[Foundation-l] "Expertise" board seats: the NomCom invites your feedback

[Florence Devouard]

Sue Gardner wrote:
> Hey folks,
> 
> As you know, the board recently created a Nominating Committee to help
> it identify, research and recommend candidates for the appointed Board
> of Trustee positions involving "specific expertise." The members of the
> committee are me, Michael Snow, BirgitteSB, Milos Rancic, Melissa
> Hagemann and Ting Chen.
> 
> We've brainstormed a list of selection criteria here
> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Nominating_Committee/Selection_criteria -
> and now need to cut it back from about two dozen to eight.
> 
> If you're interested, we'd like your help. Please comment on the talk
> page re which criteria you think are most important, and also let us
> know if you feel anything is missing.
> 
> Thanks,
> Sue
> 
> Our rough timeline, in case you're interested:
> 
> 1.Michael Snow, on behalf of the Board, will brief the Nominating
> Committee regarding its role, the restructuring, and the board's
> assessment of its own strengths and skills gaps. By August 30 DONE
> 
> 2.Based on that briefing, the Nominating Committee will generate a set
> of criteria for potential “specific expertise” board members. By
> September 15
> 
> 3.The staff of the Foundation will deliver to the Nominating Committee
> the list of potential candidates that has been developed by the staff,
> current Board members and supporters and friends of Wikimedia. By
> September 15 DONE (by Michael)
> 
> 4.The Nominating Committee will brainstorm and solicit additional names,
> and add them to the total list. By September 30 IN PROGRESS
> 
> 5.The Nominating Committee will research the names which have been put
> forward, and assess their fit against the selection criteria developed
> earlier. This will result in a midlist of candidates. By October 30
> 
> 6.The Nominating Committee will initiate discussions with midlist
> candidates to gauge their interest, provide them with information, and
> respond to questions or concerns. By November 14
> 
> 7.The Nominating Committee will cull the midlist and deliver to the
> board a final list of interested candidates who fit the criteria for the
> "specific expertise" roles. The goal will be to give the board a full
> briefing on the top eight candidates for the four "expertise" seats,
> along with a recommendation for the four who the Nominating Committee
> thinks would be the best fit. By November 14
> 
> 8.The community board members (Michael, Kat, Frieda, Domas, Ting, and
> Jimmy) will vote to determine who will fill the four seats. By December 15
> 
> 9.Nominating Committee orients new board members. January and February
> 
> 10. Nominating Committee supports the board with other board development
> tasks as requested. March, April, May, June


Talking about board seats...

Sue...

I'd like to acknowledge the fact that local associations are apparently 
unable to create a separate mailing list for discussing the nomination 
of chapter representatives. It did not appear to me to be a huge 
unaccessible task, but unfortunately, that's a fact. Not the right 
infrastructure I guess.
I even envisionned to create a Google list, that the idea really turned 
me off :-)

Hopefully, in two years from now, for next elections (we can set it up 
for ourselves as a GOAL), we'll be able to host a list to discuss WMF 
rep, but since that's not the case right now, I'd like to officially 
(and humbly) ask that the WMF set up a wiki for us to discuss the issue. 
After much thinking, it seems to me that setting up a list would not be 
the easiest way to come to a consensual agreement, whilst a wiki could 
host at the same time, discussions and votes if necessary.

This wiki would not be public. Its members would be chapter board members.

Can you make sure that such a wiki is set up ? I know it is a tech 
issue, but it's also a (sad) political one as well, so I think best to 
acknowledge here that WMF help is necessary for chapters to be able to 
reach a common agreement on who their representatives will be on the WMF 
board.

Thanks

Ant