Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

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The Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees oversees the Wikimedia Foundation and its work, as its ultimate corporate authority.

Structure

The Board was formed in 2003 with three Trustees, and since 2020 consists of up to 16 Trustees. It appoints officers from the Trustees: a Chair, up to two Vice Chairs, and committee chairs. The Board appoints non-Trustee officers: a Chief Executive Officer, a Treasurer, and Secretary. The work of the Board partly involves resolutions and votes. Other work is delegated to a number of committees covering matters such as Board Governance, Audit, Human Resources, the Product Committee and the Community Affairs Committee.

The final composition of the Board is:

• one founder's seat (reserved for Jimmy Wales);
• seven seats appointed by the rest of the Board for specific expertise selected in a process guided by the Wikimedia Foundation Board Governance Committee
• eight seats sourced from the wider Wikimedia community at Wikimedia Foundation elections/Board elections

Contacting the Board

There is a Board noticeboard for sharing requests and recommendations. The Board can be contacted directly by posting to the noticeboard. The Wikimedia Foundation itself can be contacted in a number of ways as outlined on their contact page.

Current members

Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees questions and answers session at Wikimania 2015

Photo	Name	Seat	Role	Term ends	Notes	Home wiki
	Jimmy Wales (User:Jimbo Wales)	Founder	Chair Emeritus	December 31, 2021	Reappointed on 7 November 2015	English Wikipedia
	Dr. Dariusz Jemielniak (User:Pundit)	Community	HR Committee chair		Appointed on 10 August 2017, term extended 20 April 2020, re-extended August 26, 2021	Polish Wikipedia
	Dr. James