From the discussion on the creation of Wikimedia I remember that there
definitely was an intention to have members involved in the election of the board. Apart from the appointed board members, there would be two community selected members - one chosen by the editing community, the other by the financial contributing community. However, because there was no membership yet at the time, the first two community board members were 'for now' both elected by the editing community. Later, when it was decided, or when it became clear, that there would not be paying members, the seat (with the extension of the board, seats) that had been intended to be filled by the paying members, was changed into the current chapter-selected board seats.