Dear all,
As you may know, the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees has two appointed Board members whose terms will expire during Wikimania 2018 - Kelly Battles and Alice Wiegand. We have been working to fill those seats and our goal is for potential candidates to join us in Cape Town during Wikimania 2018.
== Finance expert seat ==
This is a very specific profile: we need a person with strong financial management background and auditing skills. The BCG (Board Governance Committee) is currently interviewing a short list of candidates prepared by Kelly Battles and Jaime Villagomez (the CFO of Wikimedia Foundation). Once interviews are complete, the BCG will send their recommendations to the full Board.
== Technology/organizational growth expert seat ==
Over the last few months, we have conducted a series of conversations on Board expertise needs. With the support of Katherine Maher (ED) and Josh Weinberg (Chief of Staff), the BGC developed a candidate profile for the soon-to-be-vacant seat and gave its recommendation to the Board during their meeting in Berlin. We need your help to identify potential candidates for this position who are interested in serving the Wikimedia community as a member of the Board of Trustees.
We shall begin accepting applications and referrals for these positions today. A more detailed timeline of the full recruitment process is available on Meta here: https://meta.wikimedia.org/?curid=10176203 [1]. You can find the candidate package here [2].
Applicants may apply online at: https://boards.greenhouse.io/wikimedia/jobs/1162305?gh_src=8b8yun5r1#.WvaOKP.... We will also accept applications and referrals by email at board-nominations@lists.wikimedia.org.
We look forward to hearing from you.
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_Governance_Commit... [2] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Board_Recruiting_Candidate_Packet_Ma...
Best regards, antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off. Thank you in advance!*
Hello Antanana,
Thank you for this information.
I would like to bring the topic of WMF's financial transparency into the conversation about who should be selected for a WMF Board seat based on their knowledge of finance. I am dissatisfied with WMF's financial transparency on topics such as severance payments to executives (see https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2017-May/087656.html), and I fail to understand how WMF can claim to be a largely open and transparent organization while providing the minimum legally required disclosures about its payments to its executives.
Contrary to Jaime's statement, I am unaware of any laws which would prohibit WMF from publishing the entirety of executives' compensation details including their employment contracts, severance agreements, and the circumstances in which their departures happen. Government agencies in the United States publish this information routinely and/or are often required to make the information available upon receiving public records requests.
Given Jaime's previous statement on this matter, and my general dissatisfaction with WMF's level of financial transparency, I am uncomfortable with his involvement with selecting a new WMF Board member based on his or her finance expertise. I would encourage the Board to reconsider Jaime's role in the selection process, and to place a strong emphasis on identifying a new board member who has experience with significantly increasing the financial transparency of organizations.
Pine ( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )
On Sat, May 12, 2018 at 12:31 AM, Nataliia Tymkiv ntymkiv@wikimedia.org wrote:
Dear all,
As you may know, the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees has two appointed Board members whose terms will expire during Wikimania 2018 - Kelly Battles and Alice Wiegand. We have been working to fill those seats and our goal is for potential candidates to join us in Cape Town during Wikimania 2018.
== Finance expert seat ==
This is a very specific profile: we need a person with strong financial management background and auditing skills. The BCG (Board Governance Committee) is currently interviewing a short list of candidates prepared by Kelly Battles and Jaime Villagomez (the CFO of Wikimedia Foundation). Once interviews are complete, the BCG will send their recommendations to the full Board.
== Technology/organizational growth expert seat ==
Over the last few months, we have conducted a series of conversations on Board expertise needs. With the support of Katherine Maher (ED) and Josh Weinberg (Chief of Staff), the BGC developed a candidate profile for the soon-to-be-vacant seat and gave its recommendation to the Board during their meeting in Berlin. We need your help to identify potential candidates for this position who are interested in serving the Wikimedia community as a member of the Board of Trustees.
We shall begin accepting applications and referrals for these positions today. A more detailed timeline of the full recruitment process is available on Meta here: https://meta.wikimedia.org/?curid=10176203 [1]. You can find the candidate package here [2].
