[Foundation-l] [Announcement] Philippe Beaudette becomes Head of Reader Relations

Wed Apr 14 17:32:08 UTC 2010

Thanks Sue, and everyone else who wrote me on or offlist to express  
their congratulations or give me ideas.  I very much appreciate them!

This is an exciting opportunity. I'm a true-believer - I really do  
think that Wikimedia and the contributors to all the projects have  
changed the way that the world deals with information.  In this new  
role, I'm looking forward to the chance to learn more about how people  
use the projects, beyond the obvious, and streamline the ways that we  
deliver a consistently high level of service to our readers.  In the 9  
months that I've been with the Foundation so far, I've been  
consistently impressed with the dedication and creativity of  
contributors to the projects, and of my coworkers.

I'm so excited!

Thanks for your good wishes, and please don't hesitate to send me  
thoughts and ideas.  As Sue indicated below, I will continue my work  
on the strategy project until July, so that will take the lions share  
of my attention, but I'm happy to listen to thoughts and ideas before  
then.

pb

____________________
Philippe Beaudette	
Head of Reader Relations
Wikimedia Foundation

philippe at wikimedia.org

Imagine a world in which every human being can freely share in
the sum of all knowledge.  Help us make it a reality!

http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate

On Apr 13, 2010, at 11:11 PM, Sue Gardner wrote:

> As I'm sending this, I'm wondering: have we actually started an
> announce-only list? If so, and if someone reminds me, I will post this
> there too :-)
>
>
> Hi folks,
>
> I'm delighted to tell you that Philippe Beaudette will be staying with
> the Wikimedia Foundation following the completion of the strategy
> project this summer.  This makes me really happy: Philippe has been
> doing terrific work, and I'm delighted he's agreed to stay on with us.
>
> In his new role, Philippe will become the Wikimedia Foundation's
> first-ever Head of Reader Relations.  As such, he will act as an
> advocate for readers inside the projects and within the staff.  His
> first focus will be to work with Wikimedia volunteers to establish and
> maintain systems enabling them to provide good service to readers who
> have inquiries, complaints and comments.  A lot of this will involve
> taking existing FAQ material, cleaning it up, and making it publicly
> available to readers.  That'll involve some writing and synthesizing
> work, and also coordinating with volunteers to have material
> translated and localized.
>
> Philippe's background makes him ideal for this role.
>
> He has been a long-time member of the Wikimedia volunteer community,
> both as an administrator on several sites, and as a volunteer for
> OTRS, where he successfully resolved some particularly difficult
> complaints regarding biographies of living people.  He's very familiar
> with Wikimedia project policies and practices.
>
> Outside Wikimedia, Philippe has significant customer service
> experience, including running a large customer contact centre for
> Convergys Corporation, a global firm specializing in relationship
> management.  He also helped many organizations, including two of the
> world's largest insurance providers, develop customer service
> environments, while working for Siebel.  He also has a background in
> American electoral politics, including working as Deputy Campaign
> Manager, Operations Manager and Technology Director on a number of
> state and federal campaigns, as well as for the non-profit Progressive
> Alliance Foundation.
>
> He has worked in the United States, Italy, and the United Kingdom.
>
> All of this, in my view, makes Philippe ideal to handle reader
> relations for us: he's got lots of experience managing complex
> stakeholder relationships with tact and sensitivity, and creating
> systems that scale.
>
> Both Philippe and I expect his role will evolve once the Chief Global
> Program Officer (CGPO) arrives.  I thank Philippe for his flexibility
> and trust in taking this on and relocating to San Francisco, despite
> that lack of certainty :-)
>
> Philippe will report to me until the CGPO arrives, whereupon he'll
> report to that person. He's in the midst of beginning his move to San
> Francisco now (with a side trip to Berlin for the chapters meeting).
>
> You might wonder why this job wasn't posted and boarded. Generally, I
> do aim to post and board all jobs; I think it helps the Wikimedia
> Foundation to surface the best-possible candidates, to be fair in our
> hiring, and to be seen to be fair.  In this instance though, I decided
> it was better not to. Philippe has done a great job over the past nine
> months, we are undoubtedly going to need the kinds of skills and
> experiences he brings to us, and I didn't want him to start
> job-hunting as his work on the strategy project came to a close.
> Given that, and given that the job may evolve when the CGPO arrives,
> posting and boarding -in this particular context- seemed
> inappropriate.
>
> Philippe has been a great addition to our team in the time he's been
> with us, and I look forward to his continued contributions. Please
> join me in welcoming and congratulating him.
>
> Thanks,
> Sue
>
>
> -- 
> Sue Gardner
> Executive Director
> Wikimedia Foundation
>
> 415 839 6885 office
> 415 816 9967 cell
>
> Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in
> the sum of all knowledge.  Help us make it a reality!
>
> http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate
>
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