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(a)wikimedia.org>
wrote:
Raju welcome! You bring much expertise & wisdom to
us!
Victoria
On Oct 16, 2017, at 2:48 PM, Katherine Maher
<kmaher(a)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(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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Katherine Maher
Executive Director
*We moved! **Our new address:*
Wikimedia Foundation
1 Montgomery Street, Suite 1600
San Francisco, CA 94104
+1 (415) 839-6885 ext. 6635
+1 (415) 712 4873
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