● Based in Bern, Switzerland Master · ETH Zürich IT-Security

Elias Summermatter

From vision to value — guided by trust.

CTO at the We.Publish Foundation, co-founder, and open-source maintainer. I build scalable platforms for independent journalism and lead engineering teams with a focus on trust, clarity, and shared purpose.

Elias Summermatter, CTO at We.Publish Foundation

About

As CTO of the We.Publish Foundation, I lead technology with a focus on trust, transparency, and impact — building scalable open-source platforms that empower independent journalism and strengthen digital media ecosystems.

I believe in trust-based, empathetic leadership that lets teams thrive through autonomy, clarity, and shared purpose. Combining deep technical understanding with strategic foresight, I translate complex challenges into sustainable solutions that balance innovation with reliability.

Alongside We.Publish, I co-founded Seccom, an information-security consultancy, and FarmX, bringing modern software to agriculture. My background spans software architecture, infrastructure engineering, and organizational development — I'm passionate about connecting technology and people so that strong engineering meets meaningful purpose.

Work

2023 — now
We.Publish Foundation Current CTO — open-source publishing platform for independent media · Zürich
2018 — now
FarmX Sàrl Co-Founder — software for modern agriculture
2017 — now
Seccom GmbH Co-Founder (with Michael Scheurer) — information-security consultancy · Bern
2015 — 2016
United Security Providers AG Linux System Engineer
2014 — 2017
Tink.ch Head of Technology (Ressortleiter Technik) — independent Swiss youth media · volunteer
2012 — 2015
Bedag Informatique SA Linux System Engineer
2011 — 2012
Sicap AG Junior Oracle Database Administrator
2008 — 2012
Swisscom IT Services Informatiker/in EFZ — Generalist Systemtechnik (Eidgenössisches Fähigkeitszeugnis)

Education

2017 — 2021
Berner Fachhochschule BFH BSc Computer Science — Cyber Security
2014 — 2016
TSBE Dipl. Informatiker HF — Cyber Security und Computer Network
2008 — 2012
GIBB Bern Informatiker/in EFZ — Generalist Systemtechnik (Eidgenössisches Fähigkeitszeugnis)

Community

2022 — now
Schweizer Alpen-Club SAC Current Tour Leader (Summer & Winter) — licensed to guide alpine tours

Open Source

We.Publish ↗

TypeScript · React · GraphQL

Open-source publishing platform built at the We.Publish Foundation to give independent media a sustainable digital backbone — a headless CMS with peering, paywall, membership, and newsletter tooling, already running several Swiss news outlets in production.

cms graphql react publishing peering open-source

Portcullis ↗

Python · Flask

Self-hosted WireGuard gateway for internal infrastructure. GitHub OAuth login, per-service time-limited access, and a full audit log — a pragmatic zero-trust bastion you can actually run yourself.

wireguard zero-trust oauth iptables docker self-hosted

Recommendations

“A very impressive achievement for a Bachelor’s thesis — I’ve so far only had one Master’s thesis that eventually yielded an RFC, and that took 10 years.”

Prof. Christian Grothoff · Computer Science, Berner Fachhochschule BFH

“He most reminds me of Ryan Stutsman, now Associate Professor at the University of Utah — both demonstrated quite similar skill at picking up research ideas, implementing and documenting them, with the difference that Ryan stayed in academia while Elias kept a foot in industry.”

Prof. Christian Grothoff · Computer Science, Berner Fachhochschule BFH

“In his role on the executive team, he shows a keen sense for future challenges — in technological, ethical, and social dimensions.”

Hansi Voigt · Executive Director, We.Publish Foundation · translated from German