Although many people do wonderful for Wikimedia and its projects, I would like to formally recognize a few of those people today. Daniel Mayer has had the title of Chief Financial Officer for the last year, and has done some amazing work in this role, often despite being in the difficult situation of not having access to the Foundation's bank account. I would like to invite him to continue in this role for the following year, with the promise of getting him better access to the data, by changing banks if necessary. (Don't get me started about stupid online banking systems!)
In addition, there are a number of positions where it would be extremely useful to the Foundation to have a key person the Board can maintain contact with, and as such, I would like to appoint the following people, subject to them being happy with these positions:
Chief Technical Officer (servers and development): Brion Vibber Hardware Officer: Domas Mituzas Developer Liaison: Jens Frank Chief Research Officer: Erik Möller Grants Coordinator: Danny Wool Press Officer: Elian Lead Legal co-ordination: Jean-Baptiste Soufron
Angela has written some brief descriptions of these roles at http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Official_position#New_positions_proposed but the exact tasks are not yet defined, and will more likely become apparent as each of these people makes the role their own.
I would encourage these people to work closely with, and even help to formulate committees within Wikimedia. Sj has made a very good suggestion at http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Official_position#Special_Interest_Group... for a number of Special Interest Groups. These appointed positions do not have any special power within any of those groups, but serve as a point of contact to the Board, and to the community, to ensure that information is flowing between all concerned parties within their own fields of expertise. The appointment is a reflection of the work these people are already doing in these areas, and should not be seen as a disincentive to others to become involved. (To the contrary, I hope that formal recognition and appreciation can serve as a further incentive, not that we really need a lot of that since everyone is working so hard already!)
-- Jimbo