow savers to include alternative investments in their retirement portfolio. I assisted in this process, helping to scope and design integrations with third-party trading platforms.

VP Product Development

2018 - 2019

Unlock is an open source startup building a protocol for membership on the open web. I was its first employee, helping to establish the engineering team and guide its initial strategy. As well as establishing a cross-disciplinary, open source development team, I actively worked on the core Node and React / Redux codebase, including some integration with the Ethereum blockchain.

Director of Investments (San Francisco)

2017 - 2018

Matter was a venture capital accelerator for media startups backed by partners like PRX, KQED, the New York Times, and the Associated Press. As its west coast Director of Investments, I was responsible for sourcing, investing in, and supporting startups that participated in the accelerator in San Francisco. I led and executed the west coast investment strategy, ultimately investing in 24 startups across diverse verticals, and helping to support a total portfolio of 73. I led mentorship sessions for portfolio startups that included fundraising, technical decision-making, and team culture. Additionally, I co-taught the product design side of the accelerator itself: a 5-month course on venture design thinking and product strategy for startups and teams drawn from our media partners.

Senior Engineer

2016 - 2017

Medium is a top 100 website focused on in-depth, quality writing. I joined the team after it acquired Known. I was an integral member of the publications team, building features to support major platforms like The Ringer and ThinkProgress. I built export tools, supported the use of custom domains, and co-founded an Openness Circle that worked on support for standards like Do Not Track. I also facilitated discussions about Medium’s response to the 2016 election.

Co-Founder

2014 - 2016

Known is an open source publishing platform that powers mobile-first communities. I co-founded the startup and both wrote and conceived of the first versions of the software. I built an open open source platform and community, and secured funding from Matter Ventures. Customers for our platform included KQED, Davidson College, and Harvard University; KQED received a NAMLE media literacy award for the site we built together. The open source platform continues to exist today, but the startup was acquired by Medium.

Chief Technology Officer

2010 - 2014

Latakoo allows TV journalists to swiftly transfer videos back to their newsrooms, where it arrives in the format of the newsroom’s choice, via any internet connection. Its customers include NBC News, Nexstar Media Group, and Spectrum News. I was its first employee and helped the startup define and build its core product. I also conceived of its co-located enterprise product, Latakoo Hub, which has helped bring the startup to profitability. While I was on the team, Latakoo’s software facilitated news video transfers from locations including the Sochi Olympics, Syria, Mount Everest, and Air Force One. I’m the co-author of two patents that were granted for this work, and remain a member of the Latakoo Board of Directors.

Geek in Residence

2010 - 2011

• Designed and constructed a data API for the Edinburgh Festivals, collectively the world's largest arts festival. • Collaborated with disparate arts organizations to address their digital requirements. • Co-hosted a hackathon targeting Scotland's creative sector.

Co-founder / CTO

2004 - 2009

Elgg was one of the first white label social networking platforms. I co-founded and developed the platform, built a thriving open source community, and worked on everything from sales and marketing to cultivating deep partnerships with institutions around the world. Elgg powered networks for governments (Australia, Netherlands, Canada), NGOs like Oxfam, and Fortune 500 companies like Hill & Knowlton. It was translated into over 80 languages and attracted hundreds of active contributors. Curverider was the startup founded to provide commercial services for Elgg. I served as CTO, while Dave Tosh was CEO. In reality, we both led business operations and collaborated technically. We bootstrapped the startup to profitability: our first client was MIT, with whom we worked on the first OpenCourseWare platform. We subsequently worked with the University of Brighton to launch the world’s first social network to roll out campus-wide at a university. We received extensive coverage in outlets like the Guardian, ZDNet, and TechCrunch, and received a Best in Open Source Software award from InfoWorld. We launched a hosted social networking platform in direct competition with Ning, and created a semi-distributed social network called Explode that attracted the attention of press and investors. The latter led to us raising investment and hiring a team. Curverider was ultimately acquired by Thematic Networks in 2010.