Hi, I’m Tess, manager of the Web Standards team at Apple. My pronouns are she/her.
The W3C is at the tail end of a transformative period in its history. Transitioning to a legal entity, becoming a Director-free organization, and onboarding a new CEO all happened at roughly the same time, and the outgoing Board of Directors deserves a ton of credit for successfully navigating a path through what was at times a very difficult journey. Because of their success—and the hard work of everyone else involved in these efforts—the incoming Board will be able to focus on maintaining the steady state operation of the organization and supporting W3C’s strategic path into the future.
We’re now a Member-led organization. It’s the responsibility of the incoming Board to ensure that we mean it when we say that. Those in leadership must be attentive to the membership. If elected, I will work with the rest of the Board, the CEO and Team, the other elected bodies, and the Advisory Committee to ensure the organization’s strategic direction is rooted in the vision and priorities of the Members and is in the W3C’s best interest.
I have a proven track record of helping standards participants find consensus despite the many obstacles they may encounter—from strong personalities to disparate, conflicting interests. Over the last twenty years I’ve worked on CSS, HTML, and other foundational Web technologies here at W3C and at the WHATWG. I’ve edited specs and chaired groups. I’ve held an elected seat on the TAG since 2019. While on the TAG I’ve participated in hundreds of design reviews, contributed a number of Web Platform Design Principles, edited the Security & Privacy Questionnaire, and served on every W3C Council since we adopted this new approach to handling Formal Objections, chairing one of them. If elected, I have the experience to find consensus among fellow Board members and will bring my deep knowledge of W3C’s operations, participants, and work to inform Board decisions.
My commitment to ensuring the long-term viability and flourishing of the Web began before I got involved in standards work, right after graduating from college, when I was one of the first engineers to work on Wikipedia. Over the course of my career, I’ve served on the staff of organizations big and small, in industry and academia. I’ve worked at startups as well as long-established institutions. I’ve been a software engineer, a systems administrator, an engineering manager, and a standards wonk. (For a more complete survey of my work experience, see my résumé.)
The W3C has been leading the Web to its full potential for thirty years. I believe the best years for it and for the Web are yet to come. To get there, it’s of course essential that the people guiding the W3C be as diverse as the billions worldwide who depend on the Web in their daily lives. I strive to approach my work here with an intersectional lens, and I hope the AC continues to prioritize seating elected bodies of diverse backgrounds, identities, and lived experiences.
Thank you for your consideration. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions. ∎