Nat Friedman
Former GitHub CEO who launched Copilot and now leads product at Meta Superintelligence Labs
- Age
- 49 yrs
- Birthday in 274 days
- Works listed
- 0
- Career highlights
- Honours
- 0
- Awards & distinctions
- Profile views
- 1
- 0 followers
Nat Friedman is an American technology executive who co-founded the open-source companies Ximian and Xamarin and was CEO of GitHub from 2018 to 2021, launching GitHub Copilot. An AI investor, he funded the Vesuvius Challenge to read burned Roman scrolls and in 2025 joined Meta as head of product for its superintelligence lab.
Biography
Open source
Friedman studied computer science and mathematics at MIT. In 1999 he and Miguel de Icaza founded Ximian, which worked on the GNOME desktop; Novell bought it. In 2011 they founded Xamarin, which Microsoft bought in 2016.
GitHub
After Microsoft bought GitHub, he became its CEO in 2018 and launched GitHub Copilot, an AI coding assistant, in 2021.
Investor
He and Daniel Gross invested in many AI start-ups. In 2023 he funded the Vesuvius Challenge, in which AI helped read papyri carbonised by Mount Vesuvius.
Meta
In 2025 he joined Meta Superintelligence Labs as head of product, working with Alexandr Wang.
Timeline
-
1977
Born in United States
-
1999
Co-founds Ximian
-
2011
Co-founds Xamarin
-
2016
Microsoft buys Xamarin
-
2018
CEO of GitHub
-
2021
GitHub Copilot
-
2023
Vesuvius Challenge
-
2025
Joins Meta
Did you know?
-
1
The Vesuvius Challenge revealed the first words read from inside a sealed Herculaneum scroll in 2023.
-
2
He chaired the GNOME Foundation.
-
3
He keeps a public list of beliefs on his website.
Connections
Related people
Also born on 6 August
-
Kevin Mitnick
Technology · Once America’s most-wanted hacker, later a security consultant
1963
-
Jon Postel
Technology · Internet pioneer who managed IANA and edited the RFC series
1943
-
John Collison
Technology · Irish co-founder and president of Stripe
1990
-
Travis Kalanick
Technology · Co-founder and former CEO of Uber
1976
Frequently asked
Who is Nat Friedman?
Nat Friedman is an American technology executive who co-founded the open-source companies Ximian and Xamarin and was CEO of GitHub from 2018 to 2021, launching GitHub Copilot. An AI investor, he funded the Vesuvius Challenge to read burned Roman scrolls and in 2025 joined Meta as head of product for its superintelligence lab.
How old is Nat Friedman?
Nat Friedman is 49 years old, born on 6 August 1977 in United States.
Where is Nat Friedman from?
Nat Friedman was born in United States.
What is Nat Friedman known for?
Nat Friedman is best known for Co-founding Ximian and Xamarin; GitHub CEO 2018–2021; GitHub Copilot; Vesuvius Challenge; Meta AI.
References
- Nat Friedman — Wikipedia. Wikipedia. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- Official website. nat.org. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- Nat Friedman (Q92955) — structured data. Wikidata. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
Includes material from the Wikipedia article “Nat Friedman”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. That text is available under the same licence. Learn more
External links
About this profile
- Researched by the TrackFame editorial team; reviewed by Sanjay Sokal under our editorial policy
- First published 4 November 2026
- Last updated
Cite this page
“Nat Friedman.” TrackFame, last updated 4 November 2026. https://trackfame.com/person/nat-friedman
Discussion 0
Sign in or create an account to join the discussion.
No comments yet — be the first.
More in Technology
Technology
Sachin Bansal
Co-founder of Flipkart and founder of Navi
Born 1981
Technology
Satya Nadella
Chairman and CEO of Microsoft
Born 1967
Technology
Nandan Nilekani
Infosys co-founder and architect of Aadhaar
Born 1955
Technology
Ritesh Agarwal
Founder of the hotel chain OYO
Technology
Vijay Shekhar Sharma
Founder of the digital payments company Paytm
Born 1978
Technology
Sundar Pichai
CEO of Google and Alphabet
Born 1972