Automattic has added four new members to its board of directors, including a science-fiction author and a relationship author, along with the co-founders of the former social app IRL, one of whom previously worked at Automattic. The company has also added three new advisers.
The changes come after a leadership dispute earlier this month that briefly saw Matt Mullenweg removed as CEO before he returned to the role.
Who is on the new board?
Hugh Howey is an American science-fiction author whose books “Wool,” “Shift,” and “Dust” form the basis for Apple TV+’s “Silo” series. He and Mullenweg hiked the Camino de Santiago in Spain in 2018. Matt has also listed Howey’s book Wool in the series of books he read in 2020–2023.
Amy Chan is the author of “Breakup Bootcamp: The Science of Rewiring Your Heart” and founder of Renew Breakup Bootcamp, an in-person retreat focused on helping people recover from breakups and develop healthier relationship patterns. Chan has also publicly interacted with Mullenweg before joining Automattic’s board. In September 2024, she commented on a blog post by Mullenweg about his charitable contributions, writing, “We love you and will always support you.”
Henry Khachatryan and Krutal Desai co-founded the social app IRL, which was later shut down after investigations revealed that nearly all of its user base consisted of bots. Desai also worked at Automattic as Head of Special Projects from 2012 to 2020.
Three new advisers join Automattic
The board changes also include three new advisers: former Whoop CTO Jaime Waydo, June co-founder Matt Van Horn, and KISSmetrics co-founder Hiten Shah, who was also an early advisor at Automattic.
Waydo previously spent more than a decade at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where she served as chief mechanical systems engineer and chief systems engineer for the Mars Curiosity Rover.
In a statement to TechCrunch, Mullenweg said, “We are living through times of unprecedented change, possibly a singularity. The next six months will determine the next 20 years of Automattic.”
The changes come after a leadership dispute earlier this month that briefly removed Mullenweg from his position as CEO.
What happened to Automattic’s previous board?
Earlier this month, Automattic’s previous board voted to place Mullenweg on paid leave and appointed CFO Mark Davies as interim CEO.
The board did not publicly explain why it voted to place Mullenweg on leave or how long the leave would last. Mullenweg said he had been given the resolution 50 minutes before the board meeting and had asked for an independent legal counsel review, but was denied.
Mullenweg returned as CEO 33 hours and 20 minutes after he was placed on leave. Following his return, Toni Schneider resigned from the board, while Mullenweg removed Gen. Ann Dunwoody. Sue Decker also resigned.
Davies and chief legal officer Andy Missan subsequently left Automattic. Davies had been appointed interim CEO during Mullenweg’s brief absence.
TechCrunch reported that Mullenweg informed staff about the new board through Slack after previously posting about a board meeting without naming those who attended. In his staff announcement, Mullenweg said, “for purposes of Delaware law, I am the CEO, President, Treasurer, and Secretary,” and said the attempted firing brought in “many amazing supporters.”
Mullenweg also described the board meeting as “the most interesting board meeting in a decade (since the Woo acquisition).”
The Automattic Board of Directors page has not yet been updated to reflect the changes in its membership.