Thank you, Christophe, for sharing this wonderful news.
I have had the opportunity to get to know Raju during this appointments
process, and am very excited that he is joining our Wikimedia family as a
Foundation Trustee. It is clear to me that his values are closely aligned
with those of our movement, and that he brings wisdom and expertise
attained throughout his varied professional experiences. As Executive
Director, I have the distinct pleasure of working closely with our Board,
and I share Christophe's confidence that Raju will make an excellent
addition.
Raju, welcome and thank you for joining one of the world's largest
volunteer movements, and generously offering your time, talent, and wisdom
to the advancement of our mission. I look forward to working with and
learning from you in the years to come.
Katherine
On Mon, Oct 16, 2017 at 3:18 PM, Bishakha Datta <bishakhadatta(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
Excellent news!
Bishakha
On 17 Oct 2017 00:11, "Anna Stillwell" <astillwell(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
Welcome, Raju.
/a
On Mon, Oct 16, 2017 at 11:19 AM, Christophe Henner <
chenner(a)wikimedia.org
wrote:
> Hi everyone,
> Over the past year, the Wikimedia
Foundation Board of Trustees has been
> reviewing and evolving our appointment and onboarding process for new
Board
> members. While that has resulted in some lingering vacancies, we knew
it
> was important to update these processes to
help maintain a cordial and
> productive Board.
>
> The updated appointment process provides the entire board with more
> detailed (albeit private) information about each candidate’s
background,
> public profile, past professional and
volunteer work, and ability to
> contribute to the Board. The updated onboarding process is meant to
help
Board
members learn about the processes and expectations of our Board
more
quickly to help reduce productivity lost to
transitions. Special thanks
to
everyone serving on the Board Governance
Committee and Nataliia for the
work they have put into these improvements!
I am also incredibly excited to share that these efforts have helped us
identify and appoint an amazing addition to the Wikimedia Foundation
Board
of Trustees! At our October meeting, the Board
appointed and welcomed
Raju
> Narisetti to fill one of the vacant expert seats.
>
> Raju is a veteran media executive and journalist and brings a wealth of
> communications experience to the board. He is also a veteran of
nonprofit
> governance and currently serves on the board
for the International
Center
> for Journalists and Institute for
International Education. I am
confident
> he will be a very valuable addition to the
board and thrilled that he
has
> agreed to join us!
>
> We will continue to make improvements to our governance processes, for
> example with the learnings from the on-going governance review, and
apply
> what we have learned to future appointments
and filling our remaining
> vacancy. Thank you for everyone’s patience as we took a pause and
worked
on
recruiting the best possible candidates, rather
than simply rushing to
fill
> the seats.
>
> In the meantime, below (and on the Wikimedia Blog) you will find the
> official announcement about Raju Narisetti and please join me in warmly
> welcoming him to the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees and to the
> Wikimedia movement!
>
> Christophe
> Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
>
> Raju Narisetti joins Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
>
> Media veteran brings nearly three decades of global strategic
experience
in
> digital media and audience development to the Wikimedia Foundation
Board
Image:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Raju_Narisetti_-_
International_Journalism_Festival_2015.JPG
San Francisco, CA, October 16, 2017 — The Wikimedia Foundation today
announced the appointment of Raju Narisetti, a veteran media executive
and
journalist, to the Wikimedia Foundation Board of
Trustees.
Raju brings more than 29 years of media experience across three
continents.
He is currently CEO of Univision Communications
Inc’s Gizmodo Media
Group,
> the publisher of websites including Gizmodo, Jezebel, Lifehacker and
The
Root.
“Raju has dedicated his life’s work to information as a public service.
His
> commitment to editorial integrity, independence, and inclusion is
deeply
> aligned with Wikimedia values. His passion
and expertise in digital
> strategy and international growth will be invaluable to our movement’s
> future as we advance our global free knowledge mission,” said Wikimedia
> Foundation Executive Director, Katherine Maher.
>
> Prior to joining the Gizmodo Media Group, Raju served as Senior Vice
> President, Strategy, at News Corp, one of the largest media companies
in
the world
and the publisher of The Wall Street Journal and The Times of
London. In that role, Raju was responsible for identifying new digital
growth opportunities globally for News Corp.
“There has never been more urgency in Wikipedia's 16-year history than
now,
> for upholding the values of free exchange of information and
knowledge,”
said
Raju. “Despite mounting challenges around the world, rapid
innovation
> is creating tremendous opportunities for the Wikimedia Foundation. I
have
> much to learn, but am also looking forward
to lending my nearly three
> decades of global media experiences to the movement, to help engage
more
> digital and mobile audiences, particularly
diverse young people, and
> harness their energy to benefit from—and support—the vital values that
> underpin all Wikimedia initiatives.”
>
> Before joining News Corp, Raju spent nearly 25 years as a journalist
and
editor.
He started at The Economic Times in India before moving to The
Dayton Daily News (Ohio), The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), and The
Washington
> Post. Starting out as a summer intern at WSJ, he eventually became
Editor
> of The Wall Street Journal Europe and later
Managing Editor of WSJ’s
> digital newsrooms. At The Washington Post, he was the Managing Editor
who
> led the Post’s rethinking of its separate
digital and print newsrooms
and
> operations.
>
> A native of Hyderabad, India, Raju is also the founder of Mint,
currently
> India’s second-largest daily business
newspaper by circulation.
>
> “Raju's extensive international and journalistic experience will add
> valuable perspective to the Board as we look to bring new voices from
> around the world into our movement. I am impressed by his willingness
to
learn
about and embrace the values behind the Wikimedia movement, and
look
> forward to working with him to support our free knowledge mission,”
said
> Nataliia Tymkiv, Governance Chair for the
Board.
>
> Raju is currently the Vice-chair for the Board of Directors of the
> International
> Center for Journalists
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Center_for_Journalists>,
as
well as a
member of the Board of Trustees for the Institute of
International Education
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_of_International_Education>,
which
administers the Fulbright Scholarship
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulbright_Scholarship> programmes. He
lives
in Brooklyn, New York.
Raju joins eight other Foundation Trustees
<https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Board_of_Trustees> who
collectively
> bring expertise in the Wikimedia community, financial oversight,
> governance, and organizational development; and a commitment to
advancing
Wikimedia’s mission of free knowledge for all.
He was approved unanimously by the Wikimedia Foundation Board of
Trustees.
> His term is effective October 2017 and will continue for three years.
> Please see the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
> <https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Board_of_Trustees> for complete
> biographies.
>
> ###
>
> About the Wikimedia Foundation
>
> The Wikimedia Foundation is the non-profit organization that supports
and
operates
Wikipedia and its sister free knowledge projects. Wikipedia is
the
> world’s free knowledge resource, spanning more than 45 million articles
> across nearly 300 languages. Every month, more than 200,000 people edit
> Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects, collectively creating and
improving
> knowledge that is accessed by more than 1
billion unique devices every
> month. This all makes Wikipedia one of the most popular web properties
in
the
world. Based in San Francisco, California, the Wikimedia Foundation
is
a 501(c)(3) charity that is funded primarily
through donations and
grants.
Christophe HENNER
Chair of the board of trustees
chenner(a)wikimedia.org
+33650664739
twitter *@schiste* skype *christophe_henner*
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