Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation executive transition update

[Gerard Meijssen]

Hoi,
Katherine welcome..  you are now included at Wikidata as well [1].
Yes, the information is incomplete but many people will add information
about you including links to Wikipedia articles. 

Do good.
Thanks,
  GerardM

[1] https://tools.wmflabs.org/reasonator/?&q=23034479

On 11 March 2016 at 03:55, Patricio Lorente 
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_2016_-_Leadership_Team_transition_planning
>
>
> 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_March_2010_-_Wikimedia_Foundation_executive_transition_update
> --
> ___
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation executive transition update

[Ivan Martínez]

Querida Katherine, cuenta con mi respaldo en esta etapa y no tengo duda
alguna en tus capacidades, integridad y simpatía para asumir el reto.

Como miembro de la comunidad agradezco al Board por esta buena decisión.

El jueves, 10 de marzo de 2016, Nabin Sapkota 
escribió:

> Congratulations Katherine! Wish you all the best.
>
> Cheers,
> Nabin Sapkota
> On Mar 11, 2016 11:24 AM, "Nurunnaby Chowdhury (Hasive)" <
> nhas...@wikimedia.org.bd > wrote:
>
> > Great! Congratulations Katherine!
> > Really a positive move from the Board.
> >
> > -Hasive
> > WMBD
> >
> > On Fri, Mar 11, 2016 at 11:15 AM, Bodhisattwa Mandal <
> > bodhisattwa.rg...@gmail.com > wrote:
> >
> > > 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" >
> 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  > 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 <
> > kma...@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 g

Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wmfall] Wikimedia Foundation executive transition update

[Nabin Sapkota]

Congratulations Katherine! Wish you all the best.

Cheers,
Nabin Sapkota
On Mar 11, 2016 11:24 AM, "Nurunnaby Chowdhury (Hasive)" <
nhas...@wikimedia.org.bd> wrote:

> Great! Congratulations Katherine!
> Really a positive move from the Board.
>
> -Hasive
> WMBD
>
> On Fri, Mar 11, 2016 at 11:15 AM, Bodhisattwa Mandal <
> bodhisattwa.rg...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > 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"  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  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 <
> kma...@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 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wmfall] Wikimedia Foundation executive transition update

[Dan Andreescu]

Thank you, Katherine, and congratulations.  You have my full and
enthusiastic support : )

On Friday, March 11, 2016, Nurunnaby Chowdhury (Hasive) <
nhas...@wikimedia.org.bd> wrote:

> Great! Congratulations Katherine!
> Really a positive move from the Board.
>
> -Hasive
> WMBD
>
> On Fri, Mar 11, 2016 at 11:15 AM, Bodhisattwa Mandal <
> bodhisattwa.rg...@gmail.com > wrote:
>
> > 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" >
> 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  > 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 <
> kma...@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.
> >

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation executive transition update

[Sam Klein]

aude wrote:

> Patricio Lorente wrote:
>
> > 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
>
> \o/  :-)
>
> I am quite confident that Katherine will be a good fit for this role.
>
> Her background, prior to joining WMF, is in doing work that is inline
> withour values.
>

Just so!  Delighted to read this. Trust flows faster along such well-worn
channels.

SJ
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Affiliate-selected Board seats update

[John Mark Vandenberg]

Hi Itzik, do you mean a proper secret ballot?

On Fri, Mar 11, 2016 at 1:52 AM, Itzik - Wikimedia Israel
 wrote:
> Hi Chris,
>
> How and where the chapter will vote?
> I offered to do it privately, in order to avoid current votes to influence
> others chapters.
>
> Itzik
>
> - Sent from mobile
> On Mar 10, 2016 15:35, "Chris Keating"  wrote:
>
>> Dear all,
>>
>> The deadline for nominations in the Affiliate Selected Board Seats process
>> passed on Tuesday, and 10 candidates have been nominated:
>>
>>
>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliate-selected_Board_seats/2016/Nominations
>>
>> This is more candidates than any previous affiliate/chapter-selected
>> process, and I am pleased to note that 4 of the candidates are women and 5
>> are from countries not in North American or Western Europe. All candidates
>> who have received one or more endorsements from voting organisations by 23
>> March will be added to the ballot for the election.
>>
>> While only Chapters and the single Thematic Organization have a vote in
>> this election, all community members are invited to participate by asking
>> questions to the candidates, here:
>>
>>
>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliate-selected_Board_seats/2016/Questions
>>
>> Help translating candidate statements into other languages is also much
>> appreciated.
>>
>> (For more details about this process, please see here:
>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliate-selected_Board_seats/2016 )
>>
>> Many thanks,
>>
>> Chris Keating
>> (one of the election facilitators)
>> ___
>> Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
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>> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
>> 
> ___
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> 



-- 
John Vandenberg

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wmfall] Wikimedia Foundation executive transition update

[Nurunnaby Chowdhury (Hasive)]

Great! Congratulations Katherine!
Really a positive move from the Board.

-Hasive
WMBD

On Fri, Mar 11, 2016 at 11:15 AM, Bodhisattwa Mandal <
bodhisattwa.rg...@gmail.com> wrote:

> 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"  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  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  >
> > > 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]
> > > >
> > 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wmfall] Wikimedia Foundation executive transition update

[Bodhisattwa Mandal]

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"  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  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 
> > 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_plan_timeline
> > > [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.lore...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > > Hello all,
> > > >
> > > > I’m happy to announce that the Wikimedia Foundation leadership

Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wmfall] Wikimedia Foundation executive transition update

[Katy Love]

Let me add my voice to the thanks and congratulations! I am deeply
appreciative of this choice, both by the Board and by WMF's C-team.
Katherine is an excellent choice. Many of us in the movement who have
worked with her for the past few years have been impressed by her massive
talents and her commitment to our values.

I am hopeful to see what's next for us. I hope to help rebuild trust on
many levels.

Katy



On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 8:35 PM, Risker  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  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 
> > 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_plan_timeline
> > > [3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/2016_Strategy/Draft_WMF_Strategy
> > > [4] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki

Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wmfall] Wikimedia Foundation executive transition update

[Risker]

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  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 
> 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_plan_timeline
> > [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.lore...@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

Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wmfall] Wikimedia Foundation executive transition update

[വിശ്വപ്രഭ]

Congratulations, Katherine!
And thank you, the entire board, staff and community, for being so amicable
among yourselves after some shady weeks and monnths!

Looking forward to great days ahead.
Come on, we have a lot of pending home work now to cover...  :)
-ViswaPrabha


On 11 March 2016 at 09:48, Ed Erhart  wrote:

> I think this is a brilliant idea, both personally and professionally. I'm
> incredibly thrilled that I'll be (continuing to) work under Katherine.
> Bravo.
>
> --Ed
>
> On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 11:15 PM, Rosemary Rein 
> wrote:
>
> > Thank you Katherine for your service and leadership  at this critical
> > junction for the organization and our community.
> >
> > Rosemary
> > On Mar 10, 2016 6:56 PM, "Patricio Lorente" 
> > 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_2016_-_Leadership_Team_transition_planning
> >>
> >>
> >> 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_March_2010_-_Wikimedia_Foundation_executive_transition_update
> >> --
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> ___
> >> Wmfall mailing list
> >> wmf...@lists.wikimedia.org
> >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wmfall
> >>
> >>
> > __

Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wmfall] Wikimedia Foundation executive transition update

[Ed Erhart]

I think this is a brilliant idea, both personally and professionally. I'm
incredibly thrilled that I'll be (continuing to) work under Katherine.
Bravo.

--Ed

On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 11:15 PM, Rosemary Rein  wrote:

> Thank you Katherine for your service and leadership  at this critical
> junction for the organization and our community.
>
> Rosemary
> On Mar 10, 2016 6:56 PM, "Patricio Lorente" 
> 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_2016_-_Leadership_Team_transition_planning
>>
>>
>> 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_March_2010_-_Wikimedia_Foundation_executive_transition_update
>> --
>>
>>
>>
>> ___
>> Wmfall mailing list
>> wmf...@lists.wikimedia.org
>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wmfall
>>
>>
> ___
> Wmfall mailing list
> wmf...@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wmfall
>
>


-- 
Ed Erhart
Editorial Associate
Wikimedia Foundation
___
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wmfall] Wikimedia Foundation executive transition update

[Sydney Poore]

Thank you Patricio, C-Level-team, and most of all Katherine for agreeing to
take on this role.

Katherine, I'm extremely pleased by your first post to this list and the
page on Meta with the outline of the Leadership Tean transition planning.
the
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/March_2016_-_Leadership_Team_transition_planning

I wish you all the best and wholeheartedly offer you support for the
challenging work that you are taking on.

Warm regards,
Sydney
User:FloNight

Sydney Poore
User:FloNight
Wikipedian in Residence
at Cochrane Collaboration

On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 9:59 PM, Katherine Maher 
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_plan_timeline
> [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.lore...@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
> >

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation executive transition update

[Joseph Seddon]

As a community member I found Katherine to be open, approachable and that
she saw me, a volunteer, as an equal partner in the movement.

As a staff member she has shown an exemplary level of professionalism, to
have a real passion for Wikimedia, and solid understanding of the
importance of trust, honesty and transparency in our movement.

I have a lot of faith in Katherine to be able to lead the Foundation
through the rough seas. And not by attempting to do so single-handedly, but
by mobalising the team of brilliant people that are behind her.

You have my full support.


On Fri, Mar 11, 2016 at 3:28 AM, Pine W  wrote:

> I think it's a possibility that's worth considering seriously. (: We'll see
> how things go.
>
> Pine
>
> On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 7:26 PM, Oliver Keyes  wrote:
>
> > On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 10:17 PM, Pine W  wrote:
> > > Thank you, Katherine.
> > >
> > > That's a good question, Oliver. I think that a lot will depend on
> whether
> > > WMF can fill the other C-level vacancies, particularly the CTO vacancy,
> > > with people who are mission-aligned and can are SMEs in areas where
> > > Katherine isn't. Also, a lot will depend on whether Katherine wants to
> > stay
> > > in the job. Being the WMF ED is a very different beast from being the
> > > leader of a department; it remains to be seen if Katherine will like it
> > and
> > > how other people are feeling as the ED search moves forward.
> > >
> > > Regarding these goals from Meta "Avoid lengthy process for identifying
> a
> > > new ED" and "Minimize uncertainty", I would encourage WMF not to rush
> the
> > > selection of a new ED; I believe that Katherine will do well in the
> > > interim, and this choice buys WMF some time to do a good job with the
> ED
> > > search. Regarding uncertainty, that's one of the few certain things
> > around
> > > here, but of course steps can be taken to make people feel comfortable
> > with
> > > the uncertainty.
> > >
> >
> > Pine,
> >
> > It was a joke.
> >
> > > Good luck, Katherine. Many of us are relying on you and have faith in
> > you.
> > >
> > > Pine
> > >
> > >
> > > On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 7:10 PM, Oliver Keyes 
> > wrote:
> > >
> > >> \o/\o/\o/\o/
> > >>
> > >> So glad to see this wonderful choice!
> > >>
> > >> ...if we're gonna have Katherine as the interim...do we really need to
> > >> find someone permanent? ;)
> > >>
> > >> On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 10:05 PM, James Heilman 
> > wrote:
> > >> > A very positive move. Thank you Katherine for agreeing to step up
> and
> > >> take
> > >> > on this role. You have my full confidence :-)
> > >> >
> > >> > James
> > >> >
> > >> > On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 8:01 PM, Pharos <
> pharosofalexand...@gmail.com
> > >
> > >> > wrote:
> > >> >
> > >> >> Congratulations, Katherine!
> > >> >>
> > >> >> She is an excellent choice to navigate us through for this
> difficult
> > >> time.
> > >> >>
> > >> >> Thanks,
> > >> >> Pharos
> > >> >>
> > >> >> On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 9:55 PM, Patricio Lorente <
> > >> >> patricio.lore...@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_2016_-_Leadership_Team_transition_planning
> > >> >> >
> > >> >> >
> > >> >> > 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
> > mov

Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wmfall] Wikimedia Foundation executive transition update

[James Alexander]

Congrats Katherine (and commiserations to what free time you still had)
thank you for being willing to take up this role, I think you're exactly
what we need.I'd also like to thank all the c-levels who I know have spent
countless hours over the past week or so talking about the next steps both
for this position and for the foundation as a whole. I'm glad that we have
a smart group of people helping to lead the org as we work to move forward.

