As we're approaching the end of the year, I wanted to give an update on where we stand in terms of the appointed seats on the Board of Trustees. As you may know, we have two positions up for renewal (along with Jimmy's position as Community Founder Trustee), and two additional positions open for appointment. The existing seats this involves are those of Jan-Bart de Vreede, our Vice Chair, and Stu West, our Treasurer.

The Nominating Committee has been working to take a large list of names - generated by drawing on ideas from the community, staff, and board - and identify potential candidates for the appointed seats using criteria developed with the board's guidance. We've worked down to a relatively short list and are in the process of reaching out to a variety of people on that list to see which of these possibilities seem like the best fit for the Wikimedia Foundation. We're not quite at the point of recommending finalists to the board for consideration yet, as our ambitious timetable had hoped, but things are moving along and I hope we can fill one or two of the new positions in the coming months. I think it's more important that we find suitable candidates, people who bring appropriate expertise and appreciate our mission, than simply filling them based on an artificial deadline.

In the meantime, Jan-Bart and Stu's appointments were both set to expire, but both expressed an interest in serving for another year. The Nominating Committee felt that their experience would benefit Wikimedia in addition to any expertise found in the rest of the pool, and that having some continuity would be valuable to the foundation. So at the committee's recommendation, the other members of the board voted unanimously to reappoint Jan-Bart and Stu to their seats for 2009. We also had a unanimous vote to reappoint Jimmy Wales to his position as Community Founder Trustee.

Please join me in thanking Jan-Bart and Stu (and Jimmy too, for that matter) for their efforts and their willingness to continue to serve. I am glad to be keeping them as colleagues in the coming year, and look forward to seeing the development of the Wikimedia projects during that time.

--Michael Snow