More Canadians to the staff?! I tought we already talk about that!!! Good luck :)
Itzik Edri | T: +972.54.5878078 | [email protected] | Facebook <http://www.facebook.com/itzike>| Twitter<http://www.twitter.com/itzike> | Flickr <http://www.flickr.com/itzike> | Linkedin<http://il.linkedin.com/in/itzikedri%20> On Thu, Jun 3, 2010 at 5:23 AM, Sue Gardner <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi folks, > > Forwarding from the announce list, since it does not yet auto-forward :-) > > Thanks, > Sue > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Sue Gardner <[email protected]> > Date: 2 June 2010 19:08 > Subject: Announcing new Chief Global Development Officer and new Chief > Community Officer > To: [email protected] > > > Hi folks, > > I am really happy to announce two important new Wikimedia Foundation > hires. Zack Exley will be Wikimedia's new Chief Community Officer, > and Barry Newstead will be our Chief Global Development Officer. Both > will start just before Wikimania, and will join us in Gdansk. > > There will be a press release going out tomorrow, but the news isn't > confidential: please feel free to tell whoever you like. > > Zack Exley will be our new Chief Community Officer. Zack joins > Wikimedia from the Chicago-based firm Thoughtworks where he oversaw > strategy and technology projects for organizations like Obama For > America, Rock the Vote, and Global Zero. > > Zack has a long history of mobilizing people and facilitating them > reaching their goals. During the nineties, he worked as a labour > organizer and software developer. In 2002, he joined MoveOn.org as > director of organizing, where he ran mobilization and fundraising > campaigns – and in the same period, helped the Howard Dean campaign > with its online fundraising. Zack left MoveOn.org to become online > communications and organizing director for the 2004 Kerry-Edwards U.S. > presidential campaign, where he ran the team that raised $125 million > online for Kerry, and also oversaw online-to-offline organizing > efforts responsible for mobilizing hundreds of thousands of field > volunteers. In 2005, he led internet strategy and online fundraising > for the UK Labour Party's 2005 election campaign, and since 2005 he > has acted as a senior strategist and advisor helping many > mission-driven organizations advance their fundraising and > mobilization goals, including the American Civil Liberties Union, > Amnesty International, the National Association for the Advancement of > Colored People (NAACP), the International Rescue Committee and > Greenpeace USA. > > Zack grew up in Connecticut and has also lived in Kenya, China and the > United Kingdom. He has an BA in Economics from the University of > Massachusetts. > > As Chief Community Officer, Zack will be responsible for developing > the Wikimedia Foundation's relationships with key constituencies > including readers, editors and donors. This will include our work > aimed at recruiting new editors (including the public policy project) > and supporting community health, as well as fundraising. The people > who will report to Zack are Philippe, Cary, Frank, Rand, Rebecca and > Sara, plus their direct reports. > > Zack currently lives in Kansas City: he'll be relocating to the Bay > Area in July. > > Barry Newstead will be our Chief Global Development Officer. Some of > you know Barry from Buenos Aires or Berlin, where he attended > Wikimania and the chapters meeting, respectively. He comes to us from > the strategy consultancy firm The Bridgespan Group, where he has spent > the past year leading the Bridgespan team supporting Wikimedia with > its strategic planning process. For the past six years, Barry has led > Bridgespan's work in education innovation and social technology, which > mainly consisted of working with CEOs on strategy development, > organizational development and leadership issues. Prior to joining > Bridgespan, he spent eight years at The Boston Consulting Group, where > he worked with global clients in the financial services, media and > energy sectors on global strategy, organizational restructuring, > change management and post-merger integration. > > Barry was born in Cape Town, South Africa, and raised in Toronto, > Canada. He has an undergraduate degree from the University of Western > Ontario, and a master's degree in public policy from the John F. > Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. > > In this new role with us, Barry will be our Chief Global Development > Officer (CGDO), the position formerly known as the Chief (Global) > Programs Officer. As CGDO, Barry will be responsible for our > activities focused specifically on increasing readership and > supporting editor self-organization in the Global South, for our > messaging to the general public and the media, and for our activities > aimed at supporting and developing chapters. The people who will > report to him are Jay and his direct report Moka, plus Kul, plus a > number of new hires dedicated to supporting new activities that have > come out of the strategic plan. You'll hear more about that in coming > months, once Barry has