History of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
The Wikimedia 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 set membership dues, discipline and suspend members (article III), and to amend the corporate bylaws (article VI).
The Board consists of five directors.
First board, June 2004 - June 2005
Two of these 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. See Elections for the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation, 2004 for more information.
The initial trustees (article IV, sec. 2.2.) included the following individuals, three Bomis partners and two (other) Wikipedians:
- Jimbo Wales, Founder of Wikipedia and designated life member, chair
- Michael Davis, trustee, treasurer
- Tim Shell, trustee
- Florence Nibart-Devouard, trustee , vice-chair
- Angela Beesley, trustee, secretary
Second board, July 2005 - Jul 2007
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 reelected. Positions within the board were changed as followed :
- Jimbo Wales, chair
- Michael Davis, treasurer
- Tim Shell, secretary
- Florence Nibart-Devouard, vice-chair
- Angela Beesley, vice-chair
In July 2006, Angela Beesley announced her resignation, to be effective in September 2006.
Erik Möller was elected as Angela Beesley's replacement and joined the Board on September 26, 2006. [1] His term will expire on July 18, 2007 along with the other elected representative. The changed board is as follows:
- Jimbo Wales, chair
- Michael Davis, treasurer
- Tim Shell, secretary
- Florence Nibart-Devouard, vice-chair
- Erik Möller, vice-chair
On 28th October 2006, the Board was reorganized. A major change was the replacement of Jimbo Wales by Florence Nibart-Devouard as chair. Positions within the board were changed as below:
- Florence Nibart-Devouard, Chair
- Jimbo Wales, Chairman Emeritus
- Tim Shell, Vice-Chair
- Michael Davis, Treasurer
- Erik Möller, Executive Secretary
Sorry, buy i have to do that