James Alexander
Manager
Trust & Safety
Wikimedia Foundation
(415) 839-6885 x6716 @jamesofur

On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 7:50 PM, Johan Jönsson 
wrote:

> On Fri, Mar 11, 2016 at 3:55 AM, Patricio Lorente
>  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.
>
> Excellent choice. And thank you for accepting, Katherine.
>
> //Johan Jönsson
> --
>
> ___
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> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
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> 
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wmfall] Wikimedia Foundation executive transition update

[Todd Allen]

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 
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_plan_timeline
> [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.lore...@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_2016_-_Leadership_Team_transition_planning
> >
> >
> > 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 movem

Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wmfall] Wikimedia Foundation executive transition update

[Johan Jönsson]

On Fri, Mar 11, 2016 at 3:55 AM, Patricio Lorente
 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.

Excellent choice. And thank you for accepting, Katherine.

//Johan Jönsson
--

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wmfall] Wikimedia Foundation executive transition update

[Jorge Vargas]

Thank you, Patricio. And thank you, Katherine, for stepping up at this time
for us. I'm genuinely happy for this choice. It fills me with optimism for
all of us to move forward to a new phase.

Gracias y buena suerte!

On Thursday, March 10, 2016, Dario Taraborelli 
wrote:

> Thank you for stepping up, Katherine.
>
> Very glad about the choice and the rapid and transparent process that led
> to it, thanks to everyone involved.
>
> Dario
>
> On Mar 10, 2016, at 18:55, Patricio Lorente  > 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_2016_-_Leadership_Team_transition_planning
>
>
> 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_March_2010_-_Wikimedia_Foundation_executive_transition_update
> --
>
>
> ___
> Wmfall mailing list
> wmf...@lists.wikimedia.org
> 
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wmfall
>
>

-- 
Jorge Vargas
Regional Manager for Strategic Partnerships - Latam
Wikimedia Foundation
jvar...@wikimedia.org
+1 415.404.9536
+57 320.8011.750
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation executive transition update

[aude]

On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 9:55 PM, Patricio Lorente <
patricio.lore...@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.
>

\o/  :-)

I am quite confident that Katherine will be a good fit for this role.

Her background, prior to joining WMF, is in doing work that is inline
withour values.

Thank you Katherine for stepping into the position.

Cheers,
Katie



>
> 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_2016_-_Leadership_Team_transition_planning
>
>
> 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_March_2010_-_Wikimedia_Foundation_executive_transition_update
> --
> ___
> Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
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> 




-- 
@wikidata
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wmfall] Wikimedia Foundation executive transition update

[Dario Taraborelli]

Thank you for stepping up, Katherine. 

Very glad about the choice and the rapid and transparent process that led to 
it, thanks to everyone involved. 

Dario

> On Mar 10, 2016, at 18:55, Patricio Lorente  
> 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_2016_-_Leadership_Team_transition_planning
>  
> 
> 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_March_2010_-_Wikimedia_Foundation_executive_transition_update
> -- 
> 
> 
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wmfall] Wikimedia Foundation executive transition update

[Patricia Pena]

Amazing news indeed. Thank you Katherine for everything you have already
accomplished at the Foundation and for taking up this challenge. And thank
you to the entire C-level and Board for supporting this decision- this is
exactly what we needed right now! I have full trust that Katherine and the
C-team will lead the changes that are much needed.

On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 7:14 PM, Anna Stillwell 
wrote:

> Katherine,
>
> You have my *full* support. So excited to build trust, a good vibe, and
> over achieve. :)
>
> Warmly,
> /a
>
> On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 7:05 PM, James Heilman  wrote:
>
>> A very positive move. Thank you Katherine for agreeing to step up and take
>> on this role. You have my full confidence :-)
>>
>> James
>>
>> On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 8:01 PM, Pharos 
>> wrote:
>>
>> > Congratulations, Katherine!
>> >
>> > She is an excellent choice to navigate us through for this difficult
>> time.
>> >
>> > Thanks,
>> > Pharos
>> >
>> > On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 9:55 PM, Patricio Lorente <
>> > patricio.lore...@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_2016_-_Leadership_Team_transition_planning
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > 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.
>> > >
>

Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wmfall] Wikimedia Foundation executive transition update

[Caitlin Cogdill]

I cheered aloud in my living room when I read this news. Congratulations,
Katherine, and thank you for taking on this role at a difficult yet
exciting time. You have my trust.

Le jeudi 10 mars 2016, Tim Starling  a écrit :

> On 11/03/16 13:55, Patricio Lorente 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.
>
> To pre-empt any suggestion of disharmony from the usual wikimedia-l
> agitators, I think it's worth mentioning that Katherine Maher was the
> most-supported nominee in staff discussions on the office wiki. (I
> mean the tally on )
>
> -- Tim Starling
>
>
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-- 
Caitlin Cogdill
Fundraising Manager, Global Email
Wikimedia Foundation

Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in
the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality!

*https://donate.wikimedia.org *
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation executive transition update

[Tim Starling]

On 11/03/16 13:55, Patricio Lorente 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.

To pre-empt any suggestion of disharmony from the usual wikimedia-l
agitators, I think it's worth mentioning that Katherine Maher was the
most-supported nominee in staff discussions on the office wiki. (I
mean the tally on )

-- Tim Starling


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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wmfall] Wikimedia Foundation executive transition update

[Asaf Bartov]

Thank you, Patricio, the board, and thank you Katherine.  In the unhappy
circumstances we have come to, this brings much hope for rebuilding.
Katherine has the values and the skills to make WMF do better at adhering
to its stated principles, and the good sense to trust expertise in others
and delegate appropriately.

As some of you know, I have been quite vocal about our problems, and I am
glad to say I look forward with enthusiasm to helping Katherine bring about
long-needed changes while operating, as she said, "at the speed of trust".

Here's to hope, and truth.

   Asaf

On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 6:59 PM, Katherine Maher 
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_plan_timeline
> [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.lore...@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 fu

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation executive transition update

[Pine W]

I think it's a possibility that's worth considering seriously. (: We'll see
how things go.

Pine

On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 7:26 PM, Oliver Keyes  wrote:

> On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 10:17 PM, Pine W  wrote:
> > Thank you, Katherine.
> >
> > That's a good question, Oliver. I think that a lot will depend on whether
> > WMF can fill the other C-level vacancies, particularly the CTO vacancy,
> > with people who are mission-aligned and can are SMEs in areas where
> > Katherine isn't. Also, a lot will depend on whether Katherine wants to
> stay
> > in the job. Being the WMF ED is a very different beast from being the
> > leader of a department; it remains to be seen if Katherine will like it
> and
> > how other people are feeling as the ED search moves forward.
> >
> > Regarding these goals from Meta "Avoid lengthy process for identifying a
> > new ED" and "Minimize uncertainty", I would encourage WMF not to rush the
> > selection of a new ED; I believe that Katherine will do well in the
> > interim, and this choice buys WMF some time to do a good job with the ED
> > search. Regarding uncertainty, that's one of the few certain things
> around
> > here, but of course steps can be taken to make people feel comfortable
> with
> > the uncertainty.
> >
>
> Pine,
>
> It was a joke.
>
> > Good luck, Katherine. Many of us are relying on you and have faith in
> you.
> >
> > Pine
> >
> >
> > On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 7:10 PM, Oliver Keyes 
> wrote:
> >
> >> \o/\o/\o/\o/
> >>
> >> So glad to see this wonderful choice!
> >>
> >> ...if we're gonna have Katherine as the interim...do we really need to
> >> find someone permanent? ;)
> >>
> >> On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 10:05 PM, James Heilman 
> wrote:
> >> > A very positive move. Thank you Katherine for agreeing to step up and
> >> take
> >> > on this role. You have my full confidence :-)
> >> >
> >> > James
> >> >
> >> > On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 8:01 PM, Pharos  >
> >> > wrote:
> >> >
> >> >> Congratulations, Katherine!
> >> >>
> >> >> She is an excellent choice to navigate us through for this difficult
> >> time.
> >> >>
> >> >> Thanks,
> >> >> Pharos
> >> >>
> >> >> On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 9:55 PM, Patricio Lorente <
> >> >> patricio.lore...@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_2016_-_Leadership_Team_transition_planning
> >> >> >
> >> >> >
> >> >> > 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

Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wmfall] Wikimedia Foundation executive transition update

[George Herbert]

> On Mar 10, 2016, at 6:59 PM, Katherine Maher  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.
> 

Best of luck.  Big challenge, good opportunity to reset and move productively 
forwards from here.

George William Herbert
Sent from my iPhone
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wmfall] Wikimedia Foundation executive transition update

[Lisa Gruwell]

 This is fantastic news for WMF and the movement!!  I am extremely grateful
to Katherine for stepping up to take this very difficult role at a very
challenging time.



Katherine is widely respected at WMF by staff and, in my opinion, is the
perfect person to lead us right now.  I have worked on the C-Team with
Katherine for two years now.  She is very smart and talented and has a
great open leaderships style that is in line with our values.



I think the board and the community will enjoy getting to know Katherine
better over the next few months. I don’t expect her to just keep the seat
warm . . . we can accomplish great things under Katherine’s leadership!



Onward,

Lisa Gruwell

On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 7:23 PM, Rachel diCerbo 
wrote:

> This is excellent news! Thank you to the C-levels and Board for making
> this decision. Katherine, thank you for stepping up during this time.
> Looking forward to improving trust and transparency!
>
> On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 7:14 PM, Anna Stillwell 
> wrote:
>
>> Katherine,
>>
>> You have my *full* support. So excited to build trust, a good vibe, and
>> over achieve. :)
>>
>> Warmly,
>> /a
>>
>> On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 7:05 PM, James Heilman  wrote:
>>
>>> A very positive move. Thank you Katherine for agreeing to step up and
>>> take
>>> on this role. You have my full confidence :-)
>>>
>>> James
>>>
>>> On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 8:01 PM, Pharos 
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> > Congratulations, Katherine!
>>> >
>>> > She is an excellent choice to navigate us through for this difficult
>>> time.
>>> >
>>> > Thanks,
>>> > Pharos
>>> >
>>> > On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 9:55 PM, Patricio Lorente <
>>> > patricio.lore...@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_2016_-_Leadership_Team_transition_planning
>>> > >
>>> > >
>>> > > 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

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation executive transition update

[Oliver Keyes]

On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 10:17 PM, Pine W  wrote:
> Thank you, Katherine.
>
> That's a good question, Oliver. I think that a lot will depend on whether
> WMF can fill the other C-level vacancies, particularly the CTO vacancy,
> with people who are mission-aligned and can are SMEs in areas where
> Katherine isn't. Also, a lot will depend on whether Katherine wants to stay
> in the job. Being the WMF ED is a very different beast from being the
> leader of a department; it remains to be seen if Katherine will like it and
> how other people are feeling as the ED search moves forward.
>
> Regarding these goals from Meta "Avoid lengthy process for identifying a
> new ED" and "Minimize uncertainty", I would encourage WMF not to rush the
> selection of a new ED; I believe that Katherine will do well in the
> interim, and this choice buys WMF some time to do a good job with the ED
> search. Regarding uncertainty, that's one of the few certain things around
> here, but of course steps can be taken to make people feel comfortable with
> the uncertainty.
>

Pine,

It was a joke.

