[Wikimedia-l] Fwd: Resign due to COI and Application to the ED position

[Ting Chen]

Hello dear all,

I would like to add a few comments to my resign letter here to clarify a 
few things that is related to possible conflict of interest.

Sue informed the board about her intention to leave the Foundation 
before she informed the staff and the general public with her letter. I 
decided to apply for the job before Sue published her letter. And as 
soon as I made the decision I informed the board so that they are aware 
of the situation and from that point on I recused myself from all topics 
that may potentially have to do with the transition. Among other from 
all discussions about the transition itself and from all discussions 
about the ongoing board member search.

I drafted the first version of this letter about at the time when Sue 
published her letter. My original intention was to have a clear cut and 
resign from that time. The board asked me to stay mainly because there 
is an ambiguity in the bylaw which can be interpreted in the way as that 
the board is not able to operate with less than nine members. On our 
meeting in Milan the board decided to fix this with an amendment of the 
bylaw (which should be published today for community consultation). The 
community consultation lasts ten days and after that the board would 
vote on a voice meeting to have the amendment in effect. That is why my 
resign would be in effect at May 5^th . The other reason is that we want 
Sue's announcement be handled properly, with as less as possible 
interferences.


There is one point I want to point out that do might imply a small 
conflict of interest: I voted on the resolution on Appointing and 
authorizing a transition committee in the search of a new Executive 
Director. Since this resolution need to be published at the same time 
Sue makes her decision public there is no way for me to recuse in this 
case without spoil Sue's message or distract the public attention from 
the importance of the message. I pointed the possible POI to the board 
and the board accepted it. We all believe that the possible POI is 
minimal since I didnot take part on the creation or discussion of this 
resolution

Greetings

Ting