Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Executive transition planning

[Sydney Poore]

Thank you, Alice, for the update.

As you say, the the C-level staff are in a good position to develop a
transition plan based on their well informed knowledge of the organization.
I'm looking forward to hearing their recommendation and the Boards
announcement.

Everyone have a great weekend.

Warm regards,
Sydney



Sydney Poore
User:FloNight
Wikipedian in Residence
at Cochrane Collaboration

On Fri, Mar 4, 2016 at 9:14 PM, Alice Wiegand 
wrote:

> Hi all,
> short update, as announced by Patricio:
>
> Our organization needs stability, it needs a chance to rest for a moment
> and to move on with the things that matter at the same time. That’s why the
> Board  is aiming for a quick decision about the interim ED.
>
> If you want to make a difference you need to act differently.
>
> We know that our C-level team is doing a great job in managing the
> day-to-day-operations and they all have a deep understandning of our
> culture, challenges and needs. Who, if not them, knows better what is best
> for the organization in this moment. The Board is not best suited to make a
> decision about the interim which can quickly be established and accepted in
> this situation.
>
> Therefor the board empowers the entire C-level-team to come up with a
> solution for the interim question. We leave it up to them how that
> decisions looks like. We trust them to think traditional or outside of the
> box as it fits to our organization, the Wikimedia Foundation. The
> C-level-team needs some time to deliberate and decide. They will present
> their result to the board which has to vote on it. We plan to finalize
> until the end of next week.
>
> Alice.
>
> --
> Alice Wiegand
> Board of Trustees
> Wikimedia Foundation
>
>
> --
> Alice Wiegand
> Board of Trustees
> Wikimedia Foundation
>
> Support Free Knowledge: https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate
> ___
> Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
> New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> 
>
___
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Executive transition planning

[Brion Vibber]

Alice, thanks for the update.

I'm broadly hopeful; delegating with your staff's C level team is an
excellent step I very much like to see happening.

I would very much like to make sure that communications lines open further
between the board and their C levels and below, and that those continue to
rebuild the health of the organization.

Define some boxes for us, just not alone. :) We're all in this together.

-- brion
On Mar 4, 2016 6:15 PM, "Alice Wiegand"  wrote:

> Hi all,
> short update, as announced by Patricio:
>
> Our organization needs stability, it needs a chance to rest for a moment
> and to move on with the things that matter at the same time. That’s why the
> Board  is aiming for a quick decision about the interim ED.
>
> If you want to make a difference you need to act differently.
>
> We know that our C-level team is doing a great job in managing the
> day-to-day-operations and they all have a deep understandning of our
> culture, challenges and needs. Who, if not them, knows better what is best
> for the organization in this moment. The Board is not best suited to make a
> decision about the interim which can quickly be established and accepted in
> this situation.
>
> Therefor the board empowers the entire C-level-team to come up with a
> solution for the interim question. We leave it up to them how that
> decisions looks like. We trust them to think traditional or outside of the
> box as it fits to our organization, the Wikimedia Foundation. The
> C-level-team needs some time to deliberate and decide. They will present
> their result to the board which has to vote on it. We plan to finalize
> until the end of next week.
>
> Alice.
>
> --
> Alice Wiegand
> Board of Trustees
> Wikimedia Foundation
>
>
> --
> Alice Wiegand
> Board of Trustees
> Wikimedia Foundation
>
> Support Free Knowledge: https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate
> ___
> Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
> New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> 
___
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Executive transition planning

[Craig Franklin]

As much as I agree Geoff would probably do a wonderful job, I'm not sure
that as a movement we want him away from the excellent job he's doing in
the Legal team for too long.  Call me cynical, but I expect that the term
of the interim ED will turn out to be lengthy.  Any number of people would
make a good interim ED, but there are less people that would make a good
head of Legal.

Cheers,
Craig

On 5 March 2016 at 13:07, MZMcBride  wrote:

>
> My vote is for Geoff Brigham.
___
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Executive transition planning

[Brion Vibber]

There's less weakness in admitting a failure honestly, retreating and
regrouping, than in powering through when knowing oneself unprepared.