> Good luck, Katherine. Many of us are relying on you and have faith in you.
>
> Pine
>
>
> On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 7:10 PM, Oliver Keyes  wrote:
>
>> \o/\o/\o/\o/
>>
>> So glad to see this wonderful choice!
>>
>> ...if we're gonna have Katherine as the interim...do we really need to
>> find someone permanent? ;)
>>
>> On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 10:05 PM, James Heilman  wrote:
>> > A very positive move. Thank you Katherine for agreeing to step up and
>> take
>> > on this role. You have my full confidence :-)
>> >
>> > James
>> >
>> > On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 8:01 PM, Pharos 
>> > wrote:
>> >
>> >> Congratulations, Katherine!
>> >>
>> >> She is an excellent choice to navigate us through for this difficult
>> time.
>> >>
>> >> Thanks,
>> >> Pharos
>> >>
>> >> On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 9:55 PM, Patricio Lorente <
>> >> patricio.lore...@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_2016_-_Leadership_Team_transition_planning
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > 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
>> >> >

Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wmfall] Wikimedia Foundation executive transition update

[Rachel diCerbo]

This is excellent news! Thank you to the C-levels and Board for making this
decision. Katherine, thank you for stepping up during this time. Looking
forward to improving trust and transparency!

On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 7:14 PM, Anna Stillwell 
wrote:

> Katherine,
>
> You have my *full* support. So excited to build trust, a good vibe, and
> over achieve. :)
>
> Warmly,
> /a
>
> On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 7:05 PM, James Heilman  wrote:
>
>> A very positive move. Thank you Katherine for agreeing to step up and take
>> on this role. You have my full confidence :-)
>>
>> James
>>
>> On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 8:01 PM, Pharos 
>> wrote:
>>
>> > Congratulations, Katherine!
>> >
>> > She is an excellent choice to navigate us through for this difficult
>> time.
>> >
>> > Thanks,
>> > Pharos
>> >
>> > On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 9:55 PM, Patricio Lorente <
>> > patricio.lore...@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_2016_-_Leadership_Team_transition_planning
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > 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 translat

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation executive transition update

[Pine W]

Thank you, Katherine.

That's a good question, Oliver. I think that a lot will depend on whether
WMF can fill the other C-level vacancies, particularly the CTO vacancy,
with people who are mission-aligned and can are SMEs in areas where
Katherine isn't. Also, a lot will depend on whether Katherine wants to stay
in the job. Being the WMF ED is a very different beast from being the
leader of a department; it remains to be seen if Katherine will like it and
how other people are feeling as the ED search moves forward.

Regarding these goals from Meta "Avoid lengthy process for identifying a
new ED" and "Minimize uncertainty", I would encourage WMF not to rush the
selection of a new ED; I believe that Katherine will do well in the
interim, and this choice buys WMF some time to do a good job with the ED
search. Regarding uncertainty, that's one of the few certain things around
here, but of course steps can be taken to make people feel comfortable with
the uncertainty.

Good luck, Katherine. Many of us are relying on you and have faith in you.

Pine


On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 7:10 PM, Oliver Keyes  wrote:

> \o/\o/\o/\o/
>
> So glad to see this wonderful choice!
>
> ...if we're gonna have Katherine as the interim...do we really need to
> find someone permanent? ;)
>
> On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 10:05 PM, James Heilman  wrote:
> > A very positive move. Thank you Katherine for agreeing to step up and
> take
> > on this role. You have my full confidence :-)
> >
> > James
> >
> > On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 8:01 PM, Pharos 
> > wrote:
> >
> >> Congratulations, Katherine!
> >>
> >> She is an excellent choice to navigate us through for this difficult
> time.
> >>
> >> Thanks,
> >> Pharos
> >>
> >> On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 9:55 PM, Patricio Lorente <
> >> patricio.lore...@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_2016_-_Leadership_Team_transition_planning
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > 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

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation executive transition update

[Erik Moeller]

Congratulations to the Board and to Katherine!

It is good to see the organization led by a person with such a strong
and proven commitment to human rights, access to knowledge, and
transparency. I've also been deeply impressed by all the work
Katherine has done in her previous role at WMF.

Best of luck in facing the challenges ahead. :)

Warmly,
Erik

___
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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 Foundation executive transition update

[Arthur Richards]

Wonderful news, and and excellent choice. Thank you indeed, Katherine. I
eagerly look forward to what comes next!
On Mar 10, 2016 20:06, "James Heilman"  wrote:

> A very positive move. Thank you Katherine for agreeing to step up and take
> on this role. You have my full confidence :-)
>
> James
>
> On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 8:01 PM, Pharos 
> wrote:
>
> > Congratulations, Katherine!
> >
> > She is an excellent choice to navigate us through for this difficult
> time.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Pharos
> >
> > On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 9:55 PM, Patricio Lorente <
> > patricio.lore...@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_2016_-_Leadership_Team_transition_planning
> > >
> > >
> > > 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_March_2010_-_Wikimedia_Foundation_executive_transition_update
> > > --
> > > ___
> > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
> > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
> > > New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> > > Unsubs

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation executive transition update

[Anna Stillwell]

Katherine,

You have my *full* support. So excited to build trust, a good vibe, and
over achieve. :)

Warmly,
/a

On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 7:05 PM, James Heilman  wrote:

> A very positive move. Thank you Katherine for agreeing to step up and take
> on this role. You have my full confidence :-)
>
> James
>
> On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 8:01 PM, Pharos 
> wrote:
>
> > Congratulations, Katherine!
> >
> > She is an excellent choice to navigate us through for this difficult
> time.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Pharos
> >
> > On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 9:55 PM, Patricio Lorente <
> > patricio.lore...@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_2016_-_Leadership_Team_transition_planning
> > >
> > >
> > > 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_March_2010_-_Wikimedia_Foundation_executive_transition_update
> > > --
> > > ___
> > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
> > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
> > > New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> > 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wmfall] Wikimedia Foundation executive transition update

[Damon Sicore]

Excellent news!  Katherine demonstrates integrity, has a strong mind for 
community, and she can help give WMF the voice it needs for a positive future.  
I’m personally thrilled to see this happen.  

Congratulations, and thank you for stepping into one of the most difficult 
and—I’d argue—one of the best and rarest opportunities to call everyone back 
together and reestablish good faith as the default.   :)

Yours faithfully,
Damon
https://damon.sicore.com

> On Mar 10, 2016, at 6:59 PM, Katherine Maher  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_plan_timeline
>  
> 
> [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.lore...@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. Additional

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation executive transition update

[Oliver Keyes]

\o/\o/\o/\o/

So glad to see this wonderful choice!

...if we're gonna have Katherine as the interim...do we really need to
find someone permanent? ;)

On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 10:05 PM, James Heilman  wrote:
> A very positive move. Thank you Katherine for agreeing to step up and take
> on this role. You have my full confidence :-)
>
> James
>
> On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 8:01 PM, Pharos 
> wrote:
>
>> Congratulations, Katherine!
>>
>> She is an excellent choice to navigate us through for this difficult time.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Pharos
>>
>> On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 9:55 PM, Patricio Lorente <
>> patricio.lore...@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_2016_-_Leadership_Team_transition_planning
>> >
>> >
>> > 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_March_2010_-_Wikimedia_Foundation_executive_transition_update
>> > --
>> > ___
>> > 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 Foundation executive transition update

[James Heilman]

A very positive move. Thank you Katherine for agreeing to step up and take
on this role. You have my full confidence :-)

James

On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 8:01 PM, Pharos 
wrote:

> Congratulations, Katherine!
>
> She is an excellent choice to navigate us through for this difficult time.
>
> Thanks,
> Pharos
>
> On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 9:55 PM, Patricio Lorente <
> patricio.lore...@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_2016_-_Leadership_Team_transition_planning
> >
> >
> > 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_March_2010_-_Wikimedia_Foundation_executive_transition_update
> > --
> > ___
> > 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/listi

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation executive transition update

[Pharos]

Congratulations, Katherine!

She is an excellent choice to navigate us through for this difficult time.

Thanks,
Pharos

On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 9:55 PM, Patricio Lorente <
patricio.lore...@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_2016_-_Leadership_Team_transition_planning
>
>
> 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_March_2010_-_Wikimedia_Foundation_executive_transition_update
> --
> ___
> 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,
> 
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wmfall] Wikimedia Foundation executive transition update

[Katherine Maher]

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_plan_timeline
[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.lore...@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_2016_-_Leadership_Team_transition_planning
>
>
> 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 

[Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation executive transition update

[Patricio Lorente]

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_2016_-_Leadership_Team_transition_planning


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_March_2010_-_Wikimedia_Foundation_executive_transition_update
--
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: A conversation?

[Chris Sherlock]

Sent from my iPad

> On 11 Mar 2016, at 9:24 AM, Leila Zia  wrote:
> 
> ​If you see that you don't have a healthy line of communication with Jimmy,
> you may want to consider not communicating with him at all. Initiating
> and/or participating in conversations about someone when you cannot have a
> healthy conversation with that person won't be beneficial. You will end up
> being in a position that you cannot improve things between the two of you,
> but you will have extra information that you will feel burdened to share
> with others.

That's pretty unfair. It was Jimmy who initiated this off list correspondence 
with James and Peter. He didn't ask Peter if he wanted to be a mediator, and I 
think Peter's response makes that clear. In fact, saying that Peter was an 
active participant in this discussion off list is totally inaccurate. As you 
can see from the response that Peter provided to Jimmy (which he has shared 
with us now), Peter has taken great pains to make it clear he doesn't want to 
be involved in direct correspondence on this issue and he wants any discussion 
he takes part in to be in public.

Basically, whilst I respect your views on this situation, in my view the email 
you are directing to Peter is better directed to Jimmy.

Chris
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[Wikimedia-l] Visualization of "What is Wikipedia about?" using information from Wikidata

[Pine W]

Beautiful visualization, for those who enjoy such things:

http://www.informationisbeautifulawards.com/showcase/608-what-is-wikipedia-about

Pine
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: A conversation?

[SarahSV]

On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 2:25 AM, Jimmy Wales 
wrote:

>
> ​... ​
> The truth is, I am genuinely
> bewildered and finding it very hard to understand why James says things
> that the entire rest of the board find contrary to fact.
>
> With one exception that I can think of, everything James has said has
​so far ​
turned out to be true.​ The exception is that he said Dariusz had seconded
the motion to accept the Knight grant, but in fact it was Denny. When the
error was pointed out, he corrected himself. [1]

If you're saying he got
​ ​
other things wrong, i
​t would be​
better to show us
​ where.​


For example, in your 29 February 2016 email to James, you wrote that James
had "said publicly that you wrote to me in October that we were building a
Google-competing search engine and that I more or less said that I'm fine
with it. Go back and read our exchange. There's just now [sic] way to get
that from what I said ..."

It would help if you would publish the October 2015 exchange so that we can
judge it for ourselves. James has published his 7 October email to the
Board. [2]

Also, please point to where James said publicly that you more or less said
you were fine with building a Google-competing search engine. I don't
recall him saying anything like that. (If he had, someone would have asked
for more information about your statement, and I don't recall anyone asking
that either.)

Sarah

[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk%3AWikimedia_Foundation_Board_of_Trustees&type=revision&diff=15396717&oldid=15396673
[2]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2016-02-03/In_focus
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: A conversation?

[Chris Sherlock]

Sent from my iPad

> On 11 Mar 2016, at 6:11 AM, Keegan Peterzell  wrote:
> ​Kevin,
> 
> You've been touting your experience on Boards in giving advice, and I have
> some experience there myself, so let's think of ​it in those Real World
> terms:
> 
> Regardless of what anyone's personal opinion on what may or may not be
> confidential, what may or may not be an insult or personal attack, what may
> or may not be etc., there is a very real legal shield of confidentiality in
> place not just for this board, but for any semi-professional organization
> that exists because personal opinion does not matter in the eyes of the law.
> 
> ​Multiple people are asking why James was removed. The answer has been
> given: the Board felt that they were unable to work with James, and due to
> the privacy of Board work, nothing can be disclosed further. While this
> answer is frustrating in a movement where we demand transparency for trust
> and collaboration (as we should), for Jimmy or anyone else to comment
> further would be - as an understatement - a poor decision, and one I'm sure
> Counsel would drop their jaw over, if not outright resign their position.
> 
> If you were in the same position, you'd do the exact same thing. If you
> didn't, you'd be opening up a hole for a lawsuit that you can drive a truck
> through. And that lawsuit and hole, friends, is what will be the death of
> the Wikimedia Foundation. Not this.