Applicants may apply online at: https://boards.greenhouse.io/wikimedia/jobs/1162305?gh_src= 8b8yun5r1#.WvaOKPKMTCv. We will also accept applications and referrals by email at board-nominations@lists.wikimedia.org.
We look forward to hearing from you.
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_ Board_Governance_Committee/Board_Recruitment [2] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Board_Recruiting_ Candidate_Packet_May_2018.pdf
Best regards, antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off. Thank you in advance!* _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/ wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/ wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
"I am unaware of any laws which would prohibit WMF from publishing the entirety of executives' compensation details including their employment contracts, severance agreements, and the circumstances in which their departures happen."
Pine, I often appreciate your view and input on a range of topics but to be blunt if this is your genuine opinion I'm personally rather glad my employer does not base its HR policies and practices on your personal interpretation of employment law.
Seddon
On Sun, May 13, 2018 at 8:59 PM, Pine W wiki.pine@gmail.com wrote:
Hello Antanana,
Thank you for this information.
I would like to bring the topic of WMF's financial transparency into the conversation about who should be selected for a WMF Board seat based on their knowledge of finance. I am dissatisfied with WMF's financial transparency on topics such as severance payments to executives (see https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2017-May/087656.html), and I fail to understand how WMF can claim to be a largely open and transparent organization while providing the minimum legally required disclosures about its payments to its executives.
Contrary to Jaime's statement, I am unaware of any laws which would prohibit WMF from publishing the entirety of executives' compensation details including their employment contracts, severance agreements, and the circumstances in which their departures happen. Government agencies in the United States publish this information routinely and/or are often required to make the information available upon receiving public records requests.
Given Jaime's previous statement on this matter, and my general dissatisfaction with WMF's level of financial transparency, I am uncomfortable with his involvement with selecting a new WMF Board member based on his or her finance expertise. I would encourage the Board to reconsider Jaime's role in the selection process, and to place a strong emphasis on identifying a new board member who has experience with significantly increasing the financial transparency of organizations.
Pine ( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )
On Sat, May 12, 2018 at 12:31 AM, Nataliia Tymkiv ntymkiv@wikimedia.org wrote:
Dear all,
As you may know, the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees has two appointed Board members whose terms will expire during Wikimania 2018 - Kelly Battles and Alice Wiegand. We have been working to fill those seats and our goal is for potential candidates to join us in Cape Town during Wikimania 2018.
== Finance expert seat ==
This is a very specific profile: we need a person with strong financial management background and auditing skills. The BCG (Board Governance Committee) is currently interviewing a short list of candidates prepared
by
Kelly Battles and Jaime Villagomez (the CFO of Wikimedia Foundation).
Once
interviews are complete, the BCG will send their recommendations to the full Board.
== Technology/organizational growth expert seat ==
Over the last few months, we have conducted a series of conversations on Board expertise needs. With the support of Katherine Maher (ED) and Josh Weinberg (Chief of Staff), the BGC developed a candidate profile for the soon-to-be-vacant seat and gave its recommendation to the Board during their meeting in Berlin. We need your help to identify potential
candidates
for this position who are interested in serving the Wikimedia community
as
a member of the Board of Trustees.
We shall begin accepting applications and referrals for these positions today. A more detailed timeline of the full recruitment process is available on Meta here: https://meta.wikimedia.org/?curid=10176203 [1]. You can find the candidate package here [2].
Applicants may apply online at: https://boards.greenhouse.io/wikimedia/jobs/1162305?gh_src= 8b8yun5r1#.WvaOKPKMTCv. We will also accept applications and referrals by email at board-nominations@lists.wikimedia.org.
We look forward to hearing from you.
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_ Board_Governance_Committee/Board_Recruitment [2] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Board_Recruiting_ Candidate_Packet_May_2018.pdf
Best regards, antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal
working
hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off. Thank you in advance!* _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/ wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/ wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/ wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/ wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
And even if such laws do not exist (and I'm no expert), as an employee I would be gravely concerned about taking a role with any employer where I knew that they would be publishing the reason for my departure.
