Hello all,
I’m happy to announce that the Wikimedia Foundation leadership team has proposed an interim Executive Director, and the Board has given our full support. Starting on March 14th, current Chief Communications Officer Katherine Maher (https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Katherine_(WMF)) will step into the role of interim Executive Director. We thank the C-levels for their careful consideration in this process, and Katherine for stepping up during this period of transition.
In choosing an interim ED, the C-levels started by identifying immediate priorities for the coming months, including building trust, improving communications, and filling key leadership positions. They felt, and we agree, that Katherine is the right person to lead the organization while it addresses these and other important issues. Additionally, this will allow the rest of the executive team to focus on critical organizational functions, including community and engineering management, fundraising, and strengthening our human resources function. You can read more about our process and thinking here: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/March...
Katherine has been with the Foundation as Chief Communications Officer for about two years now. During that time, she has developed a versatile and effective team that serves the needs of the organization and movement, collaborating closely with other departments and the community. She has thoughtfully introduced new capacities and led her team through transitions, and played a critical role in shepherding the strategy process and the annual plan, in collaboration with other C-levels. She is known for listening to and empowering the people that she works with.
For those who don’t know Katherine, she’s been a longtime advocate for global open communities, culture, and technology. She previously led advocacy for the international digital rights organization Access Now, where she worked on freedom of expression, access to information, and privacy. She has supported the efforts of citizens and governments around the world to deepen transparency and participation in her roles at the World Bank, National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, and UNICEF (where her team built wikis for youth participation in major global issues). She is a member of the advisory board of the Open Technology Fund.
With interim leadership in place, our next step as the Board is to move quickly to plan and implement the search for a permanent Executive Director. We will be working together over the coming weeks to clarify roles and responsibilities in this search, and identify the best way for community and staff to participate. We want this process to be inclusive and incorporate many voices. We look forward to sharing an update on our progress toward the end of next week.
As interim Executive Director, Katherine will report to the Board. Geoff Brigham will continue serving as Board Secretary, and Jaime Villagomez as Board Treasurer, reporting to the Board in those capacities. As of March 14, Katherine's reports include the C-team: Geoff Brigham, Jaime Villagomez, Maggie Dennis, Lisa Gruwell, Joady Lohr, and Wes Moran. The Communications team will continue to report to Katherine for the time being, with support from the leadership of Juliet Barbara and Heather Walls.
Thank you,
Patricio
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