[Foundation-l] Call for nominations: chapter-appointed seats on the WMF Board of Trustees

[Risker]

On 1 February 2012 16:44, Stuart West <stuwest at gmail.com> wrote:

> I'll give my personal view on the question, and invite others on the board
> to jump in.  I think the difference between the specific expertise seats
> and the appointed seats is subtle but important.
>
> My sense is that the WMF Board specific expertise seats are more focused
> on board operations and governance.  so the Board might do a
> self-assessment and identify that it needs someone with financial/audit
> oversight experience to serve as Board Treasurer, and then go out and find
> it. That's me.  It's also reactive and designed to fill in the gaps.  So we
> as Board decided a few years ago that we lacked sufficient insight and
> perspective from outside North America and Europe, so we sought out and
> were incredibly luck to find Bishakha.
>
> The opportunity for the two seats appointed by movement organizations like
> the chapters is broader.  Many more people are involved in identifying and
> surfacing potential candidates, so it has the potential to cast a wider and
> more thoughtful net.  And there is less constraint to meet specific
> governance needs, which frees up the process to focus on the people and
> perspectives that can have the most positive impact on our movement's
> pursuit of the mission.
>
> -
>

This is well and good, but it gives the impression that the current three
elected members of the board are somehow considered not representative of
the movement, and that the opaque selection and appointment process for the
"chapter" seats is somehow more representative of the movement.  It
concerns me a lot that the 97% of active Wikimedians who are not chapter
members seem to not be considered part of the movement.

Risker/Anne