# Matt DeBergalis

> Matt DeBergalis is the CEO and co-founder of Apollo GraphQL, an engineer and organizer whose career runs from NetBSD and network-storage standards through ActBlue, Meteor and the commercial GraphQL ecosystem. Across those seemingly different projects, his recurring concern is coordination: making it easier for people, teams and machines to act through shared infrastructure.

- **Role:** Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder at Apollo GraphQL
- **Organizations:** Apollo GraphQL, Meteor Development Group, ActBlue, NetApp, NetBSD
- **Education:** Master's degree in computer science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- **Known for:** Co-founded Apollo GraphQL and helped develop an open-source and commercial ecosystem around GraphQL clients, servers, federation and graph management., Co-founded ActBlue in 2004, helping establish a supporter-led model for online small-dollar political fundraising., Co-authored and helped lead Meteor, an influential open-source framework for real-time JavaScript applications.

## Career timeline

- **1990s-early 2000s** — Contributed to NetBSD, including a NeXT port and the NetBSD port of SMBFS components, and worked on network-storage technology and specifications at Network Appliance.
- **2003** — Ran for Cambridge City Council, campaigning in part on engaging students and younger residents; finished tenth for nine seats.
- **2004** — Co-founded ActBlue with Ben Rahn to make small-dollar online political fundraising and distributed supporter-led campaigns easier.
- **2011** — Co-founded the company that developed Meteor, an open-source JavaScript framework for real-time applications.
- **2016** — The Meteor Development Group began focusing on Apollo and GraphQL tooling; DeBergalis became Apollo's co-founder and CTO.
- **2022** — Introduced Apollo GraphOS as a cloud platform for building, connecting and scaling a supergraph.
- **2025-07** — Became CEO of Apollo GraphQL, succeeding co-founder Geoff Schmidt, who moved into a technology-focused role.
- **2025-09** — Presented at GraphQLConf on GraphQL-based API orchestration for AI-driven applications.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Apollo GraphQL and helped develop an open-source and commercial ecosystem around GraphQL clients, servers, federation and graph management.
- Co-founded ActBlue in 2004, helping establish a supporter-led model for online small-dollar political fundraising.
- Co-authored and helped lead Meteor, an influential open-source framework for real-time JavaScript applications.
- Contributed operating-system and network-filesystem work to NetBSD and worked on NFSv4 and DAFS specifications at Network Appliance.
- Led Apollo's technical direction as CTO before becoming CEO in July 2025.

## Latest updates

- **2026** — Apollo's current leadership page lists DeBergalis as Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder.
- **2025-09** — Delivered a GraphQLConf keynote on GraphQL and API orchestration for the AI era.
- **2025-07** — Announced that he was becoming Apollo's CEO; co-founder Geoff Schmidt moved to a role focused on technology and the GraphQL ecosystem.
- **2025-05** — Published 'The Future of MCP is GraphQL,' connecting GraphQL's declarative model with agent tools and governed API access.

## Links

- Website: https://www.apollographql.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/debergalis
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/debergalis
- GitHub: https://github.com/debergalis
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@apollographql

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/matt-debergalis
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-09-27