joined us. > > We are really lucky that Barry got engaged in our work, and is willing > to now join us. His extensive background in organizational > development particularly will be useful to us, as we all collectively > further evolve our thinking about how to structure Wikimedia as an > international movement. He'll also be terrific with the global > development work due to his extensive international background. And, > his background as a consultant has trained him to be a great listener > and facilitator, which is important in our work. > > I want to take a minute to offer my thanks to everyone who helped with > the process of bringing in both Zack and Barry, which has been ongoing > for many months. Dozens of people –including board members, advisory > board members, editors, friends and supporters-- helped us source > candidates for these roles. Our board members spoke at length with > the recruiting firm m|Oppenheim, gave me good feedback on potential > candidates, and helped with the interviewing. Several staff > participating in the interviewing as well, including Erik, Veronique, > Daniel, Rebecca, Rand, Sara and Jay. > > And of course, a big thanks to m|Oppenheim. In recruiting for these > roles, m|Oppenheim spoke with hundreds of people over a period of > about six months, to develop a midlist of 65 candidates, of whom eight > reached a “final interview” stage. m|Oppenheim did really great work > and I'm very pleased with this outcome. > > This completes the C-level hiring, with the exception of the Chief > Human Resources Officer, which we're in the middle of recruiting for. > That's is currently underway with m|Oppenheim, with support from our > friends at Omidyar Network. I expect we'll be able to announce the > new CHRO within six weeks or so. > > Before closing – I wanted to talk a little about how these roles have > evolved through the hiring process. Originally, as you may remember, > we had set out to hire a Chief Program Officer and a Chief Development > Officer – however, during the hiring process, those roles morphed into > a Chief Global Development Officer and a Chief Community Officer. > It's not unusual for that kind of thing to happen: it's normal for > thinking to evolve, and it's normal for roles to be customized a > little to suit people's particular skills and experiences. But I did > want to call out one particular aspect of my thinking that might be > interesting for people here on this list. > > Setting out to hire a Chief Development Officer is a “normal” thing > for a non-profit organization to do: in most non-profits, fundraising > is structured as a distinct department, separate from the rest of the > work of the organization. As we went through the hiring process > though, it became increasingly obvious to me that that conventional > structure doesn't really suit us. Most non-profits provide special > access and privileges to donors, and pay them special attention, > because they are the fuel that powers the organization. Donors are of > course our fuel too, and we're deeply grateful for their help. But > --unusually in the world of non-profits-- we have an additional group > of supporters without whom the work couldn't be done --- which is you: > the volunteers who build and maintain the projects. And our readers > are another special group, in part because we hope to persuade them to > join us as editors and donors. > > Given the importance of all three groups to our work, I believe it > doesn't make sense for us to treat donors as distinct: rather, we > should invite them into our larger community, and treat them as a part > of that greater whole. This means, among other things, speaking with > donors in the same tone and style, and with the same substance and the > same type of information, as we speak with readers and editors. > During the hiring process, Zack pointed out to me that the CDO job as > then-structured didn't support that vision. He argued that by siloing > off donors into a separate department, we were making it more > difficult to achieve the level of authenticity I wanted. That was an > important observation, and I took it seriously. I believe that > restructuring the CDO job to create a department that includes all our > key relationships is an unusual thing to do, and it's arguably a bit > risky. But I think it's the right structure for us, given who we are, > and the unique nature of our work. > > I'd be happy to talk further about Zack and Barry, and I'm sure they > –and other staff-- would be too. This is an important moment for > Wikimedia: please join me in welcoming them officially to our world. > > Thanks, > Sue > > > > -- > Sue Gardner > Executive Director > Wikimedia Foundation > > 415 839 6885 office > > Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in > the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality! > > http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate > > _______________________________________________ > foundation-l mailing list > [email protected] > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l > _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
