'' dancers at
WikiConference India 2016 From 2007 to 2010, Maher worked in New York City, at
UNICEF, as an innovation and communication officer. From 2011 to 2013, Maher worked at the
World Bank as an ICT innovation specialist and consulted on technology for
international development and
democratization. In 2012, Maher's
Twitter feed on issues related to the Middle East was noted for its coverage of the
Arab Spring. From 2013 to 2014, Maher was advocacy director at the
Washington, D.C.-based
Access Now. As part of this work, she focused on the impact on people of laws about
cybersecurity,
morality, and
defamation of the state that increase state
censorship and reduce dissent. Access was a signatory of the
Declaration of Internet Freedom. She became interim executive director in March 2016 following the resignation of executive director
Lila Tretikov and was appointed executive director on June 23, 2016; In a speech to the Atlantic Council Maher spoke about the challenge of combating disinformation, particularly around critical events like elections and the
COVID-19 pandemic. She described the
First Amendment as a "number one challenge" in regulating content and fighting disinformation. From 2022 to 2023, Maher was a member of the
US State Department's
Foreign Affairs Policy Board, an expert panel established in 2011 by then-
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to advise US officials. As of 2023, she chairs the board of directors of the
Signal Foundation. In October of that year,
Web Summit appointed Maher as its new chief executive, to replace
Paddy Cosgrave.
National Public Radio In January 2024, Maher was named CEO of
NPR, and started her job in late March. She subsequently resigned from the Foreign Affairs Policy Board, but continued on the board of the Signal Foundation. She transitioned to the role of non-executive chairperson at Web Summit in March 2024 after only three months as CEO. critiquing, among other things, alleged liberal bias at NPR both in management and content, leading to an erosion of trust with the public and with internal staff. Following Berliner's critique, conservative journalists and activists, including
Christopher Rufo, criticized Maher for tweets she had made supporting progressive policies and about
Donald Trump in 2018, Berliner was suspended without pay for five days, ostensibly for failing to secure approval for "outside work". On April 17, he resigned after 25 years at NPR and criticized Maher's appointment as CEO. In response to the criticisms, Maher defended NPR's record, stating that her comments regarding the First Amendment had been misrepresented and that she has a "robust belief in the First Amendment". In May 2024, the
House Committee on Energy and Commerce requested an appearance by Maher as part of their investigation into "allegations of political and ideological bias at the national program producing office of National Public Radio" as a taxpayer-funded public radio organization. Maher declined to appear due to a scheduling conflict, as she was already scheduled to meet with NPR's board all day on the same date as the committee's hearing. Later that month, Maher approved and announced a new editing group for NPR, called "the Backstop", which caused internal anxiety. Numerous employees expressed concern that the additional layer of review, comprising six editors and funded by an unknown donor, was insufficiently transparent, might be redundant, and might impede NPR's journalistic process. There were also concerns that the creation of the Backstop could be interpreted as a defensive reaction to Berliner's essay. In August 2024, while co-hosting the Public Media Development and Marketing Conference, Maher stated she believed her gender played a role in the scrutiny she faced after being named NPR CEO. In March 2025, Maher appeared before a House subcommittee on government efficiency in a hearing entitled "Anti-American Airwaves: Holding the Heads of NPR and PBS Accountable," to defend NPR against allegations of bias. Subsequently, funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides some federal funds to NPR and its member stations, was rescinded. == Personal life ==