Dries Buytaert

He previously served as the CTO and CSO of Acquia, and currently serves as its Executive Chairman.

As a long-time advocate for the open web, Buytaert has emphasized the need to preserve the internet as a public good, warning against growing consolidation by proprietary platforms. In his leadership role, he has drawn attention to the “maker/taker” imbalance in the open-source ecosystem—where a small group of contributors (makers) build and maintain critical software used by a much larger group of organizations (takers) who benefit without giving back. He has called for greater institutional responsibility, particularly from governments and large corporations, to ensure the sustainability of open digital infrastructure.