And yet Keenan, Jimmy has indeed commented further and has further stated on 
numerous occasions that he would like transparency, and is working with the 
Board to release emails and provide a fuller explanation of their actions to 
remove James. 

So when you talk about a shield of confidentiality for the Board, then if this 
is the case then Jimmy's actions in communicating with a non-board member 
(Pete) seems to put Jimmy in a very awkward position if he agrees with your 
statement that "for Jimmy or anyone else to comment further would be - as an 
understatement - a poor decision, and one I'm sure Counsel would drop their jaw 
over, if not outright resign their position." Or the very public utterances by 
Jimmy, not cleared by counsel, that he is a liar.

Just remember here that Jimmy sent that email unsolicited to Peter. It is not 
Jimmy I feel for here, but Peter. Peter gets an email that shocks him, and he 
feels is unacceptable and manipulative, possibly even defamatory. He responds 
to Jimmy telling him that he is not a mediator. Jimmy then makes comments on 
the list stating that he is in private communications with James to work 
through issues, to which I personally believed was an excellent and 
constructive thing for him to do. Yet we now see what sort of communication he 
is having with James: insults and denigration, and what looks like attempts to 
manipulate and inflame James.

If anything, that's incredibly unfair to James. On the one hand Jimmy can say 
to everyone that hand on heart he is working through things with James *in 
private*, and yet by doing so he can say whatever he wants to James and should 
James reveal their correspondence then he, and others like yourself, can claim 
that private communications were violated. Thus Jimmy can say what he wants 
with complete impunity, and at the same time appear to the wider community to 
be making good faith attempts at reconciling with James.

If I were in James' shoes, I would cease all communications with such a person 
and request a formal, third party, professions mediator. I would also advise 
Jimmy that any future communications that do not satisfy this condition can no 
longer be considered private and may well be publicised.

Jimmy: you need to stop calling, or even implying or suggesting James is a 
liar. I am not a lawyer, but I feel you are very lucky in many ways that you 
don't live in the UK, because I feel James would be well within his rights to 
sue for defamation from some of the things you have stated. I'm not sure if he 
would have grounds, or even much of a chance of winning, a defamation suit in 
the U.S. but I suspect he could try should he want to.

The bottom line is that a professional mediator probably now needs to get 
involved. If the WMF is unwilling to fund or provide one, then this issue is 
not going away. I suspect that regardless, James will campaign to be elected 
for the next available Board on a platform of making the Board's actions more 
transparent and accountable. The Board will be in a position, should he win, of 
not accepting the nomination or will need to allow him on the Board - and this 
time, should he be removed again the uproar will be extremely damaging to the 
WMF. The Board, in my view, has no one to blame but themselves for allowing 
this to occur.

Chris
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: A conversation?

[Thomas Morton]

The rights and wrongs of this dispute aside (and, crikey, I really have not
idea who is in the right at this point), and putting aside the right/wrong
of releasing the email (I tend to side with Erik):

This is the form of language that e.g. men use to dismiss women as
"emotional".

It's vile and judgemental.

It poses theories that James is either a liar, mentally ill or just so
angry he can't think straight.

It is not okay to say things like this, even in private. The effect of
words like this can be damaging in the least.

As a movement we should not accept this.

Jimmy, whilst you may not have explicitly meant these words in the way they
are being read, you need to perhaps step back and think about the impact of
what you have written here.

Tom

On Thu, 10 Mar 2016 at 00:56 Pete Forsyth  wrote:

> Below is a message Jimmy Wales sent to James Heilman and myself on Feb. 29.
> I mentioned the existence of this message on the list on March 2:
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2016-March/082901.html
>
> I feel this message can provide important insight into the dynamics
> surrounding James H.'s dismissal, and various people have expressed
> interest in seeing it, so I'm forwarding it to the list. (For what it's
> worth, I did check with James H.; he had no objection to my sharing it.)
>
> For context, as I understand it, Jimmy's message was more or less in
> response to this list message of mine:
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2016-February/082764.html
>
> -Pete
> [[User:Peteforsyth]]
>
> -- Forwarded message --
>
> *From: *Jimmy Wales
>
> *Date: *February 29, 2016 6:21:46 AM
>
> *To: *Pete Forsyth,James Heilman
>
> *Subject: **A conversation?*
>
>
> James, I wonder if you'd be up for a one on one conversation. I've been
> struck in a positive way by some of the things that Pete has said and I
> realize that moving things forward on wikimedia-l, being sniped at by
> people who are as interested in creating drama as anything else, isn't
> really conducive to reaching more understanding.
>
> I have some questions for you - real, sincere, and puzzled questions.
> Some of the things that you have said strike me as very obviously out of
> line with the facts. And I wonder how to reconcile that.
>
> One hypothesis is that you're just a liar. I have a hard time with that
> one.
>
> Another hypothesis is that you have a poor memory or low emotional
> intelligence or something like that - you seem to say things that just
> don't make sense and which attempt to lead people to conclusions that
> are clearly not true.
>
> Another hypothesis is that the emotional trauma of all this has colored
> your perceptions on certain details.
>
> As an example, and I'm not going to dig up the exact quotes, you said
> publicly that you wrote to me in October that we were building a
> Google-competing search engine and that I more or less said that I'm
> fine with it. Go back and read our exchange. There's just now way to
> get that from what I said - Indeed, I specifically said that we are NOT
> building a Google-competing search engine, and explained the much lower
> and much less complex ambition of improving search and discovery.
>
> As another example, you published a timeline starting with Wikia Search.
> It's really hard for me to interpret that in any other way than to try
> to lead people down the path of the conspiracy theorists that I had a
> pet project to compete with Google which led to a secret project to
> biuld a search engine, etc. etc. You know as well as I do that's a
> false narrative, so it's very hard for me to charitably interpret that.
>
> Anyway these are the kinds of things that I struggle with.
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: A conversation?

[Craig Franklin]

A few days ago I asked what it was that we as the community could do to
enhance transparency within the Foundation.  This was not what I had in
mind.  Why would Jimmy or anyone else in a position of authority at the WMF
seek to engage with those making criticisms when they'll be subject to acts
like this; private emails posted without permission and shorn of context?
I'm sure that Jimmy will think twice next time before trying to explain his
thinking or give information, and who could blame him?  There might be a
line where it is acceptable to publicise an email without consent (say, if
Jimmy had threatened to punch James in the nose), but IMHO even though
Jimmy comes off as a bit of a jerk in this one, it falls far short of that
line.

I know Pete that you meant well with your actions, but I fear that you may
actually have done quite a bit of damage.

Cheers,
Craig

On 11 March 2016 at 08:24, Leila Zia  wrote:

> Hi Pete,
>
> On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 9:21 AM, Pete Forsyth 
> wrote:
>
> >
> > I carefully considered whether to publish this email
> > before doing so. I'm confident I'm on solid ethical ground (i.e., didn't
> > violate anyone's rights), and I'm pretty sure the impact on Wikimedia
> will
> > be positive in the end as well.
>
>
> ​It's hard to argue with this statement one way or the other (when you are
> sure, but you cannot prove.) From experience we have seen that Wikimedia is
> a big
> ​ and distributed​
> Movement and the impact of such actions on the Movement is unlikely to be
> noticeable
> ​.​
>
> ​
>
> Specifics about my choice to release the email below:
> >
> > On Wed, Mar 9, 2016 at 10:18 PM, Erik Moeller 
> wrote:
> >
> > > 2016-03-09 16:56 GMT-08:00 Pete Forsyth :
> > >
> > > > I feel this message can provide important insight into the dynamics
> > > > surrounding James H.'s dismissal, and various people have expressed
> > > > interest in seeing it, so I'm forwarding it to the list. (For what
> it's
> > > > worth, I did check with James H.; he had no objection to my sharing
> > it.)
> >
>
> ​It is problematic that you have checked with James but not Jimmy prior to
> publishing this email. The content of the email does not justify this
> action for me.
>
>
> > Erik,
> >
> > So the "private channel" you mention has never existed between Jimmy
> Wales
> > and myself. There has never been an agreement, either explicit or
> implied,
> > between us about whether our communications are private.
>
>
> There are norms that people follow in online communications. It is expected
> that you check with the sender of the email before publishing his/her
> email. People expect private conversations to stay private, and the
> definition of a private conversation is not complicated in most of the
> people's minds: if a conversation doesn't happen in a public channel, it's
> considered private.
>
> Where I do have a healthy line of communication with someone, I agree with
> > you.
>
>
> ​If you see that you don't have a healthy line of communication with Jimmy,
> you may want to consider not communicating with him at all. Initiating
> and/or participating in conversations about someone when you cannot have a
> healthy conversation with that person won't be beneficial. You will end up
> being in a position that you cannot improve things between the two of you,
> but you will have extra information that you will feel burdened to share
> with others.
>
> I hope you think about what you did here, and you decide to take a
> different course of action in the future.
>
> Best,
> Leila
>
> --
> ​​Leila Zia
> Research Scientist
> Wikimedia Foundation
> ​
>
> >
> > -Pete
> > [[User:Peteforsyth]]
> >
> >
> > -- Forwarded message --
> > From: Pete Forsyth
> > Date: Mon, Feb 29, 2016 at 10:49 AM
> > Subject: Re: A conversation?
> > To: Jimmy Wales, James Heilman
> >
> >
> > Jimmy, thanks for following up -- and James, thanks for alerting me of
> this
> > (it went to an old email address I no longer check. Good reminder
> though, I
> > am putting an auto-reply on there.)
> >
> > I see that we have three things under discussion, and I want to reiterate
> > that I strongly urge the first:
> >
> >1. JW and JMH have a private conversation with the support of an
> >independent, skilled facilitator
> >2. JW and JMH have a truly one-on-one conversation
> >3. JW and JMH have a conversation with PF as informal facilitator
> >
> > I appreciate being looped in here, but I want to say very clearly: I
> don't
> > have the professional skills to serve as a facilitator here, even if I
> did
> > I am too involved to do it well, and I also don't really have the
> > bandwidth. However, I'm sure the WMF's HR department could refer you to
> > some excellent people. (I could give referrals, but I'm sure the HR
> > department is better equipped for that.) I think that the value of
> > professional facilitation/mediation/ombuds/whatever is well known, so I
> > won't go into the details of why I think this 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: A conversation?

[Leila Zia]

Hi Pete,

On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 9:21 AM, Pete Forsyth  wrote:

>
> I carefully considered whether to publish this email
> before doing so. I'm confident I'm on solid ethical ground (i.e., didn't
> violate anyone's rights), and I'm pretty sure the impact on Wikimedia will
> be positive in the end as well.


​It's hard to argue with this statement one way or the other (when you are
sure, but you cannot prove.) From experience we have seen that Wikimedia is
a big
​ and distributed​
Movement and the impact of such actions on the Movement is unlikely to be
noticeable
​.​

​

Specifics about my choice to release the email below:
>
> On Wed, Mar 9, 2016 at 10:18 PM, Erik Moeller  wrote:
>
> > 2016-03-09 16:56 GMT-08:00 Pete Forsyth :
> >
> > > I feel this message can provide important insight into the dynamics
> > > surrounding James H.'s dismissal, and various people have expressed
> > > interest in seeing it, so I'm forwarding it to the list. (For what it's
> > > worth, I did check with James H.; he had no objection to my sharing
> it.)
>

​It is problematic that you have checked with James but not Jimmy prior to
publishing this email. The content of the email does not justify this
action for me.


> Erik,
>
> So the "private channel" you mention has never existed between Jimmy Wales
> and myself. There has never been an agreement, either explicit or implied,
> between us about whether our communications are private.


There are norms that people follow in online communications. It is expected
that you check with the sender of the email before publishing his/her
email. People expect private conversations to stay private, and the
definition of a private conversation is not complicated in most of the
people's minds: if a conversation doesn't happen in a public channel, it's
considered private.

Where I do have a healthy line of communication with someone, I agree with
> you.


​If you see that you don't have a healthy line of communication with Jimmy,
you may want to consider not communicating with him at all. Initiating
and/or participating in conversations about someone when you cannot have a
healthy conversation with that person won't be beneficial. You will end up
being in a position that you cannot improve things between the two of you,
but you will have extra information that you will feel burdened to share
with others.

