[Foundation-l] Election Notice

[Florence Devouard]

Alison Wheeler wrote:
> On Sat, May 5, 2007 19:05, Jan-Bart de Vreede wrote:
>> As most of you know we will be holding elections for the Wikimedia
>> Foundation Board of Trustees in the near future. Your elected
>> representatives Erik Möller (Eloquence), Kat Walsh (Mindspillage) and
>> Oscar van Dillen (Oscar) all have terms that expire on July 1st 2007.
> 
> I look back at [[Elections for the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia
> Foundation, 2005/En]] on meta and note that there were two Board members
> to be elected at that time, and that "We are voting for two positions.
> They will be elected for two years and there will be no distinction
> between them." At that "The election for 2005 now closed. Angela and
> Anthere were re-elected for the Wikimedia Board of Trustees".
> 
> However [[Board of Trustees]] on the Foundation site states "Florence
> Nibart-Devouard, Chair (term until June 2008)".
> 
> It would probably be sensible for all concerned (voters and prospective
> candidates) if clarification was made as to the manner, reason and timing
> of the - presumed - extension to Anthere's term was made unless this is a
> typo in the election notice given that her term was due to also terminate
> this year and I don't recall seeing a specific announcement of this
> change.
> 
> Regards
> 
> Alison Wheeler


Nod.

The information you are looking for is here: 
http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution:Board_expansion

Copy below


Whereas the Board confirms its committment to expand the number of 
members on the board of directors
It is hereby resolved that:

Hereafter, persons appointed to the board shall serve for a term of one 
year, which may be renewed.

Hereafter, persons elected from the community shall be appointed for a 
term of two years.

The board reaffirms its commitment to expand further in the coming 
years, and include members with a diverse set of talents, experience, 
and competencies, the majority of whom are elected or appointed from the 
community.

The terms of Jimmy Wales and Michael Davis will expire in December 2007.
Tim Shell resigns effective 15 December, 2006.
The board appoints Jan-Bart de Vreede to join the board to replace Tim 
Shell. (Term to expire 31 December, 2007)
The board appoints Florence Devouard to serve until 1 July, 2008.
The board appoints Oscar van Dillen and Kat Walsh to the Board to serve 
from 8th December 2006 until 1 July, 2007.
The board anticipates elections will be held in June, 2007, for three 
positions, each for a term of two years.
The board anticipates elections will be held in June, 2008, for three 
positions, each for a term of two years.


-------------------

When we wrote the resolution, we also expressed a desire to expand the 
board further (to 9 people). But we did not wish to make a firm decision 
on this point. The current board seems to agree that we should plan this 
expansion in the future months. It would be very likely 2 appointed 
seats, so that we can add more skills to the board. Timeline was not 
extensively discussed, but there is apparently an agreement that it 
could be between august and december.

Why not until august ? Essentially because we need to see who ends up 
elected, which skills will be missing, and because it would make sense 
to wait after Wikimania, where we are likely to meet and talk with many 
people.
Why december ? Because it will be the time when seats of Jimbo, Jan-Bart 
and Michael are liberated.

I believe somewhere between these two dates would be best, to avoid too 
many members joining/quitting at the same time.

I will put such a decision on the agenda after Wikimania. Not anytime 
before.