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
1.
Alice Wiegand (Committee Chair), Dariusz Jemielniak, Guy Kawasaki, Kelly
Battles.
2.
For example, community and governance experience, appointed and
community-selected seats, and US and non-US perspectives.
3.
The committee reviewed 7 different firms and unanimously picked
Viewcrest.
------------------------------
[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Executive_Director_Tra…
[2 ]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Executive_Director_Tra…
[3]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Executive_Director_Tra…
[4] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Katherine_(WMF)
--
Hello everyone,
I am happy to share that as of today, Christophe Henner and Nataliia Tymkiv
have formally joined the Board of Trustees as affiliate Board-selected
members. They both bring deep expertise in the Wikimedia community, and in
their respective fields. I’m confident they will serve as excellent
contributors, rooted in the values of our movement. You can learn more
about them in an announcement we made in May:
https://blog.wikimedia.org/2016/05/24/affiliate-selected-board-trustees-ele…
Today the Board also voted to appoint Christophe Henner as Chair, and María
Sefidari as Vice Chair. Both Christophe and María have a long history of
involvement in the Wikimedia community, and have held leadership roles at
Wikimedia France and Wikimedia Spain, respectively.
More about Christophe, María, and Natallia is below. I hope you will join
me in congratulating them on their new positions and wish them success in
their terms ahead.
I would like to thank my friend Alice for working with me in her role as
Vice Chair, and many thanks to you all for your support during my time as
Chair.
Patricio Lorente
About Christophe Henner
Christophe Henner is the former Chair of Wikimedia France and current
deputy CEO of Webedia <http://www.webedia.com>'s gaming division, the
international digital media group headquartered in France.
He has deep and varied experience across the marketing sector, including
leadership roles at at Webedia and L'Odyssée Interactive.
Christophe has been an active member of the Wikimedia community for more
than 12 years. In 2007, he joined the Board of Wikimedia France
<http://www.wikimedia.fr/> and has remained an active Board member in
various positions for the past ten years. He has served as both Chair and
Vice Chair of the Board of Wikimedia France. During his time on the Board,
Christophe helped lead Wikimedia France through a significant period of
growth. This included leading the development of the chapter’s brand, and
supporting the development of a clear organizational strategy and vision
for the chapter.
About Maria Sefidari
Maria is a professor in the Digital Communications, Culture and Citizenship
Master's degree program <http://cccd.es/wp/> of Rey Juan Carlos University
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Juan_Carlos_University> at the
MediaLab-Prado <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/es:MediaLab-Prado>. María
graduated with a Psychology degree from Universidad Complutense de Madrid
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complutense_University_of_Madrid>, and later
a Master's degree in Management and Tourism at the Business faculty of the
same university.
María started contributing to the Wikimedia projects in 2006, and has since
served in many different roles across the Wikimedia movement. She was a
founding member of Wikimedia España
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Espa%C3%B1a> and Wikimujeres
Grupo de Usuarias <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimujeres>, and also
created Spanish Wikipedia's LGBT Wikiproject
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/es:Wikiproyecto:LGBT>. She has served on
several Wikimedia governance committees, including the Affiliations
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliations_Committee> and Individual
Engagement Grants <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG> committees.
In her time on the Affiliations committee, María served as the first
Treasurer of the committee, effectively overseeing and monitoring
disbursement of the committee's budget. Maria served a prior term on the
Wikimedia Foundation board from 2013 to 2015.
About Nataliia Tymkiv
Nataliia currently serves as Financial Director of the Centre for Democracy
and Rule of Law, a Ukrainian media policy and human rights nonprofit.
Nataliia has a Masters degree in Public Administration and a Specialist
degree in Records Management and Information Activities.
She has in-depth experience in executive leadership and financial
management. Prior to her current role as Financial Director, Nataliia
worked at a manufacturing firm and later, in finance at a construction
company. Prior to her current role as Financial Director, Nataliia worked
at a manufacturing firm and later, in finance at a construction company. On
the Wikimedia projects, she’s been an active contributor since 2011, and
shortly after became an administrator of Ukrainian Wikipedia
<https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Головна_сторінка>. She has also been a
member of the Wikimedia Ukraine <https://ua.wikimedia.org/wiki/> community
for nearly four years, and has served as the chapter’s Board Treasurer,
Vice Chair, and volunteer Executive Director.
--
Hi all,
The next meeting of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees will be June
22-23, before Wikimania 2016. You can find the agenda for the next meeting
on Meta Wiki here:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_board_agenda_2016-06
Thank you,
Stephen
--
Stephen LaPorte
Legal Counsel
Wikimedia Foundation
NOTICE: As an attorney for the Wikimedia Foundation, for legal and ethical
reasons, I cannot give legal advice to, or serve as a lawyer for, community
members, volunteers, or staff members in their personal capacity. For more
on what this means, please see our legal disclaimer.
Dear all,
The next WMF metrics and activities meeting will take place on Thursday,
June 30, 2016, at 6:00 PM UTC (11 AM PDT). The IRC channel is
#wikimedia-office on irc.freenode.net, and the meeting will be broadcast as
a live YouTube stream.
Meeting agenda:
* Welcomes
* Community update
* ED update
* Review of WMF top-level metrics
* Product Demo
* Questions/discussions
Please review
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Metrics_and_activities_meetings for further
information about the meeting and how to participate.
We’ll post the video recording publicly after the meeting.
Thank you,
--
Janet Renteria
Administrative Coordinator
Hi everyone.
