Great news. Congratulations to Katherine.
All the best,
Isaac
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.
-----Original Message-----
From: James Heilman <jmh...@gmail.com>
Sender: "Wikimedia-l" <wikimedia-l-boun...@lists.wikimedia.org>Date: Fri, 24
Jun 2016 11:26:09
To: Wikimedia Mailing List<wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org>
Reply-To: Wikimedia Mailing List <wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org>
Cc:
wikimediaannounc...@lists.wikimedia.org<wikimediaannounc...@lists.wikimedia.org>
Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Board appointment of
Executive Director
Wonderful news. Katherine is an amazing selection. Congrats and thanks to
all those involved.
James
On Fri, Jun 24, 2016 at 11:15 AM, Patricio Lorente <
patricio.lore...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Dear all,
>
> It is our great pleasure to share that during the Board meeting at
> Wikimania 2016 in Esino Lario, we unanimously voted to appoint Katherine
> Maher as Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation. This is effective
> as of our resolution dated Thursday, 23 June.
>
> Katherine served as interim Executive Director for the past three months,
> during which time she consistently and repeatedly demonstrated the kind of
> leadership our organization needs. She is deeply committed to our
> movement’s values, and brings expertise in civic technology and
> international development that will be an asset to the Wikimedia Foundation
> and the movement.
>
> We came to this conclusion after an intensive discovery process led by the
> ED search committee. Our decision was also informed by direct feedback from
> staff and community, and our own experience working closely with Katherine.
>
> In March, we assembled an Executive Director search committee[1]
> consisting of four Board members¹ who were chosen to represent different
> perspectives and capacities.² Additionally, the Board asked the
> Foundation’s Chief Advancement Officer Lisa Gruwell to represent the
> executive team, and Foundation staff member Katie Horn was selected by her
> peers as someone who could represent staff perspectives. The committee was
> charged with keeping the process on track and on time, engaging important
> stakeholders, and facilitating transparency in communications. Their first
> tasks were to identify a search firm, and define the position description.
> You can review the committee’s updates on Meta.[2]
>
> The committee recruited Viewcrest Advisors,³ to identify our leadership
> needs and design a hiring process. Kathleen Yazbak of Viewcrest worked with
> the committee to conduct interviews with every Foundation department, the
> executive, the Board, and nearly 20 additional one-on-one interviews with
> staff. Kathleen attended the Wikimedia Conference in Berlin, collecting
> feedback from community members and affiliates. The committee launched a
> community survey in June, receiving more than 1,600 responses about the
> qualities needed in the next ED; they also asked for feedback on Meta.[3]
> Taking all of this into account, the transition team developed a profile
> and requirements for the next Executive Director that reflect our values
> and our communities.
>
> Throughout this process, the Board and the transition team received very
> clear and often unsolicited feedback from both staff and community members
> that Katherine embodies the values of our movement and the traits needed in
> our next ED. This feedback was only reinforced by the latest Foundation
> engagement survey results, which showed a strong shift toward renewed trust
> in leadership. After taking this all into account, and considering what the
> organization needs at this moment of transition, we moved to appoint
> Katherine now.
>
> In just three months as interim ED, Katherine worked with the organization
> and community to make huge strides in management, execution, and
> transparency. She brought much-needed clarity to our strategic direction,
> and mobilized the organization to clearly communicate that direction
> through this year’s annual plan.
>
> After her appointment, she worked with the leadership team to swiftly
> identify the organization’s priorities during the transition period and
> execute against them, setting ambitious but reachable targets. Under
> Katherine’s leadership, the Foundation submitted its annual plan to the
> Funds Dissemination Committee, leaving ample time for community feedback
> and discussion.
>
> Katherine is an excellent fit for our movement. She is longtime advocate
> for global open communities, culture, and technology. She was the
> Foundation’s Chief Communications Officer from April 2014 until she was
> appointed interim ED in March. Throughout her career she has focused on
> freedom of expression, access to information, and digital rights;
> supporting the efforts of people around the world to deepen participation,
> advance transparency, and strengthen their communities through her work
> with UNICEF, National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, and
> the World Bank. If you don’t already know Katherine, you can learn more
> about her on Meta.[4]
>
> With this appointment, we feel strongly that the Foundation has the
> leadership and clarity to move forward. We wish Katherine the very best in
> this role, and the Board looks forward to continuing to work with her.
>
> We would also like to thank the many community members and Foundation
> staff who actively shared thoughtful, highly valuable feedback. Without
> that, we would not have been able to come to this decision.
>
> Please join us in congratulating Katherine!
>
> Patricio Lorente, outgoing Board Chair
>
> Christophe Henner, incoming Board Chair
>
>
> 1.
>
> Alice Wiegand (Committee Chair), Dariusz Jemielniak, Guy Kawasaki,
> Kelly Battles.
> 2.
>
> For example, community and governance experience, appointed and
> community-selected seats, and US and non-US perspectives.
> 3.
>
> The committee reviewed 7 different firms and unanimously picked
> Viewcrest.
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
>
> [1]
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Executive_Director_Transition_Team/2016
>
> [2 ]
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Executive_Director_Transition_Team/2016/Updates
>
> [3]
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Executive_Director_Transition_Team/2016/Community_input
>
> [4] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Katherine_(WMF)
> --
>
>
>
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>
--
James Heilman
MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian
The Wikipedia Open Textbook of Medicine
www.opentextbookofmedicine.com
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