Hey everyone :)

I’m super excited to announce that Manuel Merz has joined the Wikidata team as Analytics Product Manager!

Manuel and I will work closely together in supporting Wikidata’s development and you all. As Wikidata's second product manager, Manuel will especially focus on strengthening our data analytics and long-term maintenance work. This includes the product responsibility for bug reports from the Wikidata community, so you will see him more and more on Phabricator.

Manuel is a long-time Wikimedian: He started as a volunteer Wikipedia editor in 2006, has built up Wikimedia Deutschland's impact orientation since 2012, and in 2019 in his free time, he published his Ph.D. thesis on the Wikipedia community. He also runs a small software development company which aids to his product management experience.

Please leave a note on his talk page https://wikidata.org/wiki/User:Manuel_Merz_(WMDE) or write to him directly anytime at manuel.merz@wikimedia.de. He will also be at Wikimania, e.g. the Wikidata Pink Pony session, so this would be an excellent way to get to know him!

Manuel, it's great to have you on the team!

Cheers Lydia