Introducing Victoria Coleman, WMF Chief Technology Officer - Wikimedia-l

2 Nov 2016


      Hi everyone,
I’m excited today to introduce the Wikimedia Foundation's new Chief
Technology Officer, Victoria Coleman. Victoria’s first day is November 7,
and she will be based in the Foundation's office in San Francisco.
Victoria comes to us with more than 20 years of experience in consumer and
enterprise technology. And as you’ll learn quickly when you start getting
to know her, she is deeply passionate about the importance of education,
and how the Wikimedia mission advances education and equity around the
world.
When we started looking for a CTO for the Foundation, projects, and
communities, we knew we were looking for a unique person - someone with the
experience to lead confidently, and the confidence to embrace open
collaboration in leadership. We were looking for someone with a track
record of success leading strategy and execution for technology platforms
at scale, someone will be an effective mentor and leader for our Technology
department, and a strong partner to Product teams. We needed someone who
would thrive in our culture and be an inclusive collaborator with staff and
community. We agreed that Victoria met these requirements and then some.
Victoria has deep experience across consumer and enterprise technology
fields and is a longtime advocate for innovation in education and the
public sector. She has seen and done many things in her career, from
mobility platforms to connected devices to cyber security to web services
at scale. She brings operational excellence in strategic long-term
planning, execution, delivery, and running large distributed teams.
Most recently, Victoria served as Senior Vice President and Chief
Technology Officer for the Connected Home Division of Technicolor, where
she was responsible for innovation strategy, product management, technology
roadmaps, and technical due diligence for acquisitions and partnerships.
Previously, as Senior Vice President of Research and Development at Harman,
she led the core technology platforms of the Infotainment Division
including systems and software, media, tuner, navigation, connectivity, and
advanced driver assist systems. Before this, she served as Vice President,
Emerging Technologies at Nokia, Vice President, Software Engineering of
Hewlett-Packard’s webOS global business unit, and Vice President of
Samsung's Advanced Institute of Technology.
Victoria also has deep familiarity with open source software development,
having witnessed the rise of the Unix movement first as a student and later
as an instructor. She has been actively involved in the development of the
Linux-based LiMo (renamed Tizen). She passionately believes in the power of
open source and is familiar with how a commitment to open source
strengthens platforms and products at an integral level.
Victoria received her B.Sc and M.Sc in Electronic Computer Systems and Computer
Aided Logic Design respectively from the University of Salford, UK and her
Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Manchester, UK. She is the
author of over 60 articles and books (!). She has worked with teams around
the world, including in Belgium, Brazil, China, France, Finland, Germany,
India, Israel, Korea, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
One thing that struck many of us throughout our conversations was
Victoria's commitment to volunteering her knowledge and expertise outside
of her daily professional activities, serving on advisory councils in
higher education and the public sector. She is on the advisory Board of the
Santa Clara University Department of Computer Engineering, and she is also
a Senior Advisor to the Director of the  University of California
Berkeley’s Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of
Society. She serves as a volunteer advisor on both Lockheed Martin’s
Technology Advisory Group and on the United States Department of Defense’s
Defense Science Board where she offers advice and recommendations on
science, technology, manufacturing, and acquisition processes.
As a native of Greece, Victoria is interested in becoming a contributor on
Greek Wikipedia, and getting to know our colleagues and communities over
the coming months.
As many of you know, the CTO search has been an intensive process and our
highest recruiting priority in recent months. Dozens of people from across
the organization contributed to this effort, most notably the CTO hiring
committee, which included directors and senior staff from the Technology
department. Representatives from the C-level, Technology, and Product teams
also participated in interviews, panels, and lunches. In total, we reviewed
nearly 900 candidates, advancing 190 to recruiter screens, and reviewing 70
with the hiring committee.
I want to personally thank every single person who was involved in this
process. The focus and dedication of the Foundation’s recruiting team were
remarkable, as were the diligence and commitment of the many staff and
volunteers who supported this search.
More information on Victoria’s full background can be found in our blog
post announcing her arrival: https://blog.wikimedia.org/2016/11/02/
victoria-coleman-chief-technology-officer/
Victoria is on CC - please join me in welcoming her to the Foundation and
our movement!
Warmly,
Katherine
***
An on-wiki version of this message is available for translation:
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Engineering/
Introducing_Victoria_Coleman_-_Chief_Technology_Officer
***
-- 
Katherine Maher

Wikimedia Foundation
149 New Montgomery Street
San Francisco, CA 94105

+1 (415) 839-6885 ext. 6635
+1 (415) 712 4873
kmaher@wikimedia.org