I hope you think about what you did here, and you decide to take a
different course of action in the future.

Best,
Leila

--
​​Leila Zia
Research Scientist
Wikimedia Foundation
​

>
> -Pete
> [[User:Peteforsyth]]
>
>
> -- Forwarded message --
> From: Pete Forsyth
> Date: Mon, Feb 29, 2016 at 10:49 AM
> Subject: Re: A conversation?
> To: Jimmy Wales, James Heilman
>
>
> Jimmy, thanks for following up -- and James, thanks for alerting me of this
> (it went to an old email address I no longer check. Good reminder though, I
> am putting an auto-reply on there.)
>
> I see that we have three things under discussion, and I want to reiterate
> that I strongly urge the first:
>
>1. JW and JMH have a private conversation with the support of an
>independent, skilled facilitator
>2. JW and JMH have a truly one-on-one conversation
>3. JW and JMH have a conversation with PF as informal facilitator
>
> I appreciate being looped in here, but I want to say very clearly: I don't
> have the professional skills to serve as a facilitator here, even if I did
> I am too involved to do it well, and I also don't really have the
> bandwidth. However, I'm sure the WMF's HR department could refer you to
> some excellent people. (I could give referrals, but I'm sure the HR
> department is better equipped for that.) I think that the value of
> professional facilitation/mediation/ombuds/whatever is well known, so I
> won't go into the details of why I think this is a good idea unless asked.
>
> In the meantime, I would very strongly urge you, Jimmy, to cease making
> speculative statements about James' honesty or state of mind. James is
> probably much less volatile than me, but personally I would probably freak
> out if somebody was saying stuff like that about me, either publicly or
> privately. It's highly inflammatory.
>
> I would also request that you address (publicly, I hope) my main question
> about your interpretation of the board vote about "discussing long term
> strategy" as evidence of James' dishonesty. I think that is a point you
> could, and should, walk back without much drama. I think it's safe to say
> that it's highly obvious that you two agree about what constitutes "long
> term strategy," and that's fine -- but the fact that it's become a
> referendum on somebody's integrity is not, in my view, fine at all. I think
> it would help things a great deal if you could publicly acknowledge that
> point.
>
> I'll leave the other points to be dealt with between you, ideally with
> professional support. I really can't play the mediator role here.
>
> -Pete
> ___

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: A conversation?

[Kevin Gorman]

Keegan,

Jimmy has attacked James on a personal level in public multiple times, and
sent frankly confusing private emails to multiple people off-list.  There
is no general 'legal shield of confidentiality' surrounding organizations
in general.  Sometimes employees are forbidden from making information
public due to NDA's, etc.  I've never heard of a board member being asked
to sign an NDA regarding information of the sort apparently contained in
the email.  If the particular email in question is a reasonable email,
it'll silence a lot of the debate around this issue; if it's not, it'll
bring up a valid question and debate as whether or not one of
our fiduciaries is capable of carrying out his duties.

When Jimmy has already defamed James publicly, no counsel in their right
mind would have an issue with the publication of private emails that show
Jimmy behaving in a reasonable manner towards James.  As it stands, there
is more potential damage to WMF if the email in question is *not* released
than if it is, assming it is reasonable - although I have no doubt that
James would not take legal action, when you combine Jimmy's public
statements with the fact that James is a doctor, a profession where
confidentiality is paramount, it starts to look an awful lot like
defamation per se.  Besides the internal and external brand damage caused
by Jimmy's actions, you don't want to be in a situation where it looks like
one board member is literally commiting defamation per se against a former
remember removed for "cause."

BTW: besides there being no general "legal shield of confidentiality"
around organizations or boards, any lawyer worth his salt will, accurately,
tell the board members he's advising that unless there is a separate legal
basis for confidentiality (like an NDA signed on a grant,) that each
individual trustee is positively obligated to release information about
their organization or obtained from board meetings if they believe that
doing so is in the best interests of the organization.  Releases of
information should normally be coordinated with other trustees and with
comms staff, but if you end up in a situation where you disagree with the
rest of the board about whether or not it's in the best interests of an
organization to release information, there's not a separate legal basis for
confidentiality (and there normally isn't,) and you feel that releasing the
information is going to cause more benefit (or avert more harm) to the
organization than whatever damage it may do to the cohesiveness of the
board, you are obligated to release that information.

But that is pretty irrelevant when we're not dealing with issues that
really deal with the board as a whole, just an individual email that
doesn't contain confidential information between two board members.  Jimmy
has no legal obligation to keep it confidential, or to seek the permission
of the rest of the board to release it.  Neither does James - he could
release it this second if he decided to, but values privacy enough that
instead of doing so he's asking Jimmy to follow through with his promise of
radical transparency.


Kevin Gorman

On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 11:11 AM, Keegan Peterzell 
wrote:

> On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 12:33 PM, Kevin Gorman  wrote:
>
> > Jimmy, given the fact that James has requested you release it combined
> with
> > the fact that it contains no confidential information, please release the
> > particular email James requested you release.  You've said that you would
> > release it when you received permission from the board, but it was a
> > private communication between James and you that did not contain any
> > confidential information.  The combination of private emails from you to
> > Pete, me, and I suspect the email James refers to, combined with your
> > public statements, makes me honestly have serious doubts about your
> ability
> > to place the interests of the WMF above your personal interests,
> something
> > your position requires you do.
> >
> > I'm expecting no bombshells in the email - I imagine it's just insulting
> or
> > untrue language directed at James - but you can't keep claiming to be an
> > advocate of radical transparency while refusing to release emails that
> > don't contain confidential information that shine light on an issue of
> > public contention.  In three seconds, you could demonstrate that my
> > concerns are unfounded and that your email was reasonable, and with a
> > little more you could demonstrate that there were defensible reasons for
> > removing James in the first place.
> >
>
> ​Kevin,
>
> You've been touting your experience on Boards in giving advice, and I have
> some experience there myself, so let's think of ​it in those Real World
> terms:
>
> Regardless of what anyone's personal opinion on what may or may not be
> confidential, what may or may not be an insult or personal attack, what may
> or may not be etc., there is a very real legal shield of confidentiality in
> place 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: A conversation?

[Keegan Peterzell]

On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 12:33 PM, Kevin Gorman  wrote:

> Jimmy, given the fact that James has requested you release it combined with
> the fact that it contains no confidential information, please release the
> particular email James requested you release.  You've said that you would
> release it when you received permission from the board, but it was a
> private communication between James and you that did not contain any
> confidential information.  The combination of private emails from you to
> Pete, me, and I suspect the email James refers to, combined with your
> public statements, makes me honestly have serious doubts about your ability
> to place the interests of the WMF above your personal interests, something
> your position requires you do.
>
> I'm expecting no bombshells in the email - I imagine it's just insulting or
> untrue language directed at James - but you can't keep claiming to be an
> advocate of radical transparency while refusing to release emails that
> don't contain confidential information that shine light on an issue of
> public contention.  In three seconds, you could demonstrate that my
> concerns are unfounded and that your email was reasonable, and with a
> little more you could demonstrate that there were defensible reasons for
> removing James in the first place.
>

​Kevin,

You've been touting your experience on Boards in giving advice, and I have
some experience there myself, so let's think of ​it in those Real World
terms:

Regardless of what anyone's personal opinion on what may or may not be
confidential, what may or may not be an insult or personal attack, what may
or may not be etc., there is a very real legal shield of confidentiality in
place not just for this board, but for any semi-professional organization
that exists because personal opinion does not matter in the eyes of the law.

​Multiple people are asking why James was removed. The answer has been
given: the Board felt that they were unable to work with James, and due to
the privacy of Board work, nothing can be disclosed further. While this
answer is frustrating in a movement where we demand transparency for trust
and collaboration (as we should), for Jimmy or anyone else to comment
further would be - as an understatement - a poor decision, and one I'm sure
Counsel would drop their jaw over, if not outright resign their position.

If you were in the same position, you'd do the exact same thing. If you
didn't, you'd be opening up a hole for a lawsuit that you can drive a truck
through. And that lawsuit and hole, friends, is what will be the death of
the Wikimedia Foundation. Not this.


-- 
~Keegan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Keegan

This is my personal email address. Everything sent from this email address
is in a personal capacity.
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Affiliate-selected Board seats update

[Itzik - Wikimedia Israel]

Hi Chris,

How and where the chapter will vote?
I offered to do it privately, in order to avoid current votes to influence
others chapters.

Itzik

- Sent from mobile
On Mar 10, 2016 15:35, "Chris Keating"  wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> The deadline for nominations in the Affiliate Selected Board Seats process
> passed on Tuesday, and 10 candidates have been nominated:
>
>
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliate-selected_Board_seats/2016/Nominations
>
> This is more candidates than any previous affiliate/chapter-selected
> process, and I am pleased to note that 4 of the candidates are women and 5
> are from countries not in North American or Western Europe. All candidates
> who have received one or more endorsements from voting organisations by 23
> March will be added to the ballot for the election.
>
> While only Chapters and the single Thematic Organization have a vote in
> this election, all community members are invited to participate by asking
> questions to the candidates, here:
>
>
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliate-selected_Board_seats/2016/Questions
>
> Help translating candidate statements into other languages is also much
> appreciated.
>
> (For more details about this process, please see here:
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliate-selected_Board_seats/2016 )
>
> Many thanks,
>
> Chris Keating
> (one of the election facilitators)
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] December and January minutes of the Board of Trustees

[Fæ]

Picking up on the mention of Suzie Nussel in the January 2016
minutes,[3] I could find no other WMF published information apart from
the minutes and the recently released powerpoint that /probably/
supported the presentation.[1] It's possible I missed some emails
about Suzie's appointment.

Presumably the strategy consultation supporting the WMF was an open
bid process and Suzie is the only consultant delivering on it. In the
spirit of openness, can the specification for the work (or open
invitation to tender) that supported the formal WMF contract review be
published please? It would be reassuring to understand the pre-defined
outcomes, and how large a piece of consultancy this is intended to be.

I cannot find a website for the 'Nussel Consulting Group', could
someone kindly provide a link? My assumption is that the Group has one
employee and is unrelated to the Nussel Group owned by the politician
Jim Nussle, apart from a coincidence of surnames.[2]

For transparency, I note that both Suzie and I have worked for AOL.

Links:
1. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2016_Strategic_Approaches_Report.pdf
2. http://thenusslegroup.com
3. https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Meetings

Thanks,
Fae

On 9 March 2016 at 19:20, Stephen LaPorte  wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> The Board has published the minutes and resolutions from the Board of
> Trustees meetings in December and January 2016. You can find the Board's
> minutes on the Foundation Wiki:
> https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Meetings

-- 
fae...@gmail.com https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Fae

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: A conversation?

[Kevin Gorman]

Jimmy, given the fact that James has requested you release it combined with
the fact that it contains no confidential information, please release the
particular email James requested you release.  You've said that you would
release it when you received permission from the board, but it was a
private communication between James and you that did not contain any
confidential information.  The combination of private emails from you to
Pete, me, and I suspect the email James refers to, combined with your
public statements, makes me honestly have serious doubts about your ability
to place the interests of the WMF above your personal interests, something
your position requires you do.

I'm expecting no bombshells in the email - I imagine it's just insulting or
untrue language directed at James - but you can't keep claiming to be an
advocate of radical transparency while refusing to release emails that
don't contain confidential information that shine light on an issue of
public contention.  In three seconds, you could demonstrate that my
concerns are unfounded and that your email was reasonable, and with a
little more you could demonstrate that there were defensible reasons for
removing James in the first place.


