Wonderful news, congrats on the successful search. And welcome, Kathy!
Sam.
(Nat: also a fan of the new Talking initiative. :)
On Wed, Nov 1, 2023 at 5:29 PM Kathy Collins <kcollins(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
Hi all,
Thank you, Nat, and to all the staff and volunteers who have shared such a
warm welcome as I prepare to join the Wikimedia Foundation Board of
Trustees, and to those who have given their time to sharing information and
answering my questions.
I have dedicated much of my career and my personal volunteer time to
public, non-profit, and higher education institutions that have the mission
of advancing knowledge and access to knowledge. As will be familiar to
you, I have often turned to Wikipedia to read biographies, to learn about
historical context or to get information for my travel plans, to name just
a few of the dozen ways in which I’ve used this resource over the years. I
understand and deeply appreciate its value in the world.
As I join, my first priority will be to learn about the needs of the
Wikimedia movement now, and the work of the Wikimedia Foundation so that I
can positively contribute my experiences and expertise in my role as a
Trustee and chair of the Audit Committee. The work of the Audit Committee
helps the Board carry out its fiduciary responsibilities to advise
leadership at the Foundation on financial plans, policies and practices and
risk assessment. Through this work, the Board helps the Foundation to
advance our strategic goals, and also ensures sound financial management,
long-term planning, and clear communications surrounding the Foundation’s
budget and financial reports.
I am impressed by the scope, resilience and diligence of the Wikimedia
movement, and the central importance of volunteers to its success. I look
forward to attending Wikiconference North America in Toronto, and having
this first opportunity to meet some volunteers and hear what is top of
mind. I hope to find ways to meet more of you as I formally join the Board
in December.
I look forward to working with you,
Kathy
On Wed, Nov 1, 2023 at 4:20 PM Nataliia Tymkiv <ntymkiv(a)wikimedia.org>
wrote:
Dear all,
I am writing with an update on the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
Audit Committee Chair search process.
You may recall that in July 2023, I wrote about the Board’s need to
identify a replacement for trustee and Audit Committee chair Tanya Capuano
[1] and the requirements that the Board had identified for the position
[2]. The Governance Committee conducted a search over a months-long
process, which included a search firm as well as a call for candidates
through the communities; the main components of the recruitment process are
described here [3]. In August at Wikimania, the Governance Committee made a
recommendation to the Board to move forward with the top finalist, and the
Board accepted it [4]. I am pleased to announce that Kathy Collins [5] will
be joining officially at our next Board meeting on December 6, 2023.
Kathy has extensive financial and nonprofit governance experience that
she brings to this role. She has worked as a financial expert for her
entire career, across both higher education institutions and state and
federal governments in the United States. She was Vice President of Finance
at Rice University in Houston, Texas for nearly 20 years, a position she
held until last year when she retired. She has also been a trustee at Mount
Holyoke College in Massachusetts, where she served in multiple Board
leadership roles including Vice Chair of the Board, Chair of the Finance
Committee and member of the Audit, Governance and Development Committees
and the DEI (Diversity, equity, and inclusion) Task Force. Her
experience and expertise are very relevant to the challenges we as the
Board are seeing for this role. Please join me in welcoming her!
This is a planned role succession, with a very clear profile needed, and
as I mentioned before [4], over the past year, there have been quite a lot
of intentional improvements to all of our processes (e.g., recruitment,
appointments, onboarding, succession planning), so that Trustees with no or
limited Wikimedia experience can start engaging in community conferences,
events, and on-wiki discussions as soon as possible, and as the role of a
Trustee is complex, it is better if the process can start before the
official appointment, when already a certain level of knowledge is expected
to start making informed decisions. And Kathy has wasted no time in
pre-onboarding to the Wikimedia Foundation and learning about the Movement
and Board. She has been joining the Audit and Governance Committee meetings
for the past few months. Kathy also will also be joining other Trustees in
person at the WikiConference North America event in Toronto, which will be
her first community event, and also an opportunity to get to know some of
her future colleagues on the Board better.
I would like to thank Tanya Capuano for continuing to support the
Foundation while Kathy is pre-onboarded to the Audit Committee and the
Board. Tanya has also graciously agreed to remain an Advisor to the Audit
Committee after her term officially ends in December.
Recently, Maryana Iskander announced Talking: 2024 [6], conversations to
share, listen, and learn with intention as we all continue to plan our
future as a movement. If you would like to talk to me about this or any
other Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees topics, you can use the Let’s
Talk feature to sign up for a time to speak with me [7].
[1]
https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org…
[2]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Governance_Committee/B…
[3]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board_of_Trustees/Recruiting_procedure
[4]
https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org…
[5]
https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2023/11/01/wikimedia-foundation-welcom…
[6]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Comm…
[7]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Comm…
Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal
working hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during
weekend. You should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off.
Thank you in advance!*
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