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History of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees/azb

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The Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees manage the nonprofit and supervise the disposition and solicitation of nonprofit 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 amend the corporate bylaws (article VI). Full responsibilities and procedures of the Board are laid out in the Board Handbook.

The Board currently has six seats selected in some fashion by the Wikimedia community, plus one seat designated for Jimmy Wales. Together these trustees, with the help of community brainstorming and outside recruiters, choose four other people (not always from within the community) to fill out the expertise needed on the Board. At full membership, the Board thus includes eleven Trustees, although some seats may not be occupied at the moment.

This is primarily a historical page about the past composition of the Board. For current news and discussions, see the Board portal summarizing its recent work and committees, and a noticeboard for posting requests or sharing proposed resolutions with the Board.

مقاله اصلی: Former Board of Trustees members (on Wikimedia Foundation site)

Current board

مقاله‌های اصلی: Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees, en:Wikimedia Foundation#Board of Trustees, and Board of Trustees - Current members (on Wikimedia Foundation site)

اؤتک

Original Board: 2003

Board of Trustees original members
 
Jimmy Wales
 
Tim Shell
 
Michael Davis


The original founding three members of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees were Jimmy Wales, Tim Shell, and Michael Davis.

The Foundation was created in 2003, with three trustees. It was planned that two members would be added to this list, to represent the community.

Board #1: June 2004 – June 2005

Two of the elected seats were filled via a project-wide vote in June 2004. This election was open to all active users who had made their first edit on any Wikimedia project at least 90 days before they voted.

The initial trustees (article IV, sec. 2.2.) included the following individuals, three Bomis partners, and two (other) Wikipedians:

Board #2: July 2005 – September 2006

 
Board at Wikimania 2006 (August 2006), from left to right, Tim Shell, Florence Nibart-Devouard, Jimmy Wales, Michael Davis, Angela Beesley.

The first Board of Trustees changed the duration of the two elections position from one to two years. The notion of volunteer user representative and contributor user representative were dropped. This election was open to all active users who had made their first edit on any Wikimedia project at least 90 days before they voted. It took place directly on the website. See Elections for the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation, 2005 for more information.

The second elections took place in June–July 2005 and resulted in the two members' representatives being re-elected. Positions within the board were changed as followed:

In July 2006, Angela Beesley announced her resignation, effective September 2006. In August 2006, Tim Shell announced his plan to resign in the near future.

Board #3: September 2006 – November 2006

The third Board had a very short duration, and was characterized by a strong reorganization. Erik Möller was elected as Angela Beesley's replacement and joined the Board on September 26 (resolution). His term was set up to expire on July 18, 2007, as he was simply completing Angela's term. The changed board was as follows:

On 28 October 2006, the board was reorganized. A major change was the replacement of Jimmy Wales by Florence Nibart-Devouard as chair. Positions on the Board were changed as below:

This Board decided on the expansion of its membership, the replacement of Tim Shell, a change of term duration of elected members, and the removal of lifelong term for Jimmy Wales. To limit the risk of a huge trusteeship turnover in June 2007 (where Florence, Erik, and the future two additional trustees term is due), it was decided that Florence would be appointed from June 2007 till June 2008.

Board #4: December 2006 – July 2007

The Board was expanded according to the Resolution:Board expansion. Consequently three new members were appointed on 8 December: one to replace Tim Shell, who stepped down effective 15 December 2006, and two as the result of expansion. After this expansion, four trustees were effectively elected, while three are "appointed". Terms of appointment were thenceforth one year, elected, two years. The two appointed trustees, Kat Walsh and Oscar van Dillen, made it numbers 2 and 3 at the September 2006 board elections.

Members were:

Terms of members ended:

Board #5: July 2007 – February 2008

New elections occur in June 2007, at the term of which Erik Möller and Kat Walsh were re-elected and were on the Board until the 2009 elections. Oscar van Dillen's seat was taken by Frieda Brioschi. In October 2007, Florence Nibart-Devouard (chair), Jan-Bart de Vreede (vice chair), Erik Möller (secretary) were reconfirmed in their positions.

Members were:

Board #6: February 2008 – June 2008

Erik Möller and Michael Davis resigned from their positions. Michael Snow and Domas Mituzas joined the Board (Mituzas became secretary). Stuart West was appointed as Treasurer on 21 April.

Members were:

Board #7: July 2008 – September 2008

After the 2008 Board elections, a new trustee, Ting Chen was elected to replace Florence Nibart-Devouard, whose term as the chair had expired; Michael Snow was appointed the new Board chairman during the 2008 Wikimania, to remain chair until the Wikimedia Chapters appointed their own trustees. Arne Klempert became an affiliate-nominated trustee. Frieda Brioschi resigned in September.

Members were:

Board #8: October 2008 – July 2009

After the 2008 Board restructuring, in May 2009 WMF chapters selected and the board approved the appointment of Michael Snow and Arne Klempert.

