In a message dated 1/31/2008 5:23:48 PM Eastern Standard Time, sgardner@wikimedia.org writes:

The St Petersburg office will shut down Thursday, January 31, and at that point, we will say goodbye to Barbara Brown (office manager), Sandy Ordonez (head of communications) and Vishal Patel (business development).

Since this was a very short good-bye, I just thought I would add to it. Although I haven't been staff for almost a year, I worked personally with Barbara, Sandy, and Vishal, and wanted to thank them personally.

Many people do not know about the difficult work they did behind the scenes, but it really kept the gears greased and the Foundation running, in good times and in difficult times.

Personally, I want to thank Barbara for keeping the office homey, making sure that it was stocked with food, and even ensuring that it was all neat and orderly. Despite my grumblings (I like eating at my desk ...), I appreciated that, and I know everyone else did too.

Sandy arrived at an unusual time, but immediately began learning the ropes and jumped right in when we needed it most. It wasn't always easy, but she rose to the challenge.

Vishal began as an intern, and by force of circumstances found himself taking a lot of my responsibilities. He rose to the challenge with a real sense of vision of what the Foundation could be.

Thanks

Danny

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