Forwarding an announcement for those who follow WMF governance.
I feel that this is good news. Katherine is really good at building
relationships, and WMF needs a lot of that right now. I am hopeful for good
things to come. (:
Pine
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Patricio Lorente <patricio.lorente(a)gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 6:55 PM
Subject: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation executive transition update
To: Wikimedia Mailing List <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>rg>, "
wmfall(a)lists.wikimedia.org" <wmfall(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Hello all,
I’m happy to announce that the Wikimedia Foundation leadership team has
proposed an interim Executive Director, and the Board has given our full
support. Starting on March 14th, current Chief Communications Officer
Katherine Maher (
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Katherine_(WMF)) will
step into the role of interim Executive Director. We thank the C-levels for
their careful consideration in this process, and Katherine for stepping up
during this period of transition.
In choosing an interim ED, the C-levels started by identifying immediate
priorities for the coming months, including building trust, improving
communications, and filling key leadership positions. They felt, and we
agree, that Katherine is the right person to lead the organization while it
addresses these and other important issues. Additionally, this will allow
the rest of the executive team to focus on critical organizational
functions, including community and engineering management, fundraising, and
strengthening our human resources function. You can read more about our
process and thinking here:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/Marc…
Katherine has been with the Foundation as Chief Communications Officer for
about two years now. During that time, she has developed a versatile and
effective team that serves the needs of the organization and movement,
collaborating closely with other departments and the community. She has
thoughtfully introduced new capacities and led her team through
transitions, and played a critical role in shepherding the strategy process
and the annual plan, in collaboration with other C-levels. She is known for
listening to and empowering the people that she works with.
For those who don’t know Katherine, she’s been a longtime advocate for
global open communities, culture, and technology. She previously led
advocacy for the international digital rights organization Access Now,
where she worked on freedom of expression, access to information, and
privacy. She has supported the efforts of citizens and governments around
the world to deepen transparency and participation in her roles at the
World Bank, National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, and
UNICEF (where her team built wikis for youth participation in major global
issues). She is a member of the advisory board of the Open Technology Fund.
With interim leadership in place, our next step as the Board is to move
quickly to plan and implement the search for a permanent Executive
Director. We will be working together over the coming weeks to clarify
roles and responsibilities in this search, and identify the best way for
community and staff to participate. We want this process to be inclusive
and incorporate many voices. We look forward to sharing an update on our
progress toward the end of next week.
As interim Executive Director, Katherine will report to the Board. Geoff
Brigham will continue serving as Board Secretary, and Jaime Villagomez as
Board Treasurer, reporting to the Board in those capacities. As of March
14, Katherine's reports include the C-team: Geoff Brigham, Jaime
Villagomez, Maggie Dennis, Lisa Gruwell, Joady Lohr, and Wes Moran. The
Communications team will continue to report to Katherine for the time
being, with support from the leadership of Juliet Barbara and Heather
Walls.
Thank you,
Patricio
Translation notice - This message is available for translation on
Meta-Wiki:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/10_M…
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