Members were:

Board #9: August 2009 – March 2010

Kat Walsh was re-elected to replace Domas Mituzas. Ting Chen was reelected. Samuel Klein was elected. Matt Halprin was appointed a Trustee, with a term to expire in December 2009.

Members were:

Board #10: March 2010 – July 2010

Bishakha Datta was appointed in March.

Members were:

Board #11: July 2010 – July 2012

In 2010, Michael Snow left the Board and Phoebe Ayers was selected by the Chapters in his place. See WMF blog announcement and press release (with Q&A) for more. In 2011, Ting Chen, Samuel Klein, and Kat Walsh were reelected by the community.

Members were:

Board #12: July 2012 – July 2013

In 2012, Patricio Lorente and Alice Wiegand were appointed to the affiliate-nominated seats previously held by Arne Klempert and Phoebe Ayers. Kat Walsh was chosen to be the new chair, Bishakha Datta to be the new secretary.

Members were:

* Jimmy Wales (talk • contribs • email) (Founder's seat)
* Kat Walsh (talk • contribs • email) Chair (community-nominated trustee)
* Jan-Bart de Vreede (talk • contribs • email) Vice Chair
* Stu West (talk • contribs • email)
* Bishakha Datta (talk • contribs • email)
* Ting Chen (talk • contribs • email) until April 2013 (community-nominated)
* Matt Halprin (talk • contribs • email) until 1 January 2013, succeeded by Ana Toni on 1 July 2013
* Samuel Klein (talk • contribs • email) (community-nominated)
* Patricio Lorente (talk • contribs • email) (affiliate-nominated trustee)
* Alice Wiegand (talk • contribs • email) (affiliate-nominated trustee)

Later that year the Bylaws were amended so that Treasurer and Secretary officerships could be held by staff. Garfield Byrd was chosen as Treasurer, and Geoff Brigham as Secretary.

August 2013

NB: Now that we are starting to regularly appoint new Trustees around January 1, and have staggered election and selection of Trustees, it may not make sense to define and number Boards from July to July. A continuous list of Trustees, updated as needed with a comment explaining the transition, makes more sense. And this better matches the highly informative chart below.

In April, Ting Chen resigned from the Board in order to apply for the post of WMF executive director. In June, Ana Toni was appointed to the Board starting July 1, filling the seat vacated by Matt Halprin, and the community-nominated Phoebe Ayers and María Sefidari and reelected Samuel Klein to the Board, starting August 7.

Starting in August, the Board's composition is:

* Jimmy Wales (talk • contribs • email) (Founder's seat)
* Jan-Bart de Vreede (talk • contribs • email) Chair
* Phoebe Ayers (talk • contribs • email) Vice Chair (community-nominated)
* Stu West (talk • contribs • email) (former Treasurer)
* Bishakha Datta (talk • contribs • email)
* Samuel Klein (talk • contribs • email) (community-nominated)
* Patricio Lorente (talk • contribs • email) (affiliate-nominated)
* Alice Wiegand (talk • contribs • email) (affiliate-nominated)
* Ana Toni left August 2014
* María Sefidari (talk • contribs • email) (community-nominated)

Garfield Byrd (staff member) is Treasurer, Geoff Brigham (staff member) is Secretary, see foundation:Resolution:Appointment of Foundation Staff Officers.

August 2014

See also Wikimedia Foundation board summary 2014

Board members:

January 2015

See also Wikimedia Foundation board summary 2015

Board members:

April 2015

Board members:

July 2015

Board members:

January 2016

Board members:

February 2016

Board members:

April 2016

Board members:

July 2016

Board members:

January 2017

Board members:

Chart

From the Board Chart template:
User:Doc JamesUser:DennyUser:PunditUser:Guy KawasakiUser:FriedaUser:LyzzyUser:RaystormUser:PhoebeUser:LyzzyUser:Patricio.lorenteuser:BishdattaUser:PhoebeUser:SjUser:AklUser:MhalprinUser:SjUser:MidomUser:WingUser:Michael SnowUser:MidomUser:FriedaUser:Stuuser:anthereUser:MindspillageUser:OscarUser:MindspillageUser:EloquenceUser:Jan-BartUser:AngelaUser:AnthereUser:MdavisUser:TimShellUser:Jimbo WalesSpecial:MyLanguage/Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
User:KritzolinaUser:NadzikUser:NTymkiv (WMF)User:Esh77User:Mike PeelUser:LaurentiusUser:VictoriaUser:RosiestepUser:PunditUser:RaystormUser:Doc JamesUser:PunditUser:Esh77w:en:Esra'a Al Shafeiw:en:Raju NarisettiUser:NTymkiv (WMF)User:SchisteUser:Doc JamesArnnon GeshuriKelly BattlesUser:Guy KawasakiUser:FriedaUser:Patricio.lorenteUser:LyzzyUser:RaystormUser:DennyUser:PunditArnnon GeshuriKelly BattlesUser:Jimbo WalesSpecial:MyLanguage/Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

See also

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