This June, Wikimedia Mexico will run the editathon* 72 hours with Rodin* a
huge journey from June 9 to 12 at Museo Soumaya[1]. This time we're trying
to break our previous record (60 continuous hours), this time we're trying
to achieve an even greater marathon: more than 70 continuous hours editing
Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, Wikidata and Wikisource. We are celebrating
the arrival to the museum of one of Auguste Rodin's masterpieces: ''The
Gates of Hell'', so, we will have a celebration about art and free
knowledge which will include talks, theater pieces, guided tours, workshops
and fun time activities as karaoke nights. You saw it at Wikimania,
Wikimedia Mexico volunteers love fun also :) The museum will be open also
to public during that 72 hours.
The editathon will focus on Auguste Rodin works and the Museo Soumaya
collections, but beyond that we have higher goals like completing the full
list of museums in Mexico and at least 50 biographies on importan women in
art and feminism as part of our permanent and transversal Gender Gap
Reduction Strategy. In this list (in Spanish)[2] you can find more about
the event and the list of articles. As in other editathons at Museo
Soumaya[3], we are inviting all Wikimedia chapters and affiliates to join
this effort and support us translating articles to more languages. As you
can see in the list, this time we are doing a detailed logistic which
involves pairing Wikimedia Mexico volunteers with museum staff (researchers
and/or curators), aiming to increase experience of the museum’s staff on
Wikipedia.
*72 hours with Rodin* will pursuit to set a new record and it’s an event
prepared since January, escalating in intensity since two months ago with
the coordination by Andrés Cruz y Corro (User:Andycyca), head of volunteers
in Wikimania 2015. As a matter of fact, 60% of the Wikimania 2015 Yellow
Army will be present on the event.
We will love to have support from Wikimedia community in the translation of
the articles produced in the editathon to more languages of the globe.
Please don’t hesitate if you want to join the editathon!
Best,
Iván Martínez
President
Wikimedia Mexico
[1]
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikiproyecto:Museo_Soumaya/Editat%C3%B3n_72_H…
[2]
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikiproyecto:Museo_Soumaya/Editat%C3%B3n_72_H…
[3]
https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/11/05/50-hours-of-art-the-museo-soumaya-edi…
// Mis comunicaciones respecto a Wikipedia/Wikimedia pueden tener una
moratoria en su atención debido a que es un voluntariado.
// Ayuda a proteger a Wikipedia, dona ahora: https://donate.wikimedia.org
Sent on behalf of Kelly Battles.
Hello everyone,
We are grateful for your interest in the Audit Committee, a group convened to assist the Board of Trustees in oversight of the Foundation's accounting and financial reporting processes. We are happy to report that we had solid interest in the call for volunteer advisory members to the committee, and we have filled the two seats with great candidates — Julian Singh and Michael Snow. Please join me in thanking both Julian and Michael for volunteering their time and experience to this important effort.
Julian and Michael, we are excited to work with you both.
Best,
Audit Committee
Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
This message is available for translation on Meta-Wiki:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Audit_Committee/2016_c…
> On Apr 4, 2016, at 4:54 PM, Greg Varnum <gvarnum(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
>
> Forward on behalf of Kelly Battles.
>
>
>
> Hello All -
>
> My name is Kelly Bodnar Battles and I am honored to have joined the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees in January of this year.
>
> Professionally, I am a Chief Financial Officer (CFO), and a material part of my near term Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) Board responsibilities will be to chair the Audit Committee. Currently, the voting members of the Audit Committee are myself, Alice Wiegand, María Sefidari and Denny Vrandečić. WMF’s CFO and Treasurer Jaime Villagomez is also an important stakeholder on this committee as well.
>
> As you may know, we have the precedent of having non-voting members (please see role definition below) from outside the board participate in the Audit Committee as well. Toward that end, I would like to:
>
> - First and foremost, thank Matt Bisanz, Michael Snow, Abhijith Jayanthi, Ben Creasy and Florian Gerl for participating in this committee as non-voting members in the recent past.
>
> - Request that if you are interested (or know of other volunteers in the community who may be interested) in serving in this capacity for this next cycle (from selection through June 2017), please send to me at this email address (kbattles(a)wikimedia.org <mailto:kbattles@wikimedia.org>) your resume, the top 3 reasons why you want to do this and the top 3 things you will add to the Audit Committee.
>
> - Propose the following steps and timeline for the selection process:
> - Candidates submit their interest and the above information to me no later than April 15
> - The Audit Committee will interview top 4 candidates by May 10
> - The Audit Committee will select the top 2 candidate by May 15
> - Selected candidates join the Audit committee by June 1 and attend July Audit Committee meeting
>
> - Outline the following important preferences for candidates interested in this role:
> - 5+ years of operational finance and or accounting experience
> - Solid understanding of the mission and operations of WMF
> - Prior executive or board experience
> - CPA (Certified Public Accountant) or MBA (Masters in Business Administration), or equivalent earned
> - Capacity to commit an estimated 20-30 hours annually to attend both quarterly and other ad-hoc meetings, prepare or review required materials, and interact with committee, staff and/or board as required.
>
> Once again, I am thrilled to be part of this amazing organization. Thank you for the warm welcome I have received so far.
>
> Best,
> Kelly
>
> See link for Audit Committee charter
> https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Audit_Committee_charter <https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Audit_Committee_charter>
> This message is available for translation on Meta-Wiki:
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Audit_Committee/2016_c… <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Audit_Committee/2016_c…>