Re: WMF Board of Trustees: Board Selection Process Update

"she never really had a chance to make that point during that particular
public discussion because she was interrupted"

I really don't like this framing. She's the one that chose to end that
conversation with "you can change things when you're the CEO".

On Mon, Aug 10, 2026, 3:22 p.m. Risker via Wikimedia-l <
[email protected]> wrote:

> Not everything is a conspiracy, folks.  Raju was about to "term out", to
> be mandatorily retired from the WMF Board due to term limits, as of January
> 1, 2027; originally, his term would have ended on October 1, 2026. That
> 'end of term' date only moved because the Board was realigning all of its
> term start/end dates to January 1. Those of us who have been around for a
> long time remember that the term start dates used to be a day or two before
> Wikimania started each year, but that was a moveable date and made it more
> difficult to manage.  Since the term start date has moved to January 1, any
> appointments that have been made all wind up ending on January 1 of
> whatever year, regardless of when the person is appointed. There is only
> one further scheduled board meeting before Raju's term will naturally
> expire. Raju has been a volunteer member of various boards (including
> several that are aligned with our own mission in various ways) for longer
> than Wikipedia has existed. Why is it a big deal that he's stepping away
> one meeting before he has to?
>
> I think it is also disengenuous to take out of context the statement by
> Maryana Iskander. She is right that the Board was pretty deeply divided
> when she arrived. One of her mandates was to change that, but she never
> really had a chance to make that point during that particular public
> discussion because she was interrupted. Prior to Maryana's arrival, only
> rarely did appointed board members interact with the community in any way.
> This has changed drastically: since 2022, appointed board members have been
> actively participating in community events, both global (e.g. Wikimania)
> and at regional conferences. This even extends to members of the Endowment
> board, several of whom attended and participated throughout the
> Paris WIkimania. This was a pretty major cultural change on the part of the
> Board, and I think it is one that should be welcomed and encouraged.
>
> I agree with many in this thread that it would be good to have increased
> leadership training.  At one point, some of that took place at Wikimedia
> Summits, but that was geared entirely toward affiliates and was explicitly
> not related to developing leadership candidates outside of the affiliate
> sphere.  Some of that continues to happen indirectly with various
> volunteer-based committees, but to some extent people need to have shown
> some leadership talent before they get onto those committees.  I think we
> need to do better.
>
> Risker/Anne
>
>
>
> On Mon, 10 Aug 2026 at 13:15, Tilman Bayer via Wikimedia-l <
> [email protected]> wrote:
>
>> To explain Luis' slightly cryptic "more board news today" comment:
>> Raju Narisetti, the chair of the Board Governance Committee - on
>> whose behalf Margo sent the message that opened this thread, and which had
>> led last year's controversial selection process changes and candidate
>> removals
>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2025-10-20/Special_report>
>> - suddenly announced his departure from the board the other day (see also
>> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard#c-HaeB-20260810080100-Boud-20260810054700>
>> ).
>>
>> Also, to keep conversations connected: Worth being aware that on July 31,
>> a different Board Governance Committee member (i.e. not its now departed
>> chair) posted an update
>> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Foundation_elections/2027/Proposed_eligibility_criteria#c-Nadzik-20260731153200-Response_from_the_Board_Governance_Committee_to_community_feedback> regarding
>> the eligibility criteria on Meta ("We realize that our proposal needs more
>> work to achieve these goals").
>>
>> Regards, Tilman
>>
>> PS: Not to zoom too much into particular personnel examples, but this
>> whole debate might be an occasion for the Board to explain and juxtapose
>> its eligibility criteria for the other (appointed, i.e. non-community
>> selected) trustee positions as well. Also in light of the previous WMF
>> CEO's comments (as reported here
>> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk%3A2025_WMF_Board_reform_petition#c-Barkeep49-20251019133900-ViridianPenguin-20251019030700>)
>> that the community-selected and (non-community) appointed trustees form
>> "effectively two boards (not that they were at odds necessarily but
>> operating in almost parallel) and how hard that made her work as a CEO". I
>> am not one of those who think that, say, every trustee must have edited
>> Wikipedia or that we need ideological litmus tests (in the sense, say, that
>> you cannot be a high-ranking executive in Rupert Murdoch's News Corp while
>> serving on the board). But at a time where some seem to be pushing for WMF
>> to compromise on its longstanding free knowledge ideals and guiding
>> principles in order to serve the organization's own narrow financial
>> interests, it's worth asking how much we know about the appointed Board
>> members' pre-existing stances about such ideals and principles.
>>
>> On Sun, Aug 9, 2026 at 1:38 PM Luis Villa via Wikimedia-l <
>> [email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>> Since there is more board news today, sending a long-drafted followup:
>>>
>>> On Fri, Jul 24, 2026 at 7:45 PM Erik Moeller via Wikimedia-l <
>>> [email protected]> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Wikimedia Foundation needs folks with relevant governance experience
>>>> for an organization of this scale, but it also needs voices that
>>>> challenge it and push it in new directions on the Board. The trick is
>>>> to find the right balance between those goals. Requiring that people
>>>> advance along an internal functionary ladder towards the possibility
>>>> of standing for trusteeship is not that balance; it is the kind of
>>>> requirement structure you find in institutions that drift towards
>>>> stagnancy and self-reinforcement, often out of institutionalized fear.
>>>>
>>>> A compromise proposal:
>>>> * Change the word "must" to "should" when it comes to the governance
>>>> experience criteria
>>>> * Require that candidates indicate comparable or equivalent experience
>>>> in their candidate profile if they do not meet these criteria.
>>>>
>>>
>>> To echo and add to what Erik said: Governance of an organization like
>>> WMF is a wickedly complex problem, requiring many different skillsets. It's
>>> not enough to have good *ideas* - you have to have the *skills* to make
>>> those ideas happen: how to understand an auditor's report; how to think
>>> through the human politics of governance; employee management skills; etc.
>>> etc.
>>>
>>> So I think tightening skills and experience requirements is pretty
>>> reasonable.
>>>
>>> I like Erik's suggestions, and would add: WMF should invest in board
>>> skills development, not just restrict those who don't yet have the skills.
>>> Among other things, this could be formal training through services like
>>> https://boardsource.org/; or experiential learning through board
>>> observer seats/fellowships like Haas does for their b-school students:
>>> https://haas.berkeley.edu/cssl/programs-events/board-fellows/ The
>>> former would be good skills development for the movement, and the latter
>>> would double as a transparency move.
>>>
>>> I mean *invest*, not "commit to invest"; the Foundation should do a few
>>> years of this investment and *then* put in stricter rules, since otherwise
>>> the temptation for new board members to say "this is not necessary" and
>>> pull the drawbridge up after them would be very strong.
>>>
>>> I would also add, beating my recent drum: much of the energy that goes
>>> into Foundation board questions should instead be going into making the
>>> Foundation less central to the movement. That goes for the board -- who
>>> should be following through on the "infrastructure for open" commitments of
>>> 2030, not re-centralizing, so that the exact composition of the board is
>>> less important -- and for many movement leaders: *you can be a movement
>>> leader without being on the WMF board*. There are so many ways to lead.
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