Hi everyone,
I want to thank you all for the best wishes you've expressed since the
announcement. I am very excited to be joining you as the new Executive
Director of the Wikimedia Foundation.
Let me tell you why I'm joining.
Like everyone, I've been a Wikipedia reader for years. I use it to get
background on events in the news, to look up quick facts and satisfy my
curiosity, and to better understand the world around me, every day. My
nine year old son, like many children around him, has grown up with
Wikipedia as his native resource for knowledge. It is incredible.
But I also realize that as an educated person living in a rich part of the
world, I have access to a wide range of information resources. That's not
true for everyone. For people who are less economically fortunate, or who
live in parts of the world where access to information is heavily
constrained, Wikipedia is even more critical. It is an utterly unique
resource that opens possibilities for more equitable and open world.
That's why I want to work for the Wikimedia Foundation: to help grow the
availability of free, unbiased information for everyone around the world,
in their own language, unimpeded by censorship or other forms of
interference. It's a colossal mission and I am glad and humbled to be
playing a leadership role in helping to achieve it.
I’m excited to bring my passion for building products that people love and
growing innovative, high-performing organizations to the Foundation. In
getting oriented I’ve done lots and lots of reading, and had some wonderful
conversations with Board members, Sue, and the C-level team. I met a lot of
staff today at the Metrics Meeting, and I'm hoping to meet them all before
the end of this month. I've been warned that joining the Wikimedia movement
is a bit like drinking from a firehose, and so I'd consider myself, right
now, to be excited, curious, optimistic, and just a tiny little bit daunted.
Thank you again for personally welcoming me to your incredible world. I
have been lucky to have had great opportunities to join with amazing people
on big quests. This is the largest quest and I am thrilled to be on it with
all of you. I want to extend my gratitude to Sue for the incredible work
she has done and all the time she has committed to help bring me on-board.
To all of you for your warm welcome. And my deepest thanks to the Wikimedia
Foundation Board of Trustees for giving me this extraordinary opportunity.
Truly yours,
Lila