Board of Trustees: Difference between revisions

From Wikimedia Foundation Governance Wiki
Content deleted Content added
Phroziac (talk | contribs)
change to nicer picture of angela
mNo edit summary
Tag: 2017 source edit
 
(423 intermediate revisions by 80 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{MovedToCorpSite|role/board}}
{{BoardLang}}

The Wikimedia [[Board of Trustees]] manages the foundation and supervises the disposition and solicitation of donations. The Board of Trustees are the ultimate corporate authority in the Wikimedia Foundation Inc. (article IV, sec. 1 of the [[Wikimedia Foundation bylaws]]).

The Board has the power to direct the activities of the foundation. It also has the authority to set membership dues, discipline and suspend members (article III), and to amend the corporate bylaws (article VI).

The Board consists of five directors. Since June 2004, two of these seats have been elected. In each case, voting was open to all active users who were eligible for suffrage. The latest vote was held over three weeks in June and July 2005; the representatives elected that July will retain their seats for two years.

The Board holds regular meetings. All Board meetings can be reviewed on the [[Meetings]] page.

The current Board members are:
*[[#Jimmy Wales|Jimmy Wales]], Chair
*[[#Florence Nibart-Devouard|Florence Nibart-Devouard]]
*[[#Angela Beesley|Angela Beesley]]
*[[#Michael Davis|Michael Davis]], Treasurer
*[[#Tim Shell|Tim Shell]], Secretary

==Jimmy Wales==
[[Image:Jimbo_Wales_in_France.jpg|thumb|200px|Jimmy Wales in Paris.]]
Jimmy Wales is an [[:en:Internet|Internet]] [[:en:entrepreneur|entrepreneur]] and [[:en:wiki|wiki]] enthusiast, and founder of the Wikipedia project.

Jimmy was born in [[:en:Huntsville, Alabama|Huntsville]], [[:en:Alabama|Alabama]] in 1966, and is a graduate of [[:en:Auburn University|Auburn University]] and the [[:en:University of Alabama|University of Alabama]]. He worked as Research Director at Chicago Options Associates, a futures and options trading firm then located in [[:en:Chicago|Chicago]]. In the mid-[[:en:1990s|1990s]] he started [[:en:Bomis|Bomis]], a search portal focusing on aspects of [[:en:pop culture|pop culture]], one of the first users of the freely licensed data of the [[:en:Open Directory Project|Open Directory Project]].

In 1999, Jimmy had the concept of a freely distributable encyclopedia and founded [[:en:Nupedia|Nupedia]], by hiring philosopher Larry Sanger as editor-in-chief and assigning 2 programmers to write software for it. Nupedia failed, perhaps due to being a top-down cathedral model, as opposed to Wikipedia, which is the ultimate bazaar. After 2 years of working with the Nupedia concept, that team opened Wikipedia to help channel content into Nupedia; Wikipedia became an instant success, but not in the envisioned way, and Nupedia was shut down. In 2003, Jimmy set up the Wikimedia Foundation, a Tampa-based non-profit organization, to support Wikipedia and its sister projects.

In 2004, Jimmy founded [[:en:Wikia|Wikia]], a wiki-style [[:en:search engine|search engine]]. He was appointed a fellow of Harvard Law School's [[w:Berkman Center for Internet and Society]] in mid-2005, and in October of 2005 joined the Board of Directors of [[w:Socialtext|Socialtext]], a provider of wiki technology to businesses. He lives in [[:en:St. Petersburg, Florida|St. Petersburg]], [[:en:Florida|Florida]] with his wife Christine and his daughter Kira.<br clear="all">

==Florence Nibart-Devouard==
[[Image:Anthere.jpg|thumb|170px|left|Florence]]
Florence Nibart-Devouard serves as one of two User Representives to the Board.

Florence was born in [[:en:Versailles|Versailles]] (France). She grew up in Grenoble, and has been living since then in several French cities, as well as Antwerpen in Belgium and Tempe in Arizona.<br>
She is a [[w:en:Grandes Ecoles|engineer]] in Agronomy ([http://www.ensaia.inpl-nancy.fr/ ENSAIA] and also holds a DEA in Genetics and biotechnologies ([http://www.inpl-nancy.fr/index.htm INPL]). She has been working in public research, first in flower plant genetic improvement, and second in microbiology to study the feasability of polluted soil bioremediation. She is currently employed in a french firm, to conceive decision-making tools in sustainable agriculture. She joined the Wikipedia adventure in February 2002 and is known as a contributor under the pseudonym ''Anthere''.

Florence is 37, and lives in [[w:en:Clermont Ferrand|Clermont Ferrand]] with her husband Bertrand and her three children, Anne-Gaëlle aged seven, William nine and Thomas zero.

<br clear="all">

==Angela Beesley==
[[Image:Angela Beesley from Wikicities.jpg|thumb|196px|Angela in Germany]]
Angela Beesley serves as one of two User Representatives to the Board.

Angela was born in Norwich, England in 1977 and grew up in Maidstone and Colchester. She holds an honours degree in psychology. During a year out from Aston University, and for a period after graduating, Angela worked as a research assistant in the Aston Dyslexia and Developmental Assessment Centre. She then worked for the National Foundation for Educational Research, based in Berkshire, as a developer of the national statutory assessments for England and Wales.

Angela works on the [http://www.wikicities.com/ Wikicities] wiki hosting project, which she founded with Jimmy Wales in October 2004, and serves on the Advisory Board of [http://ourmedia.org Ourmedia].<br clear="all">

==Michael Davis==
Michael Davis is a graduate of [[:en:Williams College|Williams College]] and the [[:en:University of Chicago|University of Chicago]].

Formerly the CEO of Chicago Options Associates, a futures and options trading firm in Chicago, Michael is now retired and lives in St. Petersburg, Florida.<br clear="all">

==Tim Shell==
[[Image:TimShell2.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Tim Shell, La Jolla California, 2003]]
Tim Shell is an internet entrepreneur with an interest in self-organization, and decentralized order, as exemplified by Wikipedia. In 1996 he was pursuing his degree in computer science when he decided to chuck it and go into business, joining up with Jimmy Wales to start Bomis.

Tim has lived in Chicago, Florida, and San Diego, and currently resides in Las Vegas.
__NOTOC__
__NOEDITSECTION__

Latest revision as of 11:31, 1 June 2023