Now, employees may /choose/ to publish a reason (as I did) but to presume that it would be mandatory (and to be willing to stake your career on it in advance) would likely seriously inhibit some candidates from applying. When you pair that with the WMF's (relatively) transparent organization, I think the two together would be a significant inhibitor to recruiting.
Philippe
On Sun, May 13, 2018 at 2:10 PM, Joseph Seddon josephseddon@gmail.com wrote:
"I am unaware of any laws which would prohibit WMF from publishing the entirety of executives' compensation details including their employment contracts, severance agreements, and the circumstances in which their departures happen."
Pine, I often appreciate your view and input on a range of topics but to be blunt if this is your genuine opinion I'm personally rather glad my employer does not base its HR policies and practices on your personal interpretation of employment law.
Seddon
On Sun, May 13, 2018 at 8:59 PM, Pine W wiki.pine@gmail.com wrote:
Given Jaime's previous statement on this matter, and my general dissatisfaction with WMF's level of financial transparency, I am uncomfortable with his involvement with selecting a new WMF Board member based on his or her finance expertise. I would encourage the Board to reconsider Jaime's role in the selection process, and to place a strong emphasis on identifying a new board member who has experience with significantly increasing the financial transparency of organizations.
On the original topic of technology advocacy representation on the Board, an we please get someone from the open source hardware community and Legal to tell us how much we could save in subpoena, hardware, and overhead costs by avoiding backdoors? Has anyone on the Board ever championed open source hardware, since, Sam maybe?
Please see:
https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/5xvn4i/update_corebootlibreboot_on_a...
https://np.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/8aovfb/china_has_started_ranking...
https://teachprivacy.com/why-i-love-the-gdpr/
https://www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?title=Wikimedia_Technology%2FAnnual_Pl...
Best regards, Jim
On Mon, May 14, 2018 at 12:44 AM, Philippe Beaudette philippe@beaudette.me wrote:
And even if such laws do not exist (and I'm no expert), as an employee I would be gravely concerned about taking a role with any employer where I knew that they would be publishing the reason for my departure.
Now, employees may /choose/ to publish a reason (as I did) but to presume that it would be mandatory (and to be willing to stake your career on it in advance) would likely seriously inhibit some candidates from applying. When you pair that with the WMF's (relatively) transparent organization, I think the two together would be a significant inhibitor to recruiting.
Philippe
On Sun, May 13, 2018 at 2:10 PM, Joseph Seddon josephseddon@gmail.com wrote:
"I am unaware of any laws which would prohibit WMF from publishing the entirety of executives' compensation details including their employment contracts, severance agreements, and the circumstances in which their departures happen."
Pine, I often appreciate your view and input on a range of topics but to
be
blunt if this is your genuine opinion I'm personally rather glad my employer does not base its HR policies and practices on your personal interpretation of employment law.
Seddon
On Sun, May 13, 2018 at 8:59 PM, Pine W wiki.pine@gmail.com wrote:
Given Jaime's previous statement on this matter, and my general dissatisfaction with WMF's level of financial transparency, I am uncomfortable with his involvement with selecting a new WMF Board
member
based on his or her finance expertise. I would encourage the Board to reconsider Jaime's role in the selection process, and to place a strong emphasis on identifying a new board member who has experience with significantly increasing the financial transparency of organizations.
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/ wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/ wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
To follow up on this, Katherine, would you please state the relative risk to politically controversial editors of using CPUs without backdoor coprocessors to host Foundation projects?
Ref.: https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2017/02/03/for-deep-security-use-arm-avoid-int...
Are there a corresponding subpoena and national security letter burden differences in choosing open source hardware without backdoor coprocessors? Thank you for considering these questions.
Best regards, Jim
On Mon, May 14, 2018 at 12:28 PM, James Salsman jsalsman@gmail.com wrote:
On the original topic of technology advocacy representation on the Board, [c]an we please get someone from the open source hardware community and Legal to tell us how much we could save in subpoena, hardware, and overhead costs by avoiding backdoors? Has anyone on the Board ever championed open source hardware, since, Sam maybe?
