I’m honored to work in this new way with the other directors in Community
Engagement through the next few months as we look for the ideal lead for
the department. While I will serve the role in the interim with their
critical support, I will also be continuing as Director of Support and
Safety.
It will be a busy period, and I’m grateful that Luis will be available to
advise me as I settle in. Luis and I have worked together in some capacity
for a long time - since he first came on at the Wikimedia Foundation as
Deputy General Counsel at the Wikimedia Foundation in 2013. I was
immediately impressed by his understanding of and enthusiasm for the open
culture movement. I’ve really enjoyed the opportunity to work closely with
him in the last few months and am very happy to have the opportunity to
continue consulting him during this transition. He will be missed.
Community Engagement will be holding an office hour on February 12 at 1900
UTC to talk about the department, its teams, and our current divisions of
work, as well as what we will (and should) be looking for in our new lead
for Community Engagement. We want to move on this job search quickly, but
it’s critical that we find the right person for the role. :) I realize that
office hours are not the best form of communication for everyone; based on
the office hour and other questions or feedback we may receive, we will
also be putting together some information for posting on Meta with the goal
of getting that up later next week or early the week thereafter. If you
have suggestions for what that page should include, or questions, please
let me know!
I am, as mentioned, likely to be pretty busy for a little while, but
keeping people informed is a high priority. :)
Best,
Maggie
[1] For more on office hours and localized times:
On Mon, Feb 8, 2016 at 3:31 PM, Luis Villa <lvilla(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
Hi, all-
This is a bittersweet email to send. I still, and will always, love this
place and this movement, but it was also time for me to go.
Working with so many awesome Wikimedians (including WMF's staff) has been
an honor and a privilege, and has given me many great experiences,
memories, and a long watchlist ;) that I'll treasure for a long time. The
list of people who I'd like to thank is long, so I won't bore everyone with
it. However, I do want to particularly thank Kat, who introduced me to
Geoff during his first week with WMF. That was ultimately the opportunity
that led me to this incredible ride - so I quite literally owe it all to
her. Many, many other people have been welcoming and friendly along the
way, and I can't ask formore than that.
I'm not going too far! I'll continue to be around the movement, both as a
contributor, and to support Maggie and the rest of the department during
the transition. I look forward to seeing where Community Engagement goes
next - I believe the department will continue to support contributors in a
healthy way, and I'm sure Maggie and my long-term successor will continue
to build exciting things on the foundation we laid over the past year.
Professionally, I have no firm plans yet. I plan to to take a few deep
breaths and then explore some new opportunities in the legal, community,
and tech spaces, as well as becoming a parent in May.
If you want to be in touch (to talk about interesting opportunities, flame
me for old time's sake, or just chat) I'm pretty easy to find: lu.is,
@tieguy on Twitter, LinkedIn, and of course on my enwiki talk page.
See you on the wikis-
Luis
On Mon, Feb 8, 2016 at 12:16 PM, Lila Tretikov <lila(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
Dear all,
I am sad to let you know that Luis Villa, our lead for the Community
Engagement department, will be leaving the Wikimedia Foundation. A year
ago, Luis took on a big challenge, transitioning from the Legal
Department
to lead the newly created Community Engagement
organization. In that
role,
Luis and our teams were tasked with many recent
community initiatives,
such
as the creation of the Community Tech team,
gender-related and
anti-harassment programs, and improved alignment of WMF annual planning
with the Funds Dissemination Committee. Prior to that, as Deputy General
Counsel he was responsible for a number of legal initiatives, including
licensing, contracts, and product counseling. I’m grateful for his
counsel,
and his leadership in the WMF movement throughout
these years.
Later this month, Luis will transition out of his current position with
the
Wikimedia Foundation to pursue other
opportunities. He will remain in a
consulting role with the Foundation over the next few months, continuing
to
support our ongoing strategy and annual planning
processes.
I want to thank Luis for his commitment to the WMF mission, and for the
inspired energy and contributions he has brought to our movement. I’m
looking forward to his future accomplishments and staying in close touch
as
he grows in his career.
Maggie Dennis will step in as the interim director for the CE team
effective immediately. Her deep community background, passion for our
mission, and outstanding teamwork are great assets in this transition.
She
will also continue to serve as Director of
Support and Safety. Maggie is
a
respected leader, colleague, and community
member. I am confident she
will
bring critical insights, especially now as we
plan for our next year.
The work of of the CE department will continue as planned, and the
overall
structure of the department (including the
Community Tech team, which
will
continue to report into the Product organization)
will stay on-course.
Our
goal is to ensure a smooth transition as we
continue our progress to
improve the WMF support for our communities.
It is my priority that the WMF continues to build upon the initiatives we
started in 2015 in support for the global Wikimedia community. Continued
leadership of the Community Engagement department at executive level in
the
WMF is a part of delivering on those commitments.
We will be looking to
fill the Community Engagement leadership role with someone with a strong
background in community programs, and an understanding of the Wikimedia
movement. We will also look to engage with you to find the right person
for
this role. We will send an update on the next
steps and the job
description
shortly, which will include a further discussion
of the role on-wiki.
Lila
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Luis Villa
Sr. Director of Community Engagement
Wikimedia Foundation
*Working towards a world in which every single human being can freely share
in the sum of all knowledge.*
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Director, Support and Safety
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.