Congrats Katherine,
As a community member from the other side of the world, you have my complete trust and support. A very positive move from the Board, no doubt about it.
Best wishes, Bodhisattwa On Mar 11, 2016 10:05 AM, "Risker" risker.wp@gmail.com wrote:
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@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@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_p...
[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@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/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,
PatricioTranslation notice - This message is available for translation on Meta-Wiki:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/10_Ma...
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-- Katherine Maher Chief Communications Officer Wikimedia Foundation 149 New Montgomery Street San Francisco, CA 94105
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