Please see:
https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/5xvn4i/update_ corebootlibreboot_on_amd_has_ceo_level/
https://np.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/8aovfb/ china_has_started_ranking_citizens_with_a_creepy/
https://teachprivacy.com/why-i-love-the-gdpr/
https://www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?title=Wikimedia_ Technology%2FAnnual_Plans%2FFY2019%2FCDP3%3A_Knowledge_ Integrity&type=revision&diff=2762601&oldid=2762351
Best regards, Jim
On Mon, May 14, 2018 at 12:44 AM, Philippe Beaudette < philippe@beaudette.me> wrote:
And even if such laws do not exist (and I'm no expert), as an employee I would be gravely concerned about taking a role with any employer where I knew that they would be publishing the reason for my departure.
Now, employees may /choose/ to publish a reason (as I did) but to presume that it would be mandatory (and to be willing to stake your career on it in advance) would likely seriously inhibit some candidates from applying. When you pair that with the WMF's (relatively) transparent organization, I think the two together would be a significant inhibitor to recruiting.
Philippe
On Sun, May 13, 2018 at 2:10 PM, Joseph Seddon josephseddon@gmail.com wrote:
"I am unaware of any laws which would prohibit WMF from publishing the entirety of executives' compensation details including their employment contracts, severance agreements, and the circumstances in which their departures happen."
Pine, I often appreciate your view and input on a range of topics but
to be
blunt if this is your genuine opinion I'm personally rather glad my employer does not base its HR policies and practices on your personal interpretation of employment law.
Seddon
On Sun, May 13, 2018 at 8:59 PM, Pine W wiki.pine@gmail.com wrote:
Given Jaime's previous statement on this matter, and my general dissatisfaction with WMF's level of financial transparency, I am uncomfortable with his involvement with selecting a new WMF Board
member
based on his or her finance expertise. I would encourage the Board to reconsider Jaime's role in the selection process, and to place a
strong
emphasis on identifying a new board member who has experience with significantly increasing the financial transparency of organizations.
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wik i/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wik i/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
This mailing list thread is about the Wikimedia Foundation recruiting members for its board and I would like to ask we stick to that, please.
---- James Hare Associate Product Manager Wikimedia Foundation https://wikimediafoundation.org
On Tue, May 15, 2018 at 11:22 AM, James Salsman jsalsman@gmail.com wrote:
To follow up on this, Katherine, would you please state the relative risk to politically controversial editors of using CPUs without backdoor coprocessors to host Foundation projects?
Ref.: https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2017/02/03/for-deep-security- use-arm-avoid-intel-amd-processors/
Are there a corresponding subpoena and national security letter burden differences in choosing open source hardware without backdoor coprocessors? Thank you for considering these questions.
Best regards, Jim
On Mon, May 14, 2018 at 12:28 PM, James Salsman jsalsman@gmail.com wrote:
On the original topic of technology advocacy representation on the Board, [c]an we please get someone from the open source hardware community and Legal to tell us how much we could save in subpoena, hardware, and
overhead
costs by avoiding backdoors? Has anyone on the Board ever championed open source hardware, since, Sam maybe?
Please see:
https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/5xvn4i/update_ corebootlibreboot_on_amd_has_ceo_level/
https://np.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/8aovfb/ china_has_started_ranking_citizens_with_a_creepy/
https://teachprivacy.com/why-i-love-the-gdpr/
https://www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?title=Wikimedia_ Technology%2FAnnual_Plans%2FFY2019%2FCDP3%3A_Knowledge_ Integrity&type=revision&diff=2762601&oldid=2762351
Best regards, Jim
On Mon, May 14, 2018 at 12:44 AM, Philippe Beaudette < philippe@beaudette.me> wrote:
And even if such laws do not exist (and I'm no expert), as an employee I would be gravely concerned about taking a role with any employer where I knew that they would be publishing the reason for my departure.
