Press releases/WMF Board Election July 2012


 * Wikimedia Foundation Announces 2012-13 Board of Trustees and Elected Officers at Wikimania in Washington DC

Washington, DC -- July 12, 2012 -- The Wikimedia Foundation today announced recent appointments and elected officers for the 2012-13 Board of Trustees. Every year at Wikimania, the annual gathering of Wikimedia contributors from around the world, the Wikimedia Board appoints its officers for the coming year, and this year’s appointments were announced in Washington, DC.

This year, Kat Walsh was appointed Chair of the Board, Jan-Bart de Vreede was re-appointed Vice-chair, Stuart West was re-appointed as Board Treasurer and Bishakha Datta becomes Board Secretary. The Board expressed its great thanks to former Board Chair Ting Chen, as well as outgoing trustees Arne Klempert and Phoebe Ayers. Their leadership has strengthened and nurtured the growth of the worldwide Wikimedia movement.

"I am honored to have been chosen to chair the Board in the coming year,” said Kat Walsh, Chairman of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees. “I want to thank Ting Chen for his service in his period as Chair, and I look forward to working closely with him as I take on this new role. It's an important time in the history of the Wikimedia Foundation and the Wikimedia movement: I look forward to leading the Board in the year ahead."

“It’s been a pleasure to serve the Wikimedia movement as Chair of the Board of Trustees,” said Ting Chen. “Since I took on the role of Chair we’ve worked with our global community and the Foundation to introduce an ambitious five-year plan to increase the diversity and overall population of our community, while also establishing long-term financial plans to ensure sustainability for our movement and our projects. Our Board has matured and strengthened, and I’m proud of the tireless work of my colleagues.”

There are 10 seats on the Board and according to the Foundation's bylaws, three members are elected by the Wikimedia community, two are selected by the Wikimedia chapters, the Founder seat is held by Jimmy Wales, and four members are appointed by the Board itself to provide additional, specific expertise.

The Foundation is happy to welcome its two newest members of the Board, Patricio Lorente and Alice Wiegand, who were elected to the Board by the Wikimedia chapters in May 2012. The chapters seat selection process was created in April 2008, in order to demonstrate the Board's commitment to the chapters as an important player in the fulfillment of the Wikimedia mission.

Patricio Lorente is the former President of Wikimedia Argentina. He has worked as Project Manager of the Association for Social Development in Argentina and he currently serves as General ProSecretary of the National University of La Plata. Alice Wiegand is personal aide to the Mayor of Meerbusch, Germany. She has recently begun her Master’s studies in Public Policy and Governance.


 * The Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees for 2012-2013:
 * Kat Walsh, Board Chair (current term until July 2013)
 * Jan-Bart de Vreede, Vice Chair (current term until December 2013)
 * Stuart West, Treasurer (current term until December 2013)
 * Bishakha Datta, Secretary (current term until December 2012)
 * Jimmy Wales, Founder
 * Ting Chen (current term until 2013)
 * Samuel Klein (current term until July 2013)
 * Matt Halprin (current term until December 2012)
 * Alice Wiegand (current term until July 2014)
 * Patricio Lorente (current term until July 2014)


 * About Wikimania

http://wikimania.org

Wikimania 2012 is being held in Washington, DC, USA, where more than 1000 Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia advocates, researchers and educators from 87 countries are in attendance. The previous Wikimanias were held in Frankfurt, Germany (2005), Cambridge, USA (2006), Taipei, Taiwan (2007), Alexandria, Egypt (2008), Buenos Aires, Argentina (2009), Gdańsk, Poland (2010), and Haifa, Israel (2011).


 * About the Wikimedia Foundation

http://wikimediafoundation.org http://blog.wikimedia.org

The Wikimedia Foundation is the non-profit organization that operates Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. According to comScore Media Metrix, Wikipedia and the other projects operated by the Wikimedia Foundation receive more than 492 million unique visitors per month, making them the fifth-most popular web property world-wide (comScore, May 2012). Available in 285 languages, Wikipedia contains more than 22 million articles contributed by a global volunteer community of more than 85,000 people. Based in San Francisco, California, the Wikimedia Foundation is an audited, 501(c)(3) charity that is funded primarily through donations and grants.


 * Press contact
 * Jay Walsh
 * Head of Communications
 * Wikimedia Foundation
 * Tel. +1 415-860-8166
 * jwalshwikimedia.org