She is the executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation, and previously was the director of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's website and online news outlets. In 2012, she was ranked as the 70th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes magazine, which noted that she "...led the full-day Wikipedia blackout in protest against SOPA". Gardner announced in early 2013 that she would step down from her position with Wikimedia once a successor had been found.