About Hari Shanker R
I am an experienced Community and Project/Program Management Professional.
Until July 2025, I served as the Community Program Manager (formerly known as "Super Deputy") on the Make/WordPress Community Team, where my focus was on making the WordPress Community the best it can be, through events and other community-led efforts. I used to lead the Contributor Working Group of WordPress, where we built, and successfully ran three editions of the Contributor Mentorship Program, which resulted in a net total of 150 active contributors for WordPress. I also co-led the Five for the Future Program, and was also involved in other contributor initiatives such as the WordPress Contributor Health Dashboard project. I also used to be a fully-sponsored contributor to the WordPress open source project for over four years from 2020 through 2024.
Even though I don't work with WordPress on a day-to-day basis these days, the software has a close place in my heart. I strongly believe that open source tech and the open web have the potential to make the world a better place.
I have had a rather diverse career with significant experience in the domains of Retail Banking, Print & Web Journalism, Web Development, Entrepreneurship, Event Management, Professional Blogging, and Education.
Outside of work, I enjoy writing (blogging) as a hobby, and I'm a compulsive bibliophile. I'm also a happily married pet parent to three cats.
WordCamp India 2021 (Online) was held across three weekends. The event kicked off on January 30th and wrapped up on February 14th. Looking back, organizing the event was a one-of-a-kind experience, and as members of the organizing team, we would …