Kevin Gorman

On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 9:21 AM, Pete Forsyth  wrote:

> Manipulative behavior thrives in an environment where a person can say
> different things to different audiences, and can speak freely with the
> expectation they will not be held accountable for their words.
>
> Erik, thank you for articulating your views. As for my own actions, you
> have either made some incorrect assumptions about the background, or you
> operate on a set of principles that I don't entirely share. I'm pretty sure
> it's the former. I carefully considered whether to publish this email
> before doing so. I'm confident I'm on solid ethical ground (i.e., didn't
> violate anyone's rights), and I'm pretty sure the impact on Wikimedia will
> be positive in the end as well. Jimmy Wales sending this email, in my view,
> tends to damage our project. It's worthwhile for those who care about
> Wikimedia's future to know.
>
> I agree very much with what you said in reply to SarahSV. You present a
> very useful overview of how things could or should go in the future. Thank
> you for that.
>
> Specifics about my choice to release the email below:
>
> On Wed, Mar 9, 2016 at 10:18 PM, Erik Moeller  wrote:
>
> > 2016-03-09 16:56 GMT-08:00 Pete Forsyth :
> >
> > > I feel this message can provide important insight into the dynamics
> > > surrounding James H.'s dismissal, and various people have expressed
> > > interest in seeing it, so I'm forwarding it to the list. (For what it's
> > > worth, I did check with James H.; he had no objection to my sharing
> it.)
> >
> > Pete, regardless of Jimmy's words in this email, like others, I fail
> > to see how it's okay to share a private email to this list. I can
> > think of a few instances where this might be ethically defensible --
> > like actual fraud being committed -- but this is not one of them. It's
> > totally fair for people to ask Jimmy to clear the air on stuff
> > himself, but this crosses the line, at least from my point of view.
> >
> > This comes down to giving a person you're corresponding with an
> > honest, open channel by which they can apologize, clarify, and make
> > things right. By violating that private channel you're making it
> > implicitly impossible to have that kind of conversation.
> >
> > Meatball Wiki, as you know, has some wise words on this kind of stuff.
> > http://meatballwiki.org/wiki/ForgiveAndForget is a good page to
> > remember.
> >
> > And no, I'm not a fan how things have played out so far, and I'm not
> > arguing for just moving on without addressing remaining grievances.
> > But this isn't how we should move forward. Criticizing people's
> > actions is fair game, even calling for resignation or other types of
> > structural and organizational change. This kind of picking out of
> > lines from private emails ought _not_ to be, in my view.
> >
> > Erik
> >
>
> Erik,
>
> Jimmy Wales and I have never had a working relationship, or an ongoing
> email correspondence. I'd guess we've exchanged under a dozen emails since
> 2008 or so, and spoken in person fewer times than that. I cannot think of a
> single example of an exchange where we came to an agreement. The much more
> common theme is that, the moment I express any kind of disagreement, he
> vanishes without a word.
>
> So the "private channel" you mention has never existed between Jimmy Wales
> and myself. There has never been an agreement, either explicit or implied,
> between us about whether our communications are private. Given our past
> interactions, if he were to request of me that I keep our communications
> private, I would refuse without hesitation.
>
> Where I do have a healthy line of communication with someone, I agree with
> you. It would take a very high bar (like fraud) for me

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: A conversation?

[Pete Forsyth]

Manipulative behavior thrives in an environment where a person can say
different things to different audiences, and can speak freely with the
expectation they will not be held accountable for their words.

Erik, thank you for articulating your views. As for my own actions, you
have either made some incorrect assumptions about the background, or you
operate on a set of principles that I don't entirely share. I'm pretty sure
it's the former. I carefully considered whether to publish this email
before doing so. I'm confident I'm on solid ethical ground (i.e., didn't
violate anyone's rights), and I'm pretty sure the impact on Wikimedia will
be positive in the end as well. Jimmy Wales sending this email, in my view,
tends to damage our project. It's worthwhile for those who care about
Wikimedia's future to know.

I agree very much with what you said in reply to SarahSV. You present a
very useful overview of how things could or should go in the future. Thank
you for that.

Specifics about my choice to release the email below:

On Wed, Mar 9, 2016 at 10:18 PM, Erik Moeller  wrote:

> 2016-03-09 16:56 GMT-08:00 Pete Forsyth :
>
> > I feel this message can provide important insight into the dynamics
> > surrounding James H.'s dismissal, and various people have expressed
> > interest in seeing it, so I'm forwarding it to the list. (For what it's
> > worth, I did check with James H.; he had no objection to my sharing it.)
>
> Pete, regardless of Jimmy's words in this email, like others, I fail
> to see how it's okay to share a private email to this list. I can
> think of a few instances where this might be ethically defensible --
> like actual fraud being committed -- but this is not one of them. It's
> totally fair for people to ask Jimmy to clear the air on stuff
> himself, but this crosses the line, at least from my point of view.
>
> This comes down to giving a person you're corresponding with an
> honest, open channel by which they can apologize, clarify, and make
> things right. By violating that private channel you're making it
> implicitly impossible to have that kind of conversation.
>
> Meatball Wiki, as you know, has some wise words on this kind of stuff.
> http://meatballwiki.org/wiki/ForgiveAndForget is a good page to
> remember.
>
> And no, I'm not a fan how things have played out so far, and I'm not
> arguing for just moving on without addressing remaining grievances.
> But this isn't how we should move forward. Criticizing people's
> actions is fair game, even calling for resignation or other types of
> structural and organizational change. This kind of picking out of
> lines from private emails ought _not_ to be, in my view.
>
> Erik
>

Erik,

Jimmy Wales and I have never had a working relationship, or an ongoing
email correspondence. I'd guess we've exchanged under a dozen emails since
2008 or so, and spoken in person fewer times than that. I cannot think of a
single example of an exchange where we came to an agreement. The much more
common theme is that, the moment I express any kind of disagreement, he
vanishes without a word.

So the "private channel" you mention has never existed between Jimmy Wales
and myself. There has never been an agreement, either explicit or implied,
between us about whether our communications are private. Given our past
interactions, if he were to request of me that I keep our communications
private, I would refuse without hesitation.

Where I do have a healthy line of communication with someone, I agree with
you. It would take a very high bar (like fraud) for me to release such
communications publicly. We would simply work through any differences
together. I of course have this kind of communication all the time, as you
know. This situation is nothing like that, though. Jimmy and I have no such
relationship. And the bar is, indeed, pretty high: I read this as
manipulative communication, at odds with Jimmy's publicly expressed goals,
about things that impact the future of Wikimedia.

I did reply to Jimmy's email, and since my role is apparently something
people are interested in, I'm including my reply below. You'll see that I
was suggesting some of the same things you do, Erik. Jimmy never replied,
though.

-Pete
[[User:Peteforsyth]]


-- Forwarded message --
From: Pete Forsyth
Date: Mon, Feb 29, 2016 at 10:49 AM
Subject: Re: A conversation?
To: Jimmy Wales, James Heilman


Jimmy, thanks for following up -- and James, thanks for alerting me of this
(it went to an old email address I no longer check. Good reminder though, I
am putting an auto-reply on there.)

I see that we have three things under discussion, and I want to reiterate
that I strongly urge the first:

   1. JW and JMH have a private conversation with the support of an
   independent, skilled facilitator
   2. JW and JMH have a truly one-on-one conversation
   3. JW and JMH have a conversation with PF as informal facilitator

I appreciate being looped in here, but I want to say very clearly: I

Re: [Wikimedia-l] A conversation?

[Chris Sherlock]

> On 10 Mar 2016, at 8:25 PM, Jimmy Wales  wrote:
> 
> On 3/10/16 8:18 AM, Benjamin Lees wrote:
>> I was glad when I saw Jimbo indicate he was reaching out to James.  At
>> the risk of sounding hopelessly naive, maybe Jimbo should send James
>> another email, this time extending a clearer olive branch.  If we're
>> past the point of no return on that, then so be it, but I would be
>> happy to know that after three months of talking about and at each
>> other, you guys _sincerely_ tried talking to each other.
> 
> I agree completely.  My email, which seems so horrifying to a few
> people, was meant exactly as that.  The truth is, I am genuinely
> bewildered and finding it very hard to understand why James says things
> that the entire rest of the board find contrary to fact.

Christ Jimmy, you sincerely told him he was either a liar, emotionally stunted, 
or psychologically damaged! You think *that* is extending an olive branch?!?

> There is nothing horrible about encouraging him to think about whether
> emotion has blinded him.  When so many other people who know the facts
> are telling you that you have it wrong, it's a good idea to pause and
> reflect.

Then it’s a good idea to stick to, you know, the facts. Did you really
think that telling James that one option is he is a liar would be
conducive to reflections?

> And yes, it would have been more charitable and kind to include other
> options in that email.  I wrote it as an opening to a dialogue, not as a
> formal statement of position to be analyzed in public.  I invite people
> to think whether Pete's publishing of it was done in the interests of
> healing and harmony, rather than to further inflame and create drama.

“Charitable and kind”? What options might these have been? 

If that email was the opening to a dialogue, then you might want to consider
your own level of EQ!

Chris


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Re: [Wikimedia-l] What it means to be a high-tech organization

[Gordon Joly]

On 23/02/16 22:34, SarahSV wrote:
> ​Brian, I'd be interested to hear how volunteers could be cultivated and
> supported. We felt under attack by the Foundation until Lila arrived, and I
> think a lot of editors are grateful to her for having improved that
> relationship. But not feeling attacked isn't the same as feeling supported.
> 

I am not sure how much Sue Gardner or Lila Tretikov affected my passion
for Wikipedia (in either direction), whereas some of the members on this
list have (positively). Recently attending Wikimania in London, UK
(where I live) and being a member of the local chapter, also going to
meetups and editathons locally have had a real effect.

I use Mediawiki to build websites.

> The Foundation often boasts that it only has around 200 employees, but the
> truth is that it has an enormous unpaid workforce. Most of us don't go to
> meet-ups, so we don't even see travel expenses. We're grateful if we can
> get a free JSTOR subscription.

I am a member of that unpaid workforce. Speaking personally, I don't
want to be paid. My local chapter (Wikimedia UK) will usually offer
travel expenses, for small amounts (e.g. within London). Larger amounts
might not be met.

As a serial volunteer, I tend to disappear quite quickly when I don't
have fun (or I don't get reasonable expenses).

YMMV,

Gordo





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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: A conversation?

[George Herbert]

> On Mar 10, 2016, at 2:01 AM, jimmy wales  wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> Indeed George I agree with everything you have said about the internal 
> effects of lack of transparency and openness.  Assuming I and other board 
> members who continue to press for full openness about the James situation  
> are eventually successful this will all become more clear.

This situation - the lack of full openness and an OK for everyone to publicly 
discuss what they saw and believed happening - is incredibly damaging to the 
Foundation and movement by now.

The tension expressed with Board needs to keep some things confidential is 
real.  But...

I would go so far as to state that it appears to me. that Board members' 
fiduciary duty to the Foundation now argues for open disclosure, and is clearly 
and straightforwardly at odds with the Boards' current secrecy.

I understand that opinions and dynamics within the board are important, but 
your individual responsibilities are now becoming directly relevant.  I urge 
the board to resolve your internal obstacles to the openness swiftly.  If you 
cannot do so, your fiduciary duty must guide you.


George William Herbert
Sent from my iPhone


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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: A conversation?

[rupert THURNER]

On Mar 10, 2016 07:19, "Erik Moeller"  wrote:
>
> 2016-03-09 16:56 GMT-08:00 Pete Forsyth :
>
> > I feel this message can provide important insight into the dynamics
> > surrounding James H.'s dismissal, and various people have expressed
> > interest in seeing it, so I'm forwarding it to the list. (For what it's
> > worth, I did check with James H.; he had no objection to my sharing it.)
>
> Pete, regardless of Jimmy's words in this email, like others, I fail
> to see how it's okay to share a private email to this list. I can
> think of a few instances where this might be ethically defensible --
> like actual fraud being committed -- but this is not one of them. It's
> totally fair for people to ask Jimmy to clear the air on stuff
> himself, but this crosses the line, at least from my point of view.
>
> This comes down to giving a person you're corresponding with an
> honest, open channel by which they can apologize, clarify, and make
> things right. By violating that private channel you're making it
> implicitly impossible to have that kind of conversation.

I share this opinion.

Rupert
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] A conversation?