-- brion
On Mar 4, 2016 7:07 PM, "MZMcBride"  wrote:

> Alice Wiegand wrote:
> >We know that our C-level team is doing a great job in managing the
> >day-to-day-operations and they all have a deep understandning of our
> >culture, challenges and needs. Who, if not them, knows better what is best
> >for the organization in this moment. The Board is not best suited to make
> >a decision about the interim which can quickly be established and accepted
> >in this situation.
> >
> >Therefor the board empowers the entire C-level-team to come up with a
> >solution for the interim question. We leave it up to them how that
> >decisions looks like. We trust them to think traditional or outside of the
> >box as it fits to our organization, the Wikimedia Foundation. The
> >C-level-team needs some time to deliberate and decide. They will present
> >their result to the board which has to vote on it. We plan to finalize
> >until the end of next week.
>
> Current Wikimedia Foundation "C-levels" based on
> :
>
> * Lila Tretikov, Executive Director
> * Wes Moran, Vice President of Product
> * [vacant], Chief Technology Officer
> * Maggie Dennis, Senior Director of Community Engagement (Interim)
> * Lisa Seitz-Gruwell, Chief Advancement Officer
> * Geoff Brigham, General Counsel
> * Katherine Maher, Chief Communications Officer
> * Jaime Villagomez, Chief Financial Officer
> * Joady Lohr, Vice President of Human Resources (Interim)
>
> Does the "C-level team" in this context include Lila and/or the interims?
>
> My vote is for Geoff Brigham. There's precedent for the General Counsel to
> be interim Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation, of course. And
> Geoff has been around long enough and is trusted to be a good steward of
> the Wikimedia Foundation. I don't think an outsider would be a good idea.
>
> I don't see it as a sign of strength to abdicate your responsibility in
> this way. This action makes the Board of Trustees, already perceived as
> being weak, look even weaker, out-of-touch, and unprepared. You've known
> about general discontent with the Executive Director since November 2015
> and you really weren't able, by March 2016, to figure out who would serve
> as interim Executive Director? This is almost derelict behavior.
>
> I don't think anyone demands perfection from members of the Board of
> Trustees, but it is an actual commitment to an organization that has a
> very large budget and a large number of staff operating a fairly important
> set of Web properties. The fact that nine adults really didn't think
> through the consequences of "what comes next after the current Executive
> Director?" in order to come prepared with an answer to the most obvious
> question ("who will be the interim?") is pretty embarrassing and sad.
>
> MZMcBride
>
>
>
> ___
> Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
> New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> 
___
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Executive transition planning

[MZMcBride]

Alice Wiegand wrote:
>We know that our C-level team is doing a great job in managing the
>day-to-day-operations and they all have a deep understandning of our
>culture, challenges and needs. Who, if not them, knows better what is best
>for the organization in this moment. The Board is not best suited to make
>a decision about the interim which can quickly be established and accepted
>in this situation.
>
>Therefor the board empowers the entire C-level-team to come up with a
>solution for the interim question. We leave it up to them how that
>decisions looks like. We trust them to think traditional or outside of the
>box as it fits to our organization, the Wikimedia Foundation. The
>C-level-team needs some time to deliberate and decide. They will present
>their result to the board which has to vote on it. We plan to finalize
>until the end of next week.

Current Wikimedia Foundation "C-levels" based on
:

* Lila Tretikov, Executive Director
* Wes Moran, Vice President of Product
* [vacant], Chief Technology Officer
* Maggie Dennis, Senior Director of Community Engagement (Interim)
* Lisa Seitz-Gruwell, Chief Advancement Officer
* Geoff Brigham, General Counsel
* Katherine Maher, Chief Communications Officer
* Jaime Villagomez, Chief Financial Officer
* Joady Lohr, Vice President of Human Resources (Interim)

Does the "C-level team" in this context include Lila and/or the interims?

My vote is for Geoff Brigham. There's precedent for the General Counsel to
be interim Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation, of course. And
Geoff has been around long enough and is trusted to be a good steward of
the Wikimedia Foundation. I don't think an outsider would be a good idea.

I don't see it as a sign of strength to abdicate your responsibility in
this way. This action makes the Board of Trustees, already perceived as
being weak, look even weaker, out-of-touch, and unprepared. You've known
about general discontent with the Executive Director since November 2015
and you really weren't able, by March 2016, to figure out who would serve
as interim Executive Director? This is almost derelict behavior.