Now, employees may /choose/ to publish a reason (as I did) but to
presume
that it would be mandatory (and to be willing to stake your career on it in advance) would likely seriously inhibit some candidates from applying. When you pair that with the WMF's (relatively) transparent
organization, I
think the two together would be a significant inhibitor to recruiting.
Philippe
On Sun, May 13, 2018 at 2:10 PM, Joseph Seddon josephseddon@gmail.com wrote:
"I am unaware of any laws which would prohibit WMF from publishing the entirety of executives' compensation details including their employment contracts, severance agreements, and the circumstances in which their departures happen."
Pine, I often appreciate your view and input on a range of topics but
to be
blunt if this is your genuine opinion I'm personally rather glad my employer does not base its HR policies and practices on your personal interpretation of employment law.
Seddon
On Sun, May 13, 2018 at 8:59 PM, Pine W wiki.pine@gmail.com wrote:
Given Jaime's previous statement on this matter, and my general dissatisfaction with WMF's level of financial transparency, I am uncomfortable with his involvement with selecting a new WMF Board
member
based on his or her finance expertise. I would encourage the Board
to
reconsider Jaime's role in the selection process, and to place a
strong
emphasis on identifying a new board member who has experience with significantly increasing the financial transparency of
organizations.
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wik i/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wik i/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/ wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/ wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
James, are there any reasons that having a community-friendly opinion on the subpoena, national security letter, political risks and related overheads of using closed source hardware with backdoor coprocessors is an inappropriate litmus test for the Technology Expert seat on the Board?
On Tue, May 15, 2018 at 12:45 PM, James Hare jhare@wikimedia.org wrote:
This mailing list thread is about the Wikimedia Foundation recruiting members for its board and I would like to ask we stick to that, please.
James Hare Associate Product Manager Wikimedia Foundation https://wikimediafoundation.org
On Tue, May 15, 2018 at 11:22 AM, James Salsman jsalsman@gmail.com wrote:
To follow up on this, Katherine, would you please state the relative risk to politically controversial editors of using CPUs without backdoor coprocessors to host Foundation projects?
Ref.: https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2017/02/03/for-deep-security- use-arm-avoid-intel-amd-processors/
Are there a corresponding subpoena and national security letter burden differences in choosing open source hardware without backdoor
coprocessors?
Thank you for considering these questions.
Best regards, Jim
On Mon, May 14, 2018 at 12:28 PM, James Salsman jsalsman@gmail.com wrote:
On the original topic of technology advocacy representation on the
Board,
[c]an we please get someone from the open source hardware community and Legal to tell us how much we could save in subpoena, hardware, and
overhead
costs by avoiding backdoors? Has anyone on the Board ever championed
open
source hardware, since, Sam maybe?
Please see:
https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/5xvn4i/update_ corebootlibreboot_on_amd_has_ceo_level/
https://np.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/8aovfb/ china_has_started_ranking_citizens_with_a_creepy/
https://teachprivacy.com/why-i-love-the-gdpr/
https://www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?title=Wikimedia_ Technology%2FAnnual_Plans%2FFY2019%2FCDP3%3A_Knowledge_ Integrity&type=revision&diff=2762601&oldid=2762351
Best regards, Jim
On Mon, May 14, 2018 at 12:44 AM, Philippe Beaudette < philippe@beaudette.me> wrote:
And even if such laws do not exist (and I'm no expert), as an
employee I
would be gravely concerned about taking a role with any employer
where I
knew that they would be publishing the reason for my departure.
Now, employees may /choose/ to publish a reason (as I did) but to
presume
that it would be mandatory (and to be willing to stake your career on
it
in advance) would likely seriously inhibit some candidates from applying. When you pair that with the WMF's (relatively) transparent
organization, I
think the two together would be a significant inhibitor to recruiting.
Philippe
On Sun, May 13, 2018 at 2:10 PM, Joseph Seddon <
josephseddon@gmail.com>
wrote:
"I am unaware of any laws which would prohibit WMF from publishing
the
entirety of executives' compensation details including their employment contracts, severance agreements, and the circumstances in which their departures happen."
