Web Summit has appointed Katherine Maher as its new chief executive, to replace Paddy Cosgrave.
Ms Maher was previously chief executive of Wikipedia for five years.
She is also the chair of messaging platform, Signal Messenger.
Her appointment follows the decision by Web Summit co-founder, Paddy Cosgrave, to resign just over a week ago, following a backlash over comments he made about the Israel-Hamas conflict.
"She has been appointed by the board to lead the company through this period of transition," Web Summit said in a statement this morning,
Ms Maher takes over at the company just two weeks ahead of its main flagship conference in Lisbon.
The controversy around Mr Cosgrave's comments led to the withdrawal from the event of a number of high-profile participants, speakers and attendees, including actress Gillian Anderson, Google, Meta, Intel, Stripe and Siemens.
"Our immediate task is returning the focus to what we do best: delivering dialogue among all those connected with technological advancement," Ms Maher said.
Ms Maher is a non-resident Senior Fellow on Democracy and Technology at the Atlantic Council and a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
She is also a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and a security fellow at the Truman National Security Project.
The company also announced today that it has appointed technology leader and innovator, Damian Kimmelman as a non-executive board director.
He has co-founded several successful companies and organisations in the US and Europe, including edtech startup Batelle.com, non profit FoundersPledge.com, business bank Rho.co, and business data provider DueDil.com, now Fullcircl.
Despite his resignation as CEO, Paddy Cosgrave continues to own 81% of the company.
Ms Maher has Irish-American roots, as her father's side of the family is from Templemore in Co Tipperary and her mother's side came from the Tisrara/Mount Talbot area of Co Roscommon.
