Samuel Klein wrote:
Assuming this is the case, I would appreciate more information on what the governance obligation and fiduciary responsibility of the board entails. I think the board's primary fiduciary responsibility is in ensuring that the oversight of the projects not fall into the hands of any special interests, something which giving outside experts seats on the board makes more likely. (privately apointed directors go through significantly less vetting and scrutiny than publicly elected ones)
Is vetting and scrutiny better just because there's more of it? The election process vets for some things and not for others. I appreciate the concern about capture by special interests, but can you articulate why that's more likely with outside experts? Financial and employment relationships seem to be the primary vehicle by which people imagine this capture. It seems to me that a resume-interviews-background-check approach does more to vet these issues than has historically been the case in our elections.
How is adding Board members with expertise more suitable than having a deeply trusted Board acquire and rely on a more broadly talented advisory board?
Because unlike the Board of Trustees, members of the Advisory Board do not have the fiduciary obligations you so rightly emphasize. Being able to bounce questions off an advisor with a financial background is not a substitute for having someone who has both the expertise and the fiduciary responsibility to guide the board through its oversight of financial matters.
You are right that we need a more broadly talented advisory board, as are others who say the foundation needs to make better use of it. The advisory board was also the topic of some discussion in our meeting, although its future development is still taking shape. Right now its primary competencies are in the areas of technology and free culture, which aren't really the issues we were dealing with. More details on the advisory board will come when they are ready, but for now I'd welcome ideas - what additional areas, broadly speaking, do we need represented on the advisory board to provide useful working groups to advise the Wikimedia Foundation?
--Michael Snow