Hi Everyone,
The Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees met in Esino Lario during
Wikimania. The minutes will be published in the coming days, but we deemed
it too important to wait to share the outcome of this really great meeting.
During the meeting, the Board felt that it was important to establish three
clear priorities for the coming year: We will focus on three specific
topics:
* Improving the Board itself
* Supporting the Executive Director, Katherine Maher
* Fostering the creation of a strategy for the movement
Every trustee acknowledges that there's a clear need for the Board to
assume a leadership position for our movement. That being said, the eight
of us are only temporary stewards of our positions. We need to work toward
creating the best environment for all of us to push our mission forward.
That is the reason our first topic is about Board improvement — to work to
become the trustees you all need. The governance committee [1] is
continuing its work on incremental improvements, as well as on defining the
further actions we need to take.
Our second priority is to support the Executive Director. As you all know,
the Board proposed to Katherine Maher to move from her interim ED position
to a permanent one. We are thrilled she agreed.
We must not consider this decision as the end of the process, but as a
beginning. In order for the Wikimedia Foundation to achieve great things,
the Board needs to be supporting the ED. This means providing her with a
consistent and clear explanation of the intentions in our decisions, and to
act as sparring partners to her.
The HR committee[2] will work toward that end, and the Board as whole is
ready to take any steps necessary to provide her, and the staff, with the
best environment possible.
Finally, the lack, or fuzziness, around movement strategy has been a
pending question for years. One that we never managed to tackle. And
perhaps because no one wanted to take on that charge. The Board of Trustees
decided that within the next 12 months we will have to define our vision
and strategy. A strategy that is suited with our goals, our values, and is
inclusive of every agent of the movement.
The past fifteen years were amazing. But now we have to think of the next
fifteen years. There are many challenges ahead of us if we want to keep on
changing the world.
We must not shy away from those challenges, nor from the decisions we have
to make.
Within the Board of Trustees, Maria Sefidari and I take the lead on the
necessary steps are being taken. Katherine and Foundation staff already
have worked on the first steps to reach that goal.
Our goal is to make sure we — as a movement — will have a strategy that we
can all embrace and push forward together.
As ever, decisions need action, and we will take them and share them
quickly so that you know that we walk the talk, and we want to walk it with
all of you.
We will be happy to answer any questions you have whether on list or off
list.
Thank you to everyone for those past fifteen years, and I’m looking forward
to what we'll achieve in the coming ones!
Christophe
[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_Governance_Commi…
[2]
https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/HR_Committee