[Foundation-l] Announcing Erik Moeller as Wikimedia Deputy Director

[Sue Gardner]

Hi folks,

I am delighted to announce Erik Moeller as Deputy Director of the Wikimedia Foundation. Erik will take up his new responsibilities in our San Francisco headquarters beginning January 10, and will report directly to me.  As part of this transition, and as you know already from Florence's announcement yesterday, Erik has resigned from his role as Board member.

Erik is well-known in the Wikimedia community. A twice-elected board member, he has been active in the projects since 2001. Through his six years of volunteer participation, he has made thousands of edits and uploads, contributed to the MediaWiki software, helped launch Wikinews and Commons, and supported the organization in numerous other ways. He is also the author of "Die heimliche Medienrevolution," one of the first books to include an in-depth analysis of wiki collaboration.

Most recently, Erik has been Chief Technology Officer of Stichting Open Progress, where he managed a decentralized team of developers in the implementation of OmegaWiki, a collaborative ontology database. He also provides hosting for several wiki communities, including WikiEducator.org, and has project-managed other wiki software development projects such as the LiquidThreads discussion system.

Our chief technical officer, Brion Vibber, will report to Erik. In addition, I will be delegating specific projects to him, and he will act on my behalf when I am traveling or otherwise unavailable. He will also play an important role in orienting the new San Francisco staff, and helping them to understand the processes, history and values of the Wikimedia projects.

Since I joined the Foundation in June, I have been impressed with Erik's commitment, hard work and evangelism on behalf of Wikimedia.  I know he will now be able to make an even greater contribution to what we do, and I'm very pleased he's agreed to join the staff in the new office.

Please join me in welcoming Erik to the staff of the foundation.

Sue Gardner
Executive Director,
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.