Pine, I often appreciate your view and input on a range of topics
but
to be
blunt if this is your genuine opinion I'm personally rather glad my employer does not base its HR policies and practices on your
personal
interpretation of employment law.
Seddon
On Sun, May 13, 2018 at 8:59 PM, Pine W wiki.pine@gmail.com
wrote:
Given Jaime's previous statement on this matter, and my general dissatisfaction with WMF's level of financial transparency, I am uncomfortable with his involvement with selecting a new WMF Board
member
based on his or her finance expertise. I would encourage the Board
to
reconsider Jaime's role in the selection process, and to place a
strong
emphasis on identifying a new board member who has experience with significantly increasing the financial transparency of
organizations.
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wik
i/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wik i/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
,
mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/ wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/ wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
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I have a difference of perspective on this with Philippe and Seddon.
Records of personnel issues at many government agencies in the US are public records, and many of those government agencies seem to do OK with recruiting candidates. I have yet to hear any convincing reason why WMF should be *less* transparent than government agencies.
From my perspective, one of the benefits of significant transparency for
contracts and severance agreements are that politicians and officials cannot use government funds for "hush money" nearly as easily as they could if severance agreements and other contracts were confidential. I don't want the WMF Board and Executive Director to have the option to use WMF funds as an incentive for someone to remain quiet about any problems that they might know about at WMF. Realistically, prevention of every kind of problem is impossible, but public documentation of severance agreements would be a good step.
Also, as a taxpayer I think that I should have the right to know what elected officials are doing with my money. Similarly, I think that donors (and everyone) should have the right to know what WMF is doing with donated funds. There may be some time restrictions (for example, if WMF is involved in current or pending litigation, then the expenses for that might remain confidential until after the matter is resolved) but in general I think that WMF should publicly account for how it uses donated funds. That includes the terms of employment contracts and severance agreements.
I will "practice what I preach" on this matter. If I ever do paid work for WMF again (most likely in the form of a grant of some type; I am still thinking about whether this would entangle me financially with WMF in ways that I think would make me likely to be quiet when I have concerns), I will publish the terms of the contract and any amendments to that contract if I have WMF's permission to do so. I would redact only information that could be used for fraud, my phone number, my address, etc.
This does not seem unreasonable. Cheers, Peter
-----Original Message----- From: Wikimedia-l [mailto:wikimedia-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Pine W Sent: Friday, May 18, 2018 4:47 AM To: Wikimedia Mailing List Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation Board Recruitment: Updates
I have a difference of perspective on this with Philippe and Seddon.
Records of personnel issues at many government agencies in the US are public records, and many of those government agencies seem to do OK with recruiting candidates. I have yet to hear any convincing reason why WMF should be *less* transparent than government agencies.
From my perspective, one of the benefits of significant transparency for
contracts and severance agreements are that politicians and officials cannot use government funds for "hush money" nearly as easily as they could if severance agreements and other contracts were confidential. I don't want the WMF Board and Executive Director to have the option to use WMF funds as an incentive for someone to remain quiet about any problems that they might know about at WMF. Realistically, prevention of every kind of problem is impossible, but public documentation of severance agreements would be a good step.
Also, as a taxpayer I think that I should have the right to know what elected officials are doing with my money. Similarly, I think that donors (and everyone) should have the right to know what WMF is doing with donated funds. There may be some time restrictions (for example, if WMF is involved in current or pending litigation, then the expenses for that might remain confidential until after the matter is resolved) but in general I think that WMF should publicly account for how it uses donated funds. That includes the terms of employment contracts and severance agreements.
I will "practice what I preach" on this matter. If I ever do paid work for WMF again (most likely in the form of a grant of some type; I am still thinking about whether this would entangle me financially with WMF in ways that I think would make me likely to be quiet when I have concerns), I will publish the terms of the contract and any amendments to that contract if I have WMF's permission to do so. I would redact only information that could be used for fraud, my phone number, my address, etc.
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