Hi all,
I know I’ve sent several announcements to this list in recent months regarding new members of the Wikimedia Foundation’s executive team. Today, I’m excited to send the last in this series, and officially welcome Amanda Keton as General Counsel to the Wikimedia Foundation. Amanda will be starting on October 7, based in San Diego.
Amanda has dedicated her career to many of the same values we share as a movement. She joins us from the San Francisco-based Tides Foundation, where she served as General Counsel. Tides is a U.S.-based public foundation that distributes donor-advised grants and investments with the mission of building a world of shared prosperity and social justice. Tides was a partner for us in 2016 as we established our endowment, which remains hosted at Tides. Amanda also served as Head of Tides Foundation and People Operations and the CEO of Tides Advocacy, the policy affiliate in the Tides family of organizations.
Before her work at Tides, Amanda worked for Ernst & Young providing nonprofit organizations with consulting, advisory, and compliance services. She currently serves on the Network for Good board and has previously served on a number of other boards dedicated to equity and justice.
In Amanda's words, "My work in nonprofits and the values I developed as a social justice advocate make me especially excited to contribute to Wikimedia in its next phase of growth. I want to be part of ensuring that everyone finds a sense of belonging in the free knowledge movement, and together we serve and defend it exceptionally well. After living in the Bay Area for 11 years, my family and I recently moved to San Diego to be closer to family, as we welcomed our son in August. I am always on a quest to find the perfect playground, a new author to binge read, or a fresh recipe to try."
Wikimedia always has been unique in the centrality of legal work as a strategic aspect of our movement. From the first days of the Foundation, our legal team has helped defend the Wikimedia communities and the integrity of free knowledge. They work closely with the community to advocate on behalf of open licensing, freedom of expression, net neutrality, privacy, and other critical enabling elements of our mission.
I expect the importance of our legal and policy work to continue as we work toward 2030. Today we see expanding government censorship and increased infringements on access to knowledge around the globe. We see threats to community members on the ground, and threats to the integrity of information online. Our ability to engage proactively on these issues, through strategic counsel, policy and advocacy, and impactful litigation will continue to grow in importance to the Wikimedia mission. I’m excited for Amanda to lead the Foundation’s accomplished Legal department as we go forward.
I also want to take a moment to personally thank and acknowledge Tony Sebro for his excellent work serving as interim General Counsel and Secretary to the Board of Trustees while we searched to fill the position permanently. Tony was a deft and thoughtful partner in addressing issues ranging from copyright policy to malicious DDOS attacks to board governance, and a valued voice on the Foundation’s leadership team. Amanda will continue to work closely with Tony as he resumes the position of Deputy General Counsel.
Please join me in welcoming Amanda to the Foundation!
Katherine