Congratulations to Katherine for being an incredible positive force and make a great
impression in such a short time as Interim! A well deserved reward :)
I have all the confidence that you are able to motivate those around you (and in our
community) to perform at their best, work together and be creative.
The very best wishes in what is (as always) likely to be a challenging time :)
Jan-Bart
On 24 Jun 2016, at 11:15, Patricio Lorente
<patricio.lorente(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Dear all,
It is our great pleasure to share that during the Board meeting at Wikimania 2016 in
Esino Lario, we unanimously voted to appoint Katherine Maher as Executive Director of the
Wikimedia Foundation. This is effective as of our resolution dated Thursday, 23 June.
Katherine served as interim Executive Director for the past three months, during which
time she consistently and repeatedly demonstrated the kind of leadership our organization
needs. She is deeply committed to our movement’s values, and brings expertise in civic
technology and international development that will be an asset to the Wikimedia Foundation
and the movement.
We came to this conclusion after an intensive discovery process led by the ED search
committee. Our decision was also informed by direct feedback from staff and community, and
our own experience working closely with Katherine.
In March, we assembled an Executive Director search committee[1] consisting of four Board
members¹ who were chosen to represent different perspectives and capacities.²
Additionally, the Board asked the Foundation’s Chief Advancement Officer Lisa Gruwell to
represent the executive team, and Foundation staff member Katie Horn was selected by her
peers as someone who could represent staff perspectives. The committee was charged with
keeping the process on track and on time, engaging important stakeholders, and
facilitating transparency in communications. Their first tasks were to identify a search
firm, and define the position description. You can review the committee’s updates on
Meta.[2]
The committee recruited Viewcrest Advisors,³ to identify our leadership needs and design
a hiring process. Kathleen Yazbak of Viewcrest worked with the committee to conduct
interviews with every Foundation department, the executive, the Board, and nearly 20
additional one-on-one interviews with staff. Kathleen attended the Wikimedia Conference in
Berlin, collecting feedback from community members and affiliates. The committee launched
a community survey in June, receiving more than 1,600 responses about the qualities needed
in the next ED; they also asked for feedback on Meta.[3] Taking all of this into account,
the transition team developed a profile and requirements for the next Executive Director
that reflect our values and our communities.
Throughout this process, the Board and the transition team received very clear and often
unsolicited feedback from both staff and community members that Katherine embodies the
values of our movement and the traits needed in our next ED. This feedback was only
reinforced by the latest Foundation engagement survey results, which showed a strong shift
toward renewed trust in leadership. After taking this all into account, and considering
what the organization needs at this moment of transition, we moved to appoint Katherine
now.
In just three months as interim ED, Katherine worked with the organization and community
to make huge strides in management, execution, and transparency. She brought much-needed
clarity to our strategic direction, and mobilized the organization to clearly communicate
that direction through this year’s annual plan.
After her appointment, she worked with the leadership team to swiftly identify the
organization’s priorities during the transition period and execute against them, setting
ambitious but reachable targets. Under Katherine’s leadership, the Foundation submitted
its annual plan to the Funds Dissemination Committee, leaving ample time for community
feedback and discussion.
Katherine is an excellent fit for our movement. She is longtime advocate for global open
communities, culture, and technology. She was the Foundation’s Chief Communications
Officer from April 2014 until she was appointed interim ED in March. Throughout her career
she has focused on freedom of expression, access to information, and digital rights;
supporting the efforts of people around the world to deepen participation, advance
transparency, and strengthen their communities through her work with UNICEF, National
Democratic Institute for International Affairs, and the World Bank. If you don’t already
know Katherine, you can learn more about her on Meta.[4]
With this appointment, we feel strongly that the Foundation has the leadership and
clarity to move forward. We wish Katherine the very best in this role, and the Board looks
forward to continuing to work with her.
We would also like to thank the many community members and Foundation staff who actively
shared thoughtful, highly valuable feedback. Without that, we would not have been able to
come to this decision.
Please join us in congratulating Katherine!
Patricio Lorente, outgoing Board Chair
Christophe Henner, incoming Board Chair
Alice Wiegand (Committee Chair), Dariusz Jemielniak, Guy Kawasaki, Kelly Battles.
For example, community and governance experience, appointed and community-selected seats,
and US and non-US perspectives.
The committee reviewed 7 different firms and unanimously picked Viewcrest.
[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Executive_Director_Tra…
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Executive_Director_Transition_Team/2016>
[2
]https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Executive_Director_Transition_Team/2016/Updates
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Executive_Director_Transition_Team/2016/Updates>
[3]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Executive_Director_Tra…
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Executive_Director_Transition_Team/2016/Community_input>
[4]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Katherine_(WMF)
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Katherine_(WMF)>
--
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