[Foundation-l] New Wikimedia Committees

[Jimmy Wales]

Daniel Mayer wrote:
> While I'm extremely flattered at the suggestion, I must advise the
> board to not consider me for a post as CEO. I'm not qualified and
> don't have the relevant experience to run the size and scope of an
> organization that we want the foundation to be. We need somebody with
> an MBA and years of non-profit experience. While it would be nice to
> have a Wikimedian fill this role, I don't think that is a critical
> thing for the board to consider.

I think that's exactly right.  What I'm standing up and saying is that
while I'm very very good at what I do very very well (nice tautology,
eh?), *I* am not the right person to handle the job of Executive
Director going forward.

There are people out there with decades of experience with public-facing
international charities with a strong community focus who can very
quickly be trained in our community norms.  And if they already know
about Wikipedia, and have edited, then so much the better.

But we aren't hiring a new Jimbo, we've already got one of those. :)

What we need to be hiring is someone to help the _organization_ live up
to the incredible potential before us.

This is not a community position, this is a position on the
organizational front.

--Jimbo