[Foundation-l] Announcement of Expert Trustees' Appointment and Bylaw-change

[Ting Chen]

Happy Holidays!

As we prepare to ring in the New Year, we're happy to announce that each 
of our current four Wikimedia Foundation Board members up for 
reappointment have been unanimously reappointed and will continue in 
their positions in 2011.  In addition, the Board has completed the first 
ever evaluation process, and during that time, we thought hard about 
some of the details around the appointment process. After completing the 
evaluation process we've voted to adjust the bylaws to extend all 
Trustee appointments to two years.

In the past, community-elected and chapter-nominated trustees held 
positions for two years before reelection or renomination was necessary; 
however, Board-appointed Trustees and the Community Founder Trustee 
needed to be reappointed every year. We've decided to amend Article 4, 
Section 3 of the Wikimedia Foundation's bylaws so that all Trustees are 
equal. We recognize that it's important to all of us that all terms are 
equal no matter what "seat" a member holds.  This amendment will 
officially begin January 1, 2011, however, Stu, Jan-Bart, and Jimmy have 
volunteered to take on a one year term. Their terms will expire on 
December 31, 2011. Matt's and Bishaka's terms will expire on December 
31, 2012.

As written in the bylaws, the Board of Trustees consists of three 
members selected by the Wikimedia Community, two selected by Wikimedia 
chapters, four members through appointment by the Board for specific 
expertise, and a Community Founder seat. We currently remain a full 
Board with all 10 Trustees currently serving.

Looking back at the last year, we've accomplished a lot as a Board and 
as a movement. 2011 will prove to be both exciting and challenging as we 
really move into implementing the five-year strategic plan we all worked 
so hard together on this year.  We're looking forward to bringing 
Wikimedia to more people in more places all over the world. Thank you 
all for your commitment to keeping Wikimedia going and happy 10 years 
and 2011 to you all.

Ting

-- 
Ting Chen
Member of the Board of Trustees
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
E-Mail: tchen at wikimedia.org