I don't think anyone demands perfection from members of the Board of
Trustees, but it is an actual commitment to an organization that has a
very large budget and a large number of staff operating a fairly important
set of Web properties. The fact that nine adults really didn't think
through the consequences of "what comes next after the current Executive
Director?" in order to come prepared with an answer to the most obvious
question ("who will be the interim?") is pretty embarrassing and sad.

MZMcBride



___
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Executive transition planning

[James Heilman]

Thank you Alice

I support that as a reasonable way forwards. Agree we have some great
C-levels.

James

On Fri, Mar 4, 2016 at 7:14 PM, Alice Wiegand 
wrote:

> Hi all,
> short update, as announced by Patricio:
>
> Our organization needs stability, it needs a chance to rest for a moment
> and to move on with the things that matter at the same time. That’s why the
> Board  is aiming for a quick decision about the interim ED.
>
> If you want to make a difference you need to act differently.
>
> We know that our C-level team is doing a great job in managing the
> day-to-day-operations and they all have a deep understandning of our
> culture, challenges and needs. Who, if not them, knows better what is best
> for the organization in this moment. The Board is not best suited to make a
> decision about the interim which can quickly be established and accepted in
> this situation.
>
> Therefor the board empowers the entire C-level-team to come up with a
> solution for the interim question. We leave it up to them how that
> decisions looks like. We trust them to think traditional or outside of the
> box as it fits to our organization, the Wikimedia Foundation. The
> C-level-team needs some time to deliberate and decide. They will present
> their result to the board which has to vote on it. We plan to finalize
> until the end of next week.
>
> Alice.
>
> --
> Alice Wiegand
> Board of Trustees
> Wikimedia Foundation
>
>
> --
> Alice Wiegand
> Board of Trustees
> Wikimedia Foundation
>
> Support Free Knowledge: https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate
> ___
> Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
> New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> 




-- 
James Heilman
MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian

The Wikipedia Open Textbook of Medicine
www.opentextbookofmedicine.com
___
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, 

[Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation Draft Strategy

[James Alexander]

Hi all,

The draft Wikimedia Foundation strategy is now posted on Meta
 for your
feedback and comments[1]. This stage of feedback will be open between now
and March 18, 2016. Please note that WMF Staff will not be able to start
responding to comments until Monday (March 7th) so know that the lack of
comments over the weekend  is not a sign that you're being ignored :). We
welcome and appreciate any translations you are able to give for the draft
as well so that it can be read and understood by as many people as possible.

*Next steps*:

   - During March, the Wikimedia Foundation will use this proposed strategy
   to finalize its draft 2016-2017 Annual Plan.
   - Between March 18th and April 1st we will review and integrate your
   feedback from the draft strategy into the draft Annual Plan as appropriate.
   - On April 1st, The Wikimedia Foundation’s draft annual plan will then
   be submitted for comment.


1, https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/2016_Strategy/Draft_WMF_Strategy

Thank you again for your feedback earlier that led to this draft and for
your comments in this stage,

James Alexander
Manager
Trust & Safety
Wikimedia Foundation
___
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Executive transition planning

[Alice Wiegand]

Hi all,
short update, as announced by Patricio:

Our organization needs stability, it needs a chance to rest for a moment
and to move on with the things that matter at the same time. That’s why the
Board  is aiming for a quick decision about the interim ED.

If you want to make a difference you need to act differently.

We know that our C-level team is doing a great job in managing the
day-to-day-operations and they all have a deep understandning of our
culture, challenges and needs. Who, if not them, knows better what is best
for the organization in this moment. The Board is not best suited to make a
decision about the interim which can quickly be established and accepted in
this situation.

Therefor the board empowers the entire C-level-team to come up with a
solution for the interim question. We leave it up to them how that
decisions looks like. We trust them to think traditional or outside of the
box as it fits to our organization, the Wikimedia Foundation. The
C-level-team needs some time to deliberate and decide. They will present
their result to the board which has to vote on it. We plan to finalize
until the end of next week.

Alice.

--
Alice Wiegand
Board of Trustees
Wikimedia Foundation


-- 
Alice Wiegand
Board of Trustees
Wikimedia Foundation

Support Free Knowledge: https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate
___
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Leadership changes for Talent, Culture, and Team Practices

[Nathan]

Hi Geoff,

Would it be wildly wrong to infer from this message that you are assisting
the WMF by taking on some or all of the duties of the ED?

