[Foundation-l] [Announcement] update in board of trustees membership

Mon Dec 17 11:20:39 UTC 2007

Lovely - except I seem to have missed the announcement of where, if anywhere WMF-related, Erik is going from here. Was this announced later on in the thread?

Or is that proclamation being delayed? Or is it just none of our business?

CMOdi profanum vulgus et arceo.> To: foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org> From: Anthere9 at yahoo.com> Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2007 04:01:27 +0100> Subject: [Foundation-l] [Announcement] update in board of trustees membership> > Dear community,> > As chair of the board of trustees of Wikimedia Foundation, I would like > to announce that Erik Moeller has decided to resign from the board two > days ago. Erik decided to reorient his activities in other directions, > and I hope we'll continue to be able to work together constructively > from here on.> > A few days ago, Lodewijk pointed out to me that I forgot to announce > clearly to this list that Michael Davis was no more board member, as > planned at last october board meeting. As a reminder, Michael Davis had > expressed the wish to move on and leave his seat for a while already. He > officially quit the seat end of november. Michael has helped greatly in > the first years of existence of the Foundation, so I hope you will have > a thank you thought for him. You hardly ever heard of him, but he was > really helpful a several critical moments in the life of the Foundation.> > > The board is consequently now back at 5 members, Kat Welsh, Frieda > Brioschi, Jan-Bart de Vreede, Jimmy Wales and myself.> Michael seat is more or less reserved to our future treasurer, or if we > can not find the treasurer as board member, at least to a > skilled-financial oriented person.> > Erik's seat is open again. The board agreed to propose the seat to a > community member, and agreed on a person. The person has been approached > and has not given any answer yet. There is no real urgency anyway.> The seat will be an appointed one, up for new elections in a few months.> > In a situation where we will welcome many more staff members not from > the community, I think it is doubly important that the board membership > be from the community. I will personally support an increase of the > membership, with a focus on members coming from the community. I'd love > as well having a seat or more being a representant from the chapters.> Recently, there has been discussions over the limited professional > skills of board members. At the same time, we are developing a staff > mostly made of highly skilled professionals.> > I feel there are two paths for the future. Either we keep a board mostly > made of community members (elected or appointed), who may not be > top-notch professionals, who can do mistakes, such as forgetting to do a > background check, such as not being able to do an audit in 1 week, such > as not signing the killer-deal with Google, but who can breath and pee > wikimedia projects, dedicate their full energy to a project they love, > without trying to put their own interest in front. A decentralized > organization where chapters will have more room, authority and leadership.> > Or we get a board mostly made of big shots, famous, rich, or very > skilled (all things potentially beneficial), but who just *do not get > it*. A centralized organization, very powerful, but also very top-down.> > My heart leans toward the first position of course. But at the same > time, I am aware we are now playing in the big room and current board > members may not be of sufficient strength to resist the huge wave.> > I do not share the same optimism than Jimbo with regards to Knol. I > think Knol is probably our biggest threat since the creation of > Wikipedia. I really mean the biggest. Maybe not so much the project > itself, but the competition it will create, the PR consequences, the > financial tsunami, the confusion in people minds (free as in free speech > or as in free of charge). Many parties are trying to influence us, to > buy us, and conflicts of interest are becoming the rule rather than the > exception. There are power struggles on the path.> > Rather than spending time bugging the board about whether we did a > background check on Carolyn 18 months ago (we did not, period), I'd like > the current community to realize that we are currently at a crossroad. > The staff will hopefully stabilize and be successful under the > leadership of Sue. I trust her to have this strength. But the > organization in its whole is currently oscillating. We can try the path > of the community, at the risk of being engulfed by the big ones. We can > try the path of letting our future in the hands of the big shots, at the > risk of loosing what is making us unique.> > > > Best> > Florence> > > > > _______________________________________________> foundation-l mailing list> foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org> Unsubscribe: http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
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