Bishakha, as one who benefitted from your advice and friendship, let me also add my word of thanks especially during the difficult days of WikiConference 2011. We trust we will find things to do in common so that we remain in touch! :)

On Sat, Aug 16, 2014 at 7:11 PM, Bishakha Datta <bishakhadatta@gmail.com> wrote:

Thanks for this lovely email, Theo. It means a lot. Flashed me straight back to all the fun we had together, all of which helped balance out the tough debates. :)

In case people are wondering, my term ends December 2014 - I'll be active until then, but am not seeking re-appointment for another two-year term. Being on the WMF board is extremely rewarding but a significant time commitment - one that I'm finding increasingly hard to fulfil, which is why I'm stepping down at the end of the year.

But I'm going to continue to do other (less time-consuming) stuff in the movement after my term ends, so this is nowhere near goodbye.

Cheers

Bishakha

On Thu, Aug 14, 2014 at 2:04 PM, Theo10011 <de10011@gmail.com> wrote:

I am forwarding this update from the board below, in case this was overlooked. It seems relevant to the Indian community. It's sad to learn that Bishakha will not be seeking re-appointment to the board at the end of the year. The board, the community and the movement at large was always better for having her in it. 

I want to thank her for a lot of things, but I'm not sure if this is the right time or if I'll be online at the right time. In any case, I want to say I'm so grateful for her years of service and perseverance through many contentious topics. I'm the first to admit that we've certainly had our share of disagreements, and passionate debates over the year, but we also shared more than a few good laughs in person. I still remember when Bishakha was trying to tell me the correct pronunciation of "Entschuldigen sie bitte" over dinner, I'm sure my pronunciation didn't improve but she tried patiently and resiliently for more than an hour. Our disagreements stemmed mostly from relatively professional topics related to the board and the direction things were going, and I'm probably at fault for a lot of negativity during those times - I'm sorry about that Bishakha. She joined the board at a difficult time when the foundation was expanding and going through a lot of big changes, there weren't a lot of female Indian members around the board or the community back then but she always represented the Indian community with a smile, grace and resilience and tried to be as inclusive as possible along the way. I have nothing but the highest opinion of her personally, she was always warm and good-natured in all our personal interactions. I'm sure I'm not the only one in the Indian community who feels the same. 

Thanks for all the hard-work Bishakha. You will be missed, Ma'am. 

Warm regards
Theo  

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jan-Bart de Vreede <jdevreede@wikimedia.org>
Date: Fri, Aug 8, 2014 at 6:54 PM
Subject: [Wikimedia-l] Board Meeting Update
To: Wikimedia Mailing List <wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org>


Hello Everyone

While the minutes of the Board of Trustees meeting will arrive in due time I wanted to update you on some internal matters at this point because there have been some changes in the board composition.

Ana Toni joined our board last year but unfortunately the time demands placed upon a Wikimedia Board member were not compatible with her other commitments. This has given the board something to think about. We aim to be a board that is able to incorporate outside expertise to increase our effectiveness and possible candidates are often not able to commit the time which we currently require.. In the coming period we want to have a look at the time which is demanded of a board member (especially our in person meetings which require a lot of travel) and look at which activities we need to perform as a board. We want to thank Ana for her contributions. The insights gained from her position as Chair of Greenpeace International were especially useful to us as a board. We are sad to see her go, but we hope to keep her in “our space”.

Bishakha Datta joined our board in March 2010 and has indicated to us that she is not available for re-appointment after her term runs out in December of this year. We will take the time to properly thank her for her great contributions when her term formally ends in December.

While these things are part of of the normal turnover of the composition of the board (and are also an opportunity to attract new fields of expertise as needed) there is a matter of board stability during the first year of the tenure of our new Executive Director. In response to Lila's request for stability the board has decided the following:

1) Alice Wiegand was appointed to finish out Ana's term ending December 2014.  We also appointed Alice to carry out the subsequent term ending December 2016.

2) Last year at Wikimania I was appointed to the board for a two year period, but I tendered my resignation effective the end of this year.  At the Board's request I reconsidered that resignation, and will serve out the rest of my original two year term ending December 2015.

This does mean we will start the search process for a new board member for the appointed seat that Bishakha will vacate at the end of this year. And hopefully we will be able to also identify potential candidates to fill the seats of both Stuart West and me, which will become vacant at the end of 2015.

Secondly we have appointed the two officer positions as follows for the coming fiscal year

Chair - Jan-Bart de Vreede
Vice-Chair - Patricio Lorente

The foundation has a great opportunity to grow under the guidance of our new Executive Director and realize our ambitions. The board is looking forward to a year of supporting Lila and providing direction for our strategic goals.

Jan-Bart de Vreede
Chair
Board of Trustees
Wikimedia Foundation

PS: All the relevant resolutions will be published on meta in the coming days
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Warm regards,

Ashwin Baindur
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