~Nathan

On Fri, Mar 4, 2016 at 2:05 PM, Geoff Brigham 
wrote:

> Hi everyone,
>
> I’m writing to let you know that our VP of Human Resources, Boryana Dineva,
> has decided to move on.
>
> Boryana joined the Wikimedia Foundation last fall and quickly began working
> with the HR team to build a recruiting team, hire a learning and
> development lead, support the creation of a comprehensive wellness plan for
> the upcoming year, and focus HR efforts on engaging with the findings of
> the engagement survey.
>
> Boryana connected on a personal level with many of you. She wanted me to
> pass along her strong support for the future of the Foundation and our
> mission. We thank her for her contributions and wish her well in her future
> endeavors.
>
> Starting today Joady Lohr will lead the Team Practices and Talent and
> Culture department as interim director, joining the c-team. Joady has been
> with the Foundation for 4 years now, and is known and trusted by many
> across the organization. We’re looking forward to supporting her and the
> rest of the team on ongoing projects during this interim period.
>
> The executive team plans to open up a search for a new executive head of HR
> to lead the Talent, Culture, and Team Practices teams right away.
>
> If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to
> Joady.
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Geoff
> ___
> Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
> New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> 
___
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, 

[Wikimedia-l] Leadership changes for Talent, Culture, and Team Practices

[Geoff Brigham]

Hi everyone,

I’m writing to let you know that our VP of Human Resources, Boryana Dineva,
has decided to move on.

Boryana joined the Wikimedia Foundation last fall and quickly began working
with the HR team to build a recruiting team, hire a learning and
development lead, support the creation of a comprehensive wellness plan for
the upcoming year, and focus HR efforts on engaging with the findings of
the engagement survey.

Boryana connected on a personal level with many of you. She wanted me to
pass along her strong support for the future of the Foundation and our
mission. We thank her for her contributions and wish her well in her future
endeavors.

Starting today Joady Lohr will lead the Team Practices and Talent and
Culture department as interim director, joining the c-team. Joady has been
with the Foundation for 4 years now, and is known and trusted by many
across the organization. We’re looking forward to supporting her and the
rest of the team on ongoing projects during this interim period.

The executive team plans to open up a search for a new executive head of HR
to lead the Talent, Culture, and Team Practices teams right away.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to
Joady.

Kind regards,

Geoff
___
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, 

[Wikimedia-l] World Mime Day Wiki edit-a-thon

[Ivana Madžarević]

Hi everyone,

I'm Ivana Madžarević, Project and Community Manager of Wikimedia Serbia
.
I'm reaching out to you hoping that you will join organizing World Mime Day
Wiki edit-a-thon. It's an international event that will be held in several
countries (so far confirmed) around the world on 22nd of March.

The idea came up in cooperation of Wikimedia Serbia and Serbian actor Marko
Stojanović (also president of World Mime Organisation
). We wanted to enrich Wikipedia and Wikimedia
Commons with relevant articles and photos of mime artists, theaters,
festivals, history etc. Mr Stojanović is very well connected with
institutions who can provide literature, photo materials and maybe even a
venue for the edit-a-thon. It would have much more impact if it's organized
in several countries on the same date - similar like Art
edit-a-thons. Organizing such an event will help developing strong
relations between chapters and building partnerships with relevant
institutions through networking.

I've created meta page

and I'm asking you to join and add information about your chapter if you're
willing to organize it. So far, several countries confirmed their interest.
Wikimedians from Bulgaria, Armenia, Macedonia and Georgia will organize it
and some of them have already contacted institutions who can help with
sources and photos. Event in Serbia will probably be organized at Singidunum
faculty  in Belgrade. Mr Stojanović is
preparing photos that will be released and used for illustrating Wikipedia
articles.

Feel free to contact me if you need any assistance or help. Also, if you
have any suggestion or comment, do share them.

Cheers!
-- 
Ивана Маџаревић
Менаџер пројеката и заједнице

Викимедија Србије  - rs.wikimedia.org -
00381 (0)60 7 454 773

„Замислите свет у коме свака особа има слободан приступ целокупном људском
знању. То је оно на чему ми радимо.“
___
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,