Sue Gardner has served as the Wikimedia Foundation's Executive Director since 2007. In March 2013, Sue announced that she is beginning to wrap up her time as the head of the Wikimedia Foundation. In May 2014, the Wikimedia Foundation announced that Lila Tretikov will take over as Executive Director starting June 1, 2014 and Sue will transition to a special advisor role.

This page is designed as a forum for questions (an exit interview) from the Wikimedia community. Please submit questions below before 23 May 2014, 12:01 UTC.

It is ultimately at the discretion of the person departing which questions to answer. Wikimedia community members may indicate support for a particular question by signing below it. What the final format of these questions and answers will look like is currently unknown.

What do you see as the Wikimedia Foundation's greatest challenge in the coming years? edit

Submitted
06:08, 22 April 2013 (UTC)
Endorsements
MZMcBride (talk)
PiRSquared17 (talk)
Thehelpfulone
Legoktm (talk)
 Klaas|Z4␟V
Titopao (talk)
Slventura (talk)
Hfordsa (talk)
Tarunno (talk)
Wwllmm (talk)
Rodrigo Padula (talk)
Varnent (talk)(COI)
~ Seb35 [^_^]
Elvey (talk)
[your name here! sign with three tildes (~~~)]

What do you believe was the biggest or best change that you've implemented during your tenure at the Wikimedia Foundation? edit

Submitted
06:19, 23 April 2013 (UTC)
Endorsements
Killiondude (talk)
MZMcBride (talk)
PiRSquared17 (talk)
Thehelpfulone
Legoktm (talk)
WhatamIdoing (talk)
Titopao (talk)
--MF-W
Hfordsa (talk)
--Tom (talk)
-Mh7kJ (talk)
-- ɑηsuмaη «Talk»
Tarunno (talk)
Rodrigo Padula (talk)
~ Seb35 [^_^]
[your name here! sign with three tildes (~~~)]

What aspects of the relationship between volunteers and the Foundation, its board and its staff, do you wish were better understood? edit

Submitted
20:47, 23 April 2013 (UTC)
Endorsements
WhatamIdoing (talk)
MZMcBride (talk)
Thehelpfulone
Legoktm (talk)
Titopao (talk)
PiRSquared17 (talk)
--MF-W
Slventura (talk)
Hfordsa (talk)
--Tom (talk)
-Mh7kJ (talk)
Anthonyhcole (talk)
sats (talk)
Tarunno (talk)
Varnent (talk)(COI)
Djembayz (talk)
Elvey (talk)
[your name here! sign with three tildes (~~~)]

What does "leadership" mean to you, if there is a wide span of interests? edit

Submitted
16:43, 24 April 2013 (UTC)
Endorsements
angel54_5 (talk)
Didn't mean to sign any, but this is a good one. :) --Nemo
Thanx. I think she values true questions...:)--Angel54 5 (talk)
--MF-W
[your name here! sign with three tildes (~~~)]

How should Wikimedia handle controversial content? edit

Submitted
02:27, 25 April 2013 (UTC)
Endorsements
MZMcBride (talk)
WhatamIdoing (talk)
 Klaas|Z4␟V
Anthonyhcole (talk)
rubin16 (talk)
Titopao (talk)
Pundit (talk)
PiRSquared17 (talk)
Hfordsa (talk)
sats (talk)
Wwllmm (talk)
[your name here! sign with three tildes (~~~)]

If you could give advice to your successor (and other future EDs), what would it be? edit

Submitted
16:28, 25 April 2013 (UTC)
Endorsements
PiRSquared17 (talk)
 Klaas|Z4␟V
Wwllmm (talk)
~ Seb35 [^_^]
[your name here! sign with three tildes (~~~)]

What do you think is the most important quality for your successor to have? edit

Submitted
11:40, 26 April 2013 (UTC)
Endorsements
 Klaas|Z4␟V
Hfordsa (talk)
Wwllmm (talk)
[your name here! sign with three tildes (~~~)]

What was the biggest mistake you think you made during your time as ED? edit

Submitted
11:46, 17 May 2013 (UTC)
Endorsements
Deryck C.
Hfordsa (talk)
Elitre (talk)
Tobias talk · contrib
-Mh7kJ (talk)
-- ɑηsuмaη «Talk»
--Rsrikanth05 (talk)
Varnent (talk)(COI) (would be more interested in knowing what you and WMF learned from it)
~ Seb35 [^_^]
[your name here! sign with three tildes (~~~)]

You mentioned "free and open internet" as a reason for departure. Do you think it is achievable in developing countries? Why? How? edit

Submitted
20:45, 20 May 2013 (UTC)
Endorsements
Taweethaも (talk)
PiRSquared17 (talk)
[your name here! sign with three tildes (~~~)]

Is there anything particular you wanted to change in the system but you could not? If yes, what and why? edit

Submitted
07:00, 14 August 2013 (UTC)
Endorsements
-- ɑηsuмaη «Talk»
PiRSquared17 (talk)
Wwllmm (talk)
--Rsrikanth05 (talk)
Varnent (talk)(COI)
Conny (talk) 16:21, 15 May 2014 (UTC)Reply
[your name here! sign with three tildes (~~~)]

Do you still see contributions to Wikipedia as a public service and will you still hand out barnstars? edit

Submitted
08:02, 9 May 2014 (UTC)
Endorsements
Jane023 (talk)
[your name here! sign with three tildes (~~~)]

What are your thoughts on Wikimedia Commons? edit

Submitted
11:05, 11 May 2014 (UTC)
Endorsements
Bidgee (Talk)
Elvey (talk)
[your name here! sign with three tildes (~~~)]

Why I should be interested in what you think? edit

Submitted
23:36, 15 May 2014 (UTC)
Endorsements
Marcus Cyron (talk)
[your name here! sign with three tildes (~~~)]

What are your thoughts on the future of the Wikimedia movement affiliates model? edit

Submitted
16:09, 16 May 2014 (UTC)
Endorsements
Varnent (talk)(COI)
Saqib (talk)
Elvey (talk)
[your name here! sign with three tildes (~~~)]

Do you think Chapters are still relevant to the movement? edit

Submitted
12:34, 22 May 2014 (UTC)
Endorsements
Bidgee (Talk)
[your name here! sign with three tildes (~~~)]


If a genie granted you a 3 wikimedia-related wishes, you'd wish for... edit

Submitted
22:17, 27 May 2014 (UTC)
Endorsements
Elvey (talk)
[your name here! sign with three tildes (~~~)]

What do you think of the new Superprotect permission, its first use and the reactions of the communities? edit

Submitted
12:24, 17 August 2014 (UTC)
Endorsements
Trofobi (talk)
Sänger S.G (talk)
[your name here! sign with three tildes (~~~)]