INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INNOVATOR AWARD
Matthew C. Mullenweg is an entrepreneur who is the founding developer of WordPress, the blogging software that is used by thousands of bloggers and read by millions around the world. Mullenweg is also the founder, primary developer, and Chief BBQ Taste Tester of Automattic, a privately held firm that is responsible for WordPress.com, Akismet, an anti spam service, and other tools.
Previously, Mullenweg worked at CNET on blogs and new media offerings. WordPress was started in 2003, and since then Mullenweg has worked on developing the open source software and several related tools. He also co-founded the Global Multimedia Protocols Group, which was an effort to represent human relationships on the web. Later, he co-wrote Ping-O-Matic, a blog notification tool. More recently, he worked on releasing Akismet, a distributed anti spam service.
Mullenweg is frequently cited by the media on Web 2.0 and the open source movement and is a frequent speaker at conferences. He was one of the keynote speakers at BlogWorld Expo 2007. In March 2007, Mullenweg was named #16 of the 50 Most Important People on the Web by PC World. He also serves as an advisor to Sphere and WeGame. Mullenweg is an avid Jazz musician, photographer, and of course blogger.