Thank you, Patricio and the rest of the board, for this first step in
rebuilding.
I have had the pleasure of working with Katherine in my capacity as a
"regular" volunteer and as a member of the FDC, and have found her to be
highly professional and very focused on the mission of the WMF. She has
demonstrated her ability to attract and lead an excellent team in her role
as Chief Communications Officer, and has the support of staff and her
(former) C-level organizational leaders as the WMF takes its next steps to
recovery. In my opinion, this is what is needed at this time.
Katherine, thank you for agreeing to take on this responsibility. I look
forward to working with you and the rest of the team in the months to come.
Risker/Anne
On 10 March 2016 at 22:52, Todd Allen <toddmallen(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Katherine,
Welcome, and best of luck in your new role. I'm very pleased indeed to hear
that it will be you to fill it.
Todd
On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 7:59 PM, Katherine Maher <kmaher(a)wikimedia.org>
wrote:
Thank you, Patricio.
I want to thank the Board for this opportunity, and for their confidence
in
the Foundation. I also want to thank community
members and staff for
continuing to be such committed advocates for our future -- your passion
and belief in our movement and purpose have been tremendous things to
behold.
As a movement, we’ve had some challenges lately. We’ve started on a
process
of change, but as Lydia Pintscher (User:Lydia
Pintscher (WMDE)) recently
reminded us,[1] “Change happens at the speed of trust.” We will need to
work together over these coming months to build that trust, and open
critical lines of communication and accountability. I get the sense from
many people that that’s exactly what they’d like to do: absorb the
lessons
we’ve learned, re-engage with each other, and get
back to advancing our
global movement.
At the Foundation, we have an opportunity to center around our values,
and
practice open and collaborative communication.
During the interim
period, I
want to get things working well and improve
transparency and
communication,
both internally and with the communities. We will
work to create a
supportive, fair environment where people can get things done, engage
with
their colleagues and community members, and
understand how their work has
an impact on our mission. This includes delivering on important deadlines
for the Annual Plan and strategy,[2] filling key roles, and making
progress
on issues raised in our recent engagement
survey.
We are committed to delivering the first version of the 2016-2017 Annual
Plan no later than April 1st for community and FDC review, and are on
track
to meet this deadline. The WMF 2016-2018 strategy
development is also
underway, with a draft version open for comments until March 18.[3] Over
the coming weeks, we’ll be moving forward with our Chief Technology
Officer
(CTO) search, and working with the Talent and
Culture team to reinvest in
our culture. As new other emerge, we’ll work together to prioritize them.
To accomplish all of this, we are going to need your help. I want to hear
from you about what you would like to achieve in this interim period.
This
includes how we can collaborate together to
prepare the organization and
movement to welcome our next Executive Director. The Foundation is
prepared
to actively support the Board in the search, and
we will work closely
with
them to share important information and create
opportunities to give
feedback throughout the process.
Just a few weeks ago, we marked the 15th birthday of the movement.[4]
Millions of people around the world shared their love for Wikimedia. It
was
a celebration of why we do what we do, and how
much joy the movement
brings
people everywhere. That’s something I try to keep
in mind every day.
Yours sincerely,
Katherine
[1]
https://twitter.com/nightrose/status/660043284841107457
[2]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/2016_Strategy/Combined_strategy_and_annual_…
[3]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/2016_Strategy/Draft_WMF_Strategy
[4]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_15
On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 6:55 PM, Patricio Lorente <
patricio.lorente(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> 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/Marc…
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
Translation notice - This message is available for translation on
Meta-Wiki:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/10_M…
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--
Katherine Maher
Chief Communications Officer
Wikimedia Foundation
149 New Montgomery Street
San Francisco, CA 94105
+1 (415) 839-6885 ext. 6635
+1 (415) 712 4873
kmaher(a)wikimedia.org
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