Wikimedia Foundation Board Governance Committee/Minutes 16-06-2017

June 16, 2017

Wikimedia Foundation Board Governance Committee Meeting

• Location: Online (via Hangout)
• Committee members present: Nataliia Tymkiv (Committee Chair), Christophe Henner (Board Chair), Kelly Battles, Dariusz Jemielniak
• Advisory Committee members present: Kat Walsh, James Heilman
• Non-committee members present: Katherine Maher (Executive Director), María Sefidari (Vice Chair), Stephen LaPorte, Anna Stillwell, Katie Francis

Nataliia confirmed that a quorum was present, and called the meeting to order at 10:35 AM PT.

Board Recruitment

The meeting focused on the recruitment for the three open Board seats. This year, there are two seats open for Board appointment, and next year there will be another open seat at the conclusion of Alice's term. The Governance Committee had previously developed three profiles, and is now matching candidates for these roles.

The Governance Committee reviewed a list of possible candidates. Members of the Governance Committee, along with Katherine, Anna, María, and the BGC advisors, have rated their top candidates. Committee members shared personal feedback on the potential candidates. The committee discussed the ratings of the top candidates. The committee discussed prioritizing candidates with significant background and experience in important emerging regions that are currently not represented on the Board of Trustees. This is an important component of the candidate profiles, but a Governance Committee member noted that most of the current Board members already do come from outside of the United States, albeit from Europe.

The group discussed how top candidates fit the agreed upon profiles, including skills and diversity of background. Additionally, Anna shared some suggestions about using the position profiles to ensure a consistent and fair interview process.

One candidate has already started the process to interview with the Governance Committee, and confirmed a potential interest in joining the Board of Trustees.

As next steps, Katherine and Anna will process the Governance Committee's rating on the potential candidates, match top candidates against with the Board profiles, and share this rating, along with more background material on potential top candidates, with the Governance Committee.

The meeting concluded around 10:55 AM PT.