New Chair of the Supervisory Board – the 14th WMDE General Assembly in retrospect - Wikimedia-l

26 May 2014

Hi all,

yesterday, Wikimedia Deutschland’s 14th General Assembly was held in 
Frankfurt am Main.

In addition to the presentation of the strategic planning and several 
amendments to the articles of the association’s bylaws, the agenda 
included among other things reports of the Executive Director, the 
Supervisory Board and volunteer auditing committee. Of course, the 
transition process and the succession of Pavel Richter announced this 
week were widely discussed.

We are a young association and the change in the position of Executive 
Director, which has been shaped by Pavel for many years, is a new 
experience for all of us. Over the coming months, the process of 
succession is going to entail a lot of work and Pavel will be a part of 
it. Obviously, first of all we have to mutually deliberate on the 
procedure and the specific schedule – a process in which we are going to 
include as many people as possible and whose opinions we are going to 
take very seriously. We will report on any concrete actions as soon as 
possible.

Unfortunately, Nikolas Becker, who held the Chairman position of the 
Supervisory Board for the past six months, will not take an active part 
in the transition process. He resigned yesterday. As a result, we 
gathered as the supervisory board on this Sunday in order to elect a new 
Chair.  I am glad that my Board colleagues expressed their confidence in 
me and as of now entrusted me with the presidency of the supervisory 
board. I am well aware of the immense responsibility and, with a clear 
focus on the future, accepted it yesterday.

I want to thank Nikolas for everything he has accomplished over the past 
years – not only as Chair but also as a member of the Supervisory Board 
and for the association in general. In the name of the Supervisory Board 
we thanked him yesterday in Frankfurt.

As usual, there will also be a protocol for this general meeting of 
members. I do not want to anticipate the minutes, as long as they are 
being completed. Yet, I would like to give a short personal overview at 
this point:

There were six requests for amendments to articles of the association’s 
bylaws (a seventh has been withdrawn). All six of them were accepted 
with clear majorities. The Supervisory Board’s term of office was 
extended from one to two years. A leave of absence from the Supervisory 
Board is now possible, as is a lump-sum for refunding of honorary 
expenses according to German customs. Furthermore, it was formally 
clarified that members of the Supervisory Board must also be members of 
the association. In the future, it will be much easier to terminate 
supporting memberships. And finally: The wording regarding the quorum to 
hold an exceptional general assembly has been changed from “members” to 
“active members”. Besides the amendments to articles of the association, 
the general assembly confirmed the Supervisory Board’s structure 
according to departments.
For more details to all these and further points I want to refer to the 
minutes mentioned above, which are to be published soon.

I am convinced of Wikimedia Deutschland being in a stable position. It 
is up to us to shape our association over the coming years together. 
This involves self criticism, or at least the realization that a neutral 
point of view is helpful in pretty much all circumstances in life. That 
is why I am glad that the general meeting approved the supervisory 
board’s request and that we will now start an external governance review 
to gather different expertise and new insight.

Within Wikipedia, this is common practise and a strength that helps 
Wikipedia get better. In my opinion, the same applies to Wikimedia 
Deutschland: our willingness to improve is our strength.

Best regards,
Tim

-- 
Tim Moritz Hector

Chair of the board
Wikimedia Deutschland e. V.

+49 (0)160 - 36 16 234
tim-moritz.hector(a)wikimedia.de

--------------------
Wikimedia Deutschland e. V. | Tempelhofer Ufer 23-24 | D-10963 Berlin
Tel.: +49 (0)30 - 219 158 260
http://www.wikimedia.de

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