Wikimedia Deutschland’s new Executive Director: Christian Humborg - Wikimedia-l

10 May 2021

Dear fellow Wikimedians,

In January, Abraham Taherivand informed you that he had decided not to
renew his contract with Wikimedia Deutschland. Today, I am excited to
announce that our search for a new Executive Director has been successful:
Christian Humborg will take over office at Wikimedia Deutschland from 1
June.

One of the most important tasks of the Wikimedia Deutschland Executive
Board is the appointment of the Executive Director. My colleagues and I are
very pleased to have found such a fantastic candidate for the vacant
position. Christian impressed us with his bold ideas and visions, his
leadership experience at the head of influential civil society
organisations and his passion for the liberation of knowledge. He clearly
prevailed among the 59 applicants. The search was managed by our
Supervisory Board and Abraham with the support of an external executive
search firm.

Christian knows the Wikimedia Movement and our commitment to free knowledge
well – because he has helped shape both since 2016 as deputy executive
director and head of finance at Wikimedia Deutschland. Before that, he was
the executive director of the anti-corruption organisation Transparency
International Germany, helped establish the non-profit investigative
journalism centre Correctiv and was awarded the Grimme Online Award as a
member of the journalism collective carta.info. He is the right fit for the
future of Wikimedia Deutschland.

At this point, on behalf of our entire Board, I would like to express my
heartfelt thanks to Abraham, who has achieved so much as Executive Director
over the last four years. He has set important strategic impulses that will
be decisive for the future success of Wikimedia in the world. Abraham
joined Wikimedia Deutschland in 2012 and has since strengthened the
organisation in every respect and positioned it very well for this
handover. Thank you for your great commitment!

It is to Abraham’s credit that he discussed his decision with the Board at
an early stage and thus made a well thought-out search process possible.
Together, we are now working on a good transition.

We are looking forward to continuing the success of the last four years
together with Christian, to tackling new projects, to implementing the 2030
strategy – and to liberating a few more pieces of knowledge together every
day.
Kind regards,

Lukas

--

Dr. Lukas Mezger
Vorsitzender des Präsidiums / chair of the Supervisory Board

Wikimedia Deutschland e.V. | Tempelhofer Ufer 23-24 | 10963 Berlin
Tel. (030) 219 158 260 – (0151) 268 63 931
http://wikimedia.de

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