[Chris Sherlock]

> On 10 Mar 2016, at 5:18 PM, Erik Moeller  wrote:
> 
> 2016-03-09 16:56 GMT-08:00 Pete Forsyth :
> 
>> I feel this message can provide important insight into the dynamics
>> surrounding James H.'s dismissal, and various people have expressed
>> interest in seeing it, so I'm forwarding it to the list. (For what it's
>> worth, I did check with James H.; he had no objection to my sharing it.)
> 
> Pete, regardless of Jimmy's words in this email, like others, I fail
> to see how it's okay to share a private email to this list. I can
> think of a few instances where this might be ethically defensible --
> like actual fraud being committed -- but this is not one of them. It's
> totally fair for people to ask Jimmy to clear the air on stuff
> himself, but this crosses the line, at least from my point of view.
> 
> This comes down to giving a person you're corresponding with an
> honest, open channel by which they can apologize, clarify, and make
> things right. By violating that private channel you're making it
> implicitly impossible to have that kind of conversation.

Erik, that was an unsolicited email sent to James *and* Peter. It was addressed 
to
James, but yet Jimmy sent it to Peter, and in it he alleged that “one 
possibility” 
is that James is a liar. The other is that he is too emotionally involved and 
it 
coloured his thinking. Why did Jimmy feel the need to send such a potentially
damaging set of accusations to James and cc in Peter? 

Oliver has said it best - that’s emotional gaslighting and it’s highly 
manipulative.
Telling James that he has a low EQ is focusing on James’ emotions and has 
nothing
to do with what James wanted answering. He wants Jimmy to give a clear 
understanding
as to why he was removed. 

James’ concerns about a search engine are still legitimate. There was indeed a 
secret
plan that Jimmy claims he didn’t know about until well after October - WAY after
October. It’s understandable and quite justifiable that in October James was 
very
concerned that there was a plan in the WMF for a competing search engine for 
Google.

So now Jimmy is still maintaining the line, which he has repeated more than a 
number of
times now, in public and evidently in private (yet takes care to cc in Pete) 
that James
is a liar, or has serious emotional or psychological issues. That’s a strange 
tactic,
and I for one am very glad that it’s now in the open. Trying to suggest that 
there is
emotional trauma is a good way to undermine someone’s confidence. And the way 
this was
done was to use the fallacy of the undistributed middle; which is:

James could be a liar
James could have poor memory or low emotional intelligence
James might be emotionally traumatised
James’ statements therefore don’t line up with the facts

In fact, James in my view is none of those things. Frankly, it would be 
laughable to
think that someone who deals with life and death situations in an ER for as 
long as
James has would be as emotionally traumatised as Jimmy suggests. And nothing in
James’ emails or public utterances has been crazy, and everything he’s written 
so far
is level-headed and attempted to deal with facts and events. Possibly James got
some things wrong, but that doesn’t make him any of the alternatives given by 
Jimmy.

Furthermore, Jimmy’s language (“liar”, “low emotional intelligence”, etc.) is 
not 
language I would expect to see in an email attempting to reconcile and hold a 
reasonable discussion. Imagine that James was someone who did have, as Jimmy 
said,
“low emotional intelligence” or who is “emotionally traumatised”. I wonder what 
the
effect on them when they get an email like this from a powerful person who 
helped
remove the individual from a hard-fought for position within a movement that 
person
holds dear and is dedicated to working on?

As for the drama - Jimmy can hardly be complaining about drama. Calling someone 
a
liar, which he has done publicly now a few times, can possibly be excused the 
first
time as an outburst due to a highly stressful situation. When it is said over 
and
over, and inside “private” communications then it needs to be called out as 
publicly
as possible. 

So Erik, Peter did a very difficult thing. In fact, it’s very brave because it 
leaves 
him open to accusations that he was “leaking” private correspondence. If Peter 
reveals 
it, then he knows some will see it poorly. Yet that email was unsolicited. None 
of the
information in that email is private, except for the appalling way that Jimmy 
wrote it.
There’s nothing in that email that Jimmy couldn’t have stated publicly. Except, 
of
course, if he’d written that directly to the mailing list there would have been 
an
uproar because it was out of line and manipulative. 

I am incredibly surprised by this behaviour, and deeply saddened by it. It’s 
not acceptable. 

Chris
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: A conversation?

[jytdog]

Jimmy, a lot of us are bewildered and are finding it very hard to
understand, why you continue to spin and distract.  I do understand that
your current strategy is to pin a bunch of this on Damon. That is not going
to fly.

You are not accountable to anyone, Jimmy.  That you can write things like
what you write below to this whole list, is a testament to that.  That is
not good for anyone.  Not you, and not the movement.

What you apparently cannot see in your email to James, is the arrogance in
it, and that the certainty that you are correct and James is incorrect,
dressed in nice clothes.  Wikipedia is a laboratory of human behavior,
where all too often we all watch people flounder and persist in IDHT
behavior.  You apparently cannot see how transparent your behavior is.

I cannot understand why you continue digging.

Outside the sea of perception - here are three facts -  both you and
Patricio lost a boatload of credibility by misrepresenting the board's
stance in November. That was incredibly damaging to the movement.  None of
you have done anything in public to address that.

Here is my perception - your refusal in particular to deal in a
straightforward manner with James' dismissal and the whole KE debacle has
further made anything you say hard for me to believe.  I believe this is
true for a growing number of people.

My preference would be that you all pivot, disclose what has gone on over
the last year or so, and apologize.  I do not see that anywhere on the
horizon.

Why?  It is transparent to me, that it is because neither you nor the board
is accountable to anyone.  You all can behave as you did, and talk now
about that as you are talking now, and ... nothing happens.  Asking you to
be straightforward, has no effect.

I intend to work with others to make a significant number of board seats
elected.  This is coming down to a matter of power; we cannot rely on
values.



On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 4:25 AM, Jimmy Wales 
wrote:

> On 3/10/16 8:18 AM, Benjamin Lees wrote:
> > I was glad when I saw Jimbo indicate he was reaching out to James.  At
> > the risk of sounding hopelessly naive, maybe Jimbo should send James
> > another email, this time extending a clearer olive branch.  If we're
> > past the point of no return on that, then so be it, but I would be
> > happy to know that after three months of talking about and at each
> > other, you guys _sincerely_ tried talking to each other.
>
> I agree completely.  My email, which seems so horrifying to a few
> people, was meant exactly as that.  The truth is, I am genuinely
> bewildered and finding it very hard to understand why James says things
> that the entire rest of the board find contrary to fact.
>
> There is nothing horrible about encouraging him to think about whether
> emotion has blinded him.  When so many other people who know the facts
> are telling you that you have it wrong, it's a good idea to pause and
> reflect.
>
> And yes, it would have been more charitable and kind to include other
> options in that email.  I wrote it as an opening to a dialogue, not as a
> formal statement of position to be analyzed in public.  I invite people
> to think whether Pete's publishing of it was done in the interests of
> healing and harmony, rather than to further inflame and create drama.
>
> There's a lot more to respond to on wikimedia-l, and I may do so this
> weekend.  But there's one thing that is worth saying quite strongly:
> There was never a project at the Wikimedia Foundation to build a search
> engine to compete with Google.  This has been confirmed by engineers
> working in that area.  I have been very straightforward in telling
> people what I know about it, and I have not seen any evidence that the
> people who have told me what happened have lied to me about that.
>
> What there was, and this has become clear only recently, was a proposal
> by Damon, passed around with great cloak-and-dagger, with his ideas
> about how we could and should do that.  Those ideas never got traction
> and never made it to the board level.  What was proposed to the board
> was an investment in internal search and discovery.
>
> There's also the side issue - and I don't mean it is unimportant, I mean
> it is a side issue - of the language in the Knight Foundation some of
> which apparently survived from Damon's early brainstorms.  I am not
> happy about that language, but my understanding is that the Knight
> Foundation is fine, that they understood and understand that the
> deliverables in the grant - which is what matters - are modest and
> reasonable as an exploration of what we should do next in this area.
>
> --Jimbo
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: A conversation?

[Anthony Cole]

Jimmy, your ymail is still going into my gmail spam.

It's time you released that email Sarah reminded you about, above.

I agree with Oliver's characterisation of your tone in that email to Peter
and James. I'm very disappointed to see Erik putting down Pete for exposing
the gargoyle behind the mask, rather than nailing you for the insulting
salvo you launched at James, in secret, where you thought no one would ever
know; and suggesting we all just calm down and leave the resolution to the
chair and a professional mediator. As if.

Per others above and me elsewhere, [1] please vacate the "founder's seat"
now, and run for a community seat at the next community selection.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Jimbo_Wales/Archive_202#Your_role_as_spokesperson_for_the_Wikimedia_movement

Anthony Cole


On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 6:05 PM, Michel Vuijlsteke 
wrote:

> ...this is about that mail of yours to James that was going to be
> published, right?
>
> On 10 March 2016 at 11:01, jimmy wales  wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > Indeed George I agree with everything you have said about the internal
> > effects of lack of transparency and openness.  Assuming I and other board
> > members who continue to press for full openness about the James situation
> >  are eventually successful this will all become more clear.
> >
> >
> > Sent from my Samsung device
> >
> >  Original message 
> > From: George Herbert 
> > Date: 2016/03/10  9:49 AM  (GMT+00:00)
> > To: Wikimedia Mailing List 
> > Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: A conversation?
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > > On Mar 10, 2016, at 1:25 AM, Jimmy Wales 
> > wrote:
> > > ...
> > > Those ideas never got traction
> > > and never made it to the board level. ...
> >
> > I don't think you are lying or being deceptive, but it seems apparent in
> > the various half-explanations that it did, to James, who either got
> mangled
> > explanations and assumed worse or heard worse from someone incorrectly.
> > Thence to mistrust.
> >
> > Assuming nobody is evil or insane, we have clear evidence and now open
> > admissions of communications breakdowns at several levels and confused,
> > contradictory explanations about who thought what secrecy was required
> and
> > why.
> >
> > It seems like those fed upon each other into misunderstandings and
> > mistrust.
> >
> > Have you not considered that lack of transparency and openness would have
> > the same internal effect as external?
> >
> >
> > George William Herbert
> > Sent from my iPhone
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>
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[Wikimedia-l] Affiliate-selected Board seats update

[Chris Keating]

Dear all,

The deadline for nominations in the Affiliate Selected Board Seats process
passed on Tuesday, and 10 candidates have been nominated:

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliate-selected_Board_seats/2016/Nominations

This is more candidates than any previous affiliate/chapter-selected
process, and I am pleased to note that 4 of the candidates are women and 5
are from countries not in North American or Western Europe. All candidates
who have received one or more endorsements from voting organisations by 23
March will be added to the ballot for the election.

While only Chapters and the single Thematic Organization have a vote in
this election, all community members are invited to participate by asking
questions to the candidates, here:

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliate-selected_Board_seats/2016/Questions

Help translating candidate statements into other languages is also much
appreciated.

(For more details about this process, please see here:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliate-selected_Board_seats/2016 )

Many thanks,

Chris Keating
(one of the election facilitators)
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] “Reliable”, “Notable”, and “Encyclopaedic” Sources for Automated Solvers for FreeCell

[geni]

On 10 March 2016 at 12:22, Shlomi Fish  wrote:
> Hello Peter,
>
> On Tue, 8 Mar 2016 17:36:02 +0200
> "Peter Southwood"  wrote:
>
>> If you get it published off Wikipedia then it becomes a reference and someone
>> else can mention it on Wikipedia
>
> Published where , how, why, what, and when? What forms of publishing are
> acceptable for using as a Wikipedia reference?
>
> Regards,
>
> Shlomi Fish
>

Anything that meets the requirements of:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Identifying_reliable_sources

In your case you would be looking at peer reviewed journals, retro
game magazines or perhaps someone publishing a book through a
reputable publisher on microsoft's games.


-- 
geni

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] “Reliable”, “Notable”, and “Encyclopaedic” Sources for Automated Solvers for FreeCell

[Shlomi Fish]

Hello Peter,

On Tue, 8 Mar 2016 17:36:02 +0200
"Peter Southwood"  wrote:

> If you get it published off Wikipedia then it becomes a reference and someone
> else can mention it on Wikipedia 

Published where , how, why, what, and when? What forms of publishing are
acceptable for using as a Wikipedia reference?

