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Ryan Merkley

Ryan was Chief Executive Officer at Creative Commons. He joined the organization in 2014 to define a new strategy and to establish long-term sustainability for CC. Today, CC is implementing its renewed strategy to build a vibrant, usable commons powered by collaboration and gratitude. Since 2014, CC nearly tripled the number of individual donors, and the commons grew to over 1.1 billion licensed works. In early 2016, CC announced a landmark $10M donation from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, supporting its ongoing work and renewed focus.

Prior to joining CC, Ryan was Chief Operating Officer of Mozilla. He also worked as Director of Corporate Communications for the City of Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Games, and was a Senior Advisor to Mayor David Miller in Toronto, where he led the Mayor’s budget policy and initiated Toronto’s Open Data project. Ryan is an experienced campaigner and advocate for social causes, and has advised political campaigns on the local and national levels. Ryan is an avid cyclist and an amateur barista. He lives in Toronto with his daughter.

Posts by Ryan Merkley

Our biggest report yet: State of the Commons 2016

by Ryan Merkley About CC

We are pleased to announce our annual State of the Commons report, which celebrates our global community of artists, archivists, and advocates working to further collaboration, creativity, and access to research and cultural heritage.

Announcing 470,000 images from Europeana, now in CC Search

by Ryan Merkley Open Culture

CC Search beta has added 470,000 images from the millions of materials contained in Europeana’s collection of Creative Commons images.

Announcing CC’s new board chair, Molly Shaffer Van Houweling, and newest board member, Ruth Okediji

by Ryan Merkley About CC

I am thrilled to announce the appointment of two new members of the Creative Commons Board of Directors: Molly Shaffer Van Houweling and Ruth Okediji. In addition, the board has selected Molly Shaffer Van Houweling to serve as Board Chair. Molly is a brilliant and accomplished legal academic with an extensive history with Creative Commons…

Job Opportunity: Director of Product Engineering

by Ryan Merkley About CC

On February 7, 2017, Creative Commons released a public beta of CC Search. Our goal was to inspire discussion, debate, and ideas on how we can build a front door to the commons, and make content more discoverable and usable, and foster a culture of collaboration and gratitude. Now we’re looking for a Director of…

Announcing the new CC Search, now in Beta

by Ryan Merkley About CC, Technology

Creative Commons’ goal is a vibrant, usable Commons powered by collaboration and gratitude. That work has taken us beyond the licenses to explore new tools for discovery, reuse and collaboration.