Welcome to the movement, Raju!
Your profile seems, with my limited understanding of the current functioning of the board, a valuable complement to the current board. I hope that you feel able and encouraged to also share your wisdom directly with the community. While some of us can be a little more direct and harsh than is appreciated by many, there is usually a large (quiet) majority that appreciates to hear from its board members, especially when they have unique perspectives to bring to the table. Engage early, engage often - and like we say in the Netherlands: barking dogs don't bite.
Warmly, Lodewijk Gelauff
On Mon, Oct 16, 2017 at 2:52 PM, Victoria Coleman vcoleman@wikimedia.org wrote:
Raju welcome! You bring much expertise & wisdom to us!
Victoria
On Oct 16, 2017, at 2:48 PM, Katherine Maher kmaher@wikimedia.org
wrote:
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@gmail.com
wrote:
Excellent news! Bishakha
On 17 Oct 2017 00:11, "Anna Stillwell" astillwell@wikimedia.org
wrote:
Welcome, Raju. /a
On Mon, Oct 16, 2017 at 11:19 AM, Christophe Henner <
chenner@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@wikimedia.org +33650664739
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