Regards,

Shlomi Fish

> Cheers,
> Peter
> 

-- 
-
Shlomi Fish   http://www.shlomifish.org/
My Photos - http://www.flickr.com/photos/shlomif/

Larry Wall’s pure‐Perl code is faster than Assembly.
— http://www.shlomifish.org/humour/bits/facts/Larry-Wall/

Please reply to list if it's a mailing list post - http://shlom.in/reply .

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] “Reliable”, “Notable”, and “Encyclopaedic” Sources for Automated Solvers for FreeCell

[Shlomi Fish]

On Tue, 08 Mar 2016 16:08:17 +0100
"Lionel Allorge (lionel.allo...@lunerouge.org)" 
wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> > I see. Thanks for the information (though I'm still frustrated it took this
> > list so long to give me a reply). I guess I won't be adding information
> > about the solvers to the FreeCell article after all. It's your loss,
> > really.  
> 
> You should mention this information on the talk page of the article :
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:FreeCell
> 

which information?

Regards,

Shlomi Fish

> My two cents.
> 



-- 
-
Shlomi Fish   http://www.shlomifish.org/
Buffy Factoids - http://www.shlomifish.org/humour/bits/facts/Buffy/

By the time Chuck Norris found out who John Galt is, Summer Glau already had
sex with him.
— http://www.shlomifish.org/humour/bits/facts/Summer-Glau/

Please reply to list if it's a mailing list post - http://shlom.in/reply .

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: A conversation?

[jimmy wales]

Yes.  When I can publish I will.


Sent from my Samsung device

 Original message 
From: Michel Vuijlsteke  
Date: 2016/03/10  10:05 AM  (GMT+00:00) 
To: Wikimedia Mailing List  
Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: A conversation? 

...this is about that mail of yours to James that was going to be
published, right?

On 10 March 2016 at 11:01, jimmy wales  wrote:

>
>
> Indeed George I agree with everything you have said about the internal
> effects of lack of transparency and openness.  Assuming I and other board
> members who continue to press for full openness about the James situation
>  are eventually successful this will all become more clear.
>
>
> Sent from my Samsung device
>
>  Original message 
> From: George Herbert 
> Date: 2016/03/10  9:49 AM  (GMT+00:00)
> To: Wikimedia Mailing List 
> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: A conversation?
>
>
>
>
>
> > On Mar 10, 2016, at 1:25 AM, Jimmy Wales 
> wrote:
> > ...
> > Those ideas never got traction
> > and never made it to the board level. ...
>
> I don't think you are lying or being deceptive, but it seems apparent in
> the various half-explanations that it did, to James, who either got mangled
> explanations and assumed worse or heard worse from someone incorrectly.
> Thence to mistrust.
>
> Assuming nobody is evil or insane, we have clear evidence and now open
> admissions of communications breakdowns at several levels and confused,
> contradictory explanations about who thought what secrecy was required and
> why.
>
> It seems like those fed upon each other into misunderstandings and
> mistrust.
>
> Have you not considered that lack of transparency and openness would have
> the same internal effect as external?
>
>
> George William Herbert
> Sent from my iPhone
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: A conversation?

[Michel Vuijlsteke]

...this is about that mail of yours to James that was going to be
published, right?

On 10 March 2016 at 11:01, jimmy wales  wrote:

>
>
> Indeed George I agree with everything you have said about the internal
> effects of lack of transparency and openness.  Assuming I and other board
> members who continue to press for full openness about the James situation
>  are eventually successful this will all become more clear.
>
>
> Sent from my Samsung device
>
>  Original message 
> From: George Herbert 
> Date: 2016/03/10  9:49 AM  (GMT+00:00)
> To: Wikimedia Mailing List 
> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: A conversation?
>
>
>
>
>
> > On Mar 10, 2016, at 1:25 AM, Jimmy Wales 
> wrote:
> > ...
> > Those ideas never got traction
> > and never made it to the board level. ...
>
> I don't think you are lying or being deceptive, but it seems apparent in
> the various half-explanations that it did, to James, who either got mangled
> explanations and assumed worse or heard worse from someone incorrectly.
> Thence to mistrust.
>
> Assuming nobody is evil or insane, we have clear evidence and now open
> admissions of communications breakdowns at several levels and confused,
> contradictory explanations about who thought what secrecy was required and
> why.
>
> It seems like those fed upon each other into misunderstandings and
> mistrust.
>
> Have you not considered that lack of transparency and openness would have
> the same internal effect as external?
>
>
> George William Herbert
> Sent from my iPhone
> ___
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: A conversation?

[jimmy wales]

Indeed George I agree with everything you have said about the internal effects 
of lack of transparency and openness.  Assuming I and other board members who 
continue to press for full openness about the James situation  are eventually 
successful this will all become more clear.


Sent from my Samsung device

 Original message 
From: George Herbert  
Date: 2016/03/10  9:49 AM  (GMT+00:00) 
To: Wikimedia Mailing List  
Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: A conversation? 





> On Mar 10, 2016, at 1:25 AM, Jimmy Wales  wrote:
> ...
> Those ideas never got traction
> and never made it to the board level. ...

I don't think you are lying or being deceptive, but it seems apparent in the 
various half-explanations that it did, to James, who either got mangled 
explanations and assumed worse or heard worse from someone incorrectly.  Thence 
to mistrust.

Assuming nobody is evil or insane, we have clear evidence and now open 
admissions of communications breakdowns at several levels and confused, 
contradictory explanations about who thought what secrecy was required and why.

It seems like those fed upon each other into misunderstandings and mistrust.

Have you not considered that lack of transparency and openness would have the 
same internal effect as external?
 

George William Herbert
Sent from my iPhone
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: A conversation?

[George Herbert]

> On Mar 10, 2016, at 1:25 AM, Jimmy Wales  wrote:
> ...
> Those ideas never got traction
> and never made it to the board level. ...

I don't think you are lying or being deceptive, but it seems apparent in the 
various half-explanations that it did, to James, who either got mangled 
explanations and assumed worse or heard worse from someone incorrectly.  Thence 
to mistrust.

Assuming nobody is evil or insane, we have clear evidence and now open 
admissions of communications breakdowns at several levels and confused, 
contradictory explanations about who thought what secrecy was required and why.

It seems like those fed upon each other into misunderstandings and mistrust.

Have you not considered that lack of transparency and openness would have the 
same internal effect as external?
 

George William Herbert
Sent from my iPhone
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] World Mime Day Wiki edit-a-thon

[Ivana Madžarević]

Hi again :)

I just wanted to share with you category on Commons

where you can find or/and contribute with your own or released photos. :)

Regards,

2016-03-04 12:54 GMT+01:00 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&Feminism
> 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.“
>
>


-- 
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.“
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: A conversation?

[Jimmy Wales]

On 3/10/16 8:18 AM, Benjamin Lees wrote:
> I was glad when I saw Jimbo indicate he was reaching out to James.  At
> the risk of sounding hopelessly naive, maybe Jimbo should send James
> another email, this time extending a clearer olive branch.  If we're
> past the point of no return on that, then so be it, but I would be
> happy to know that after three months of talking about and at each
> other, you guys _sincerely_ tried talking to each other.

I agree completely.  My email, which seems so horrifying to a few
people, was meant exactly as that.  The truth is, I am genuinely
bewildered and finding it very hard to understand why James says things
that the entire rest of the board find contrary to fact.

There is nothing horrible about encouraging him to think about whether
emotion has blinded him.  When so many other people who know the facts
are telling you that you have it wrong, it's a good idea to pause and
reflect.

And yes, it would have been more charitable and kind to include other
options in that email.  I wrote it as an opening to a dialogue, not as a
formal statement of position to be analyzed in public.  I invite people
to think whether Pete's publishing of it was done in the interests of
healing and harmony, rather than to further inflame and create drama.

There's a lot more to respond to on wikimedia-l, and I may do so this
weekend.  But there's one thing that is worth saying quite strongly:
There was never a project at the Wikimedia Foundation to build a search
engine to compete with Google.  This has been confirmed by engineers
working in that area.  I have been very straightforward in telling
people what I know about it, and I have not seen any evidence that the
people who have told me what happened have lied to me about that.

What there was, and this has become clear only recently, was a proposal
by Damon, passed around with great cloak-and-dagger, with his ideas
about how we could and should do that.  Those ideas never got traction
and never made it to the board level.  What was proposed to the board
was an investment in internal search and discovery.

There's also the side issue - and I don't mean it is unimportant, I mean
it is a side issue - of the language in the Knight Foundation some of
which apparently survived from Damon's early brainstorms.  I am not
happy about that language, but my understanding is that the Knight
Foundation is fine, that they understood and understand that the
deliverables in the grant - which is what matters - are modest and
reasonable as an exploration of what we should do next in this area.

--Jimbo

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: A conversation?

[Erik Moeller]

2016-03-09 23:21 GMT-08:00 SarahSV :

>> And no, I'm not a fan how things have played out so far, and I'm not
>> arguing for just moving on without addressing remaining grievances.
>> But this isn't how we should move forward.

> Erik, what do you see as the alternative?

To clarify, I was specifically objecting to the leaked private email,
not to addressing the issues with James' ejection from the Board. I
know James and worked with him especially on the Wikivoyage migration;
I understand well why he is so widely trusted and why this matter has
cut deep wounds.

I would suggest the following.

* I would still ask to give the Board a little time to finalize their
decision regarding the interim ED, which seems imminent. That means
not just announcing, but also some time to provide support and
orientation in that person's first weeks. (E.g., the interim ED will
need to build a relationship with the Board itself.)

* Until then, I suggest focusing on documenting rather than debating.
What Molly did with the timeline is a fine example of "collaborative
journalism" and the Wikimedia community is at its best when it
collects the facts in an NPOV manner. Coordinating this on a single
page can reduce the forest fire nature of this conflict. I strongly
recommend avoiding one-sided leaks of private emails and such for the
reasons I gave.

* Once the Board has a bit of bandwidth, the Chair of the Board
(Patricio) really is the primary person to look to for bringing
closure to this matter. Dealing with issues with current and former
Board members is _precisely_ the kind of thing a Board Chair needs to
demonstrate leadership on, because it can't be done by committee.

* To do this in a manner that's both transparent and consistent with
community norms, I've suggested engaging a professional facilitator.
(I believe Pete has also said so several times.) There could be a
private/public meeting, where there's a private discussion with James
and the facilitator, and a public joint statement that comes out of
this, even if it ends up being "agree to disagree". It's the
facilitator's job that this comes to pass.

* That public bit could lead into a general public discussion with the
Board. I would recommend a metrics meeting style format (video + IRC
backchannel) with a wiki page to submit questions beforehand, and +1
them.

If that plan seems sensible, I would also suggest Jimmy disengage on
the James Heilman matter from here on and leave this issue to the
Board Chair to bring closure to.

Hope that helps. I know this has all been exhausting for lots of
folks, so please take it in the spirit in which it is intended, i.e.
to help bring closure to it in a step-by-step way.

Warmly,
Erik

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Easier browsing of Board minutes, agendas, etc., plus summaries

[Virgilio A. P. Machado]

Another curious observation vis-a-vis a lot that has been written on this
list

WMF Board Minutes -December 9, 2015
Board of Trustees present: Patricio Lorente (Chair), Alice Wiegand
(Vice-Chair), Frieda Brioschi, James Heilman, Dariusz Jemielniak, Guy
Kawasaki, Jan-Bart de Vreede, Denny Vrandečić, Jimmy Wales, and Stu West.
Board Search
the Board Governance Committee recommended two final candidates for the two
open seats: Kelly Battles and Arnnon Geshuri. The recommended candidates
came with extensive backgrounds in finance and HR. The Board *unanimously*
[my bold] approved resolutions appointing Kelly Battles and Arnnon Geshuri
to the Board for two years terms commencing in January 2016.

Virgilio A. P. Machado
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: A conversation?

[Benjamin Lees]

I was glad when I saw Jimbo indicate he was reaching out to James.  At
the risk of sounding hopelessly naive, maybe Jimbo should send James
another email, this time extending a clearer olive branch.  If we're
past the point of no return on that, then so be it, but I would be
happy to know that after three months of talking about and at each
other, you guys _sincerely_ tried talking to each other.

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