[Foundation-l] [Announcement] New CFOO: Veronique Kessler

Wed Jan 30 00:51:41 UTC 2008

On Jan 29, 2008 4:35 PM, Sue Gardner <sgardner at wikimedia.org> wrote:
> Hi folks,
>
> I'm delighted to announce that Veronique Kessler will be the Wikimedia
> Foundation's new Chief Financial and Operating Officer (CFOO). Veronique
> will start with us February 4.
>
> Veronique has 15 years of very strong managerial and financial
> experience working with a wide range of organizations. She joins us from
> the non-profit Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, where she was
> Director of Finance and, before that, Controller. Prior to JCCSF, she
> did financial consulting for clients such as Stanford University,
> brokerage firm Charles Schwab, and the venture capital and investment
> firm Berkeley International Capital Corporation. And before that, she
> was Controller for the Walden International Investment Group, financial
> reporting manager for the private investment company The Fremont Group,
> a senior accountant with the Wells Fargo bank, and a senior auditor with
> Deloitte & Touche, one of the world's "big four" audit firms.
>
> Veronique is a CPA (certified public accountant), with a B.A. in
> Economics from the University of California at Santa Cruz. She has a
> strong and varied international background including work with Hong
> Kong, China, Indonesia, Taiwan and Singapore, and she speaks fluent French.
>
> The role of the Wikimedia Foundation's CFOO is to oversee our financial
> and operational activities. In general, Veronique will ensure that the
> Foundation operates smoothly, effectively, and in compliance with 501(c)
> standards and generally-accepted accounting principles.
>
> She will report to me. The heads of business development (Kul Wadhwa)
> and fundraising (hiring in progress) will report to her, as will our
> office manager (Erica Ortega), my assistant (Cheryl Owens, formerly
> Steffen), and our accountant (currently Oleta McHenry, in St. Petersburg).
>
> The Chief Financial and Operating Officer is a critical position for the
> Wikimedia Foundation, and I am thrilled we have found such a
> highly-qualified person to handle this important role. Veronique's
> delighted to be joining us – she's excited by the importance and global
> impact of our work, and is looking forward to being part of the
> open-source and free culture movement.
>
> Please join me in welcoming her to the staff of the Wikimedia Foundation.
>
> Thanks,
> Sue
>
>
>
> Sue Gardner
> Executive Director
> Wikimedia Foundation

Great news.  Hopefully this, and the long-awaited release of the
financial statement, will put a lot of people's minds at ease on the
Foundations' finances.

-- 
-george william herbert
george.herbert at gmail.com