Hey folks,
I'm delighted to tell you that the Wikimedia Foundation has a new General Counsel.
Geoff Brigham, formerly of eBay, will start with us March 7 once he's relocated from Paris to San Francisco. He'll report to me.
To recap: In late October, I hired m|Oppenheim to find us a new General Counsel. I expected it to be a tough search, because appropriate GCs for the Wikimedia Foundation don't exactly grow on trees. As a growing U.S.-based non-profit that operates one of the world's most popular websites in partnership with a global network of volunteers, we need a GC who can handle a broad range of legal issues including the legal defense of our projects in an international context, an array of matters related to policy and regulatory compliance, issues such as privacy, and helping us with the challenges of opening a new office in India. Very few people have that kind of breadth. And for our GC as with all our jobs, we are also looking for someone who is passionate about the mission, has a collaborative and inclusive personal style, is inclined towards transparency, and ideally is a bit of an iconoclast. It's a lot to ask of one person :-)
So we braced ourselves for a long and difficult search. But in fact it turned out to be highly enjoyable. Over a period of several months, m|Oppenheim talked with hundreds of connectors and candidates, and in the end we interviewed about a dozen finalists. They were terrific, inspiring lawyers: I was glad to meet them all. And I am delighted that we discovered Geoff.
Geoff spent eight years at eBay during its main growth years, which gives him important experience managing the legal challenges and risks inherent in operating a popular site. His work at eBay encompassed North America, Europe, Asia and Australia where he handled legal issues throughout the world. He's worked alone and led large teams. He is hands-on, collaborative, open-minded and inclusive. And he is extremely excited about working with us.
A little more about Geoff's background: Most recently, Geoff was Vice-President and Deputy General Counsel at eBay in San Jose, California. There, he directed legal affairs in more than 15 countries throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Australia, encompassing litigation, copyright and trademarks, privacy, ethics, product and site content review, policy and regulatory compliance, new market advice, contracts, governance and site security. Previously he worked for eBay in Bern, Switzerland for four years as Vice-President & Senior Director, and in Paris, France for two years as Senior Compliance and Litigation Counsel.
Prior to joining eBay, Geoff was Assistant United States Attorney in Miami, Florida. Before that he worked for the U.S. Department of Justice in Paris and Washington, was an Associate with Finley, Kumble, Wagner et al. in Washington, and was a law clerk for the Honorable Howard F. Corcoran, U.S. Judge for the District of Columbia. Geoff received his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington DC. He also holds a B.A. in Political Science and French, from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.
He speaks English and French. He's a passionate music fan and an accomplished flute player: he used to busk many years ago, playing jazz and classical music on the Parisian streets, and he was well known at eBay for playing his flute in the office in the early mornings. Maybe that will happen at the Wikimedia Foundation too :-)
Many thanks to Lisa Grossman of m|Oppenheim for leading this important search for us. My thanks also to everyone who helped Lisa and me define the General Counsel role and surface and interview candidates, including (roughly in order of their involvement) Erik Moeller, Cyn Skyberg, Kat Walsh, Arne Klempert, Stu West, SJ Klein, Barry Newstead, Veronique Kessler, Danese Cooper, Zack Exley, Jimmy Wales, Bishakha Datta, Matt Halprin, Gautam John, Pavel Richter and Shari Steele. My thanks also to Derrick Coetzee, who happened to be in the office one day and got pulled into an impromptu conversation helping brief Geoff about some of the issues facing us. I also want to thank Wikimedia France for staging its GLAM conference in Paris recently: Geoff attended it and says that meeting Wikimedians there, and watching them work, significantly contributed to his desire to join us.
If I remember correctly how this list works, replies to this mail should go directly to foundation-l. (That's how it's intended to work: I hope it's actually true.) Geoff is subscribed to foundation-l, so if you do reply there, he'll see it. He doesn't yet have a Wikimedia e-mail address, but once he does, you will likely see it turn up on this and other lists. Please note he's not on the job until March 7: until then, he's only really available to us socially, not for work.
Please join me in welcoming Geoff to the Wikimedia movement :-)
Thanks, Sue
-- Sue Gardner Executive Director Wikimedia Foundation
415 839 6885 office 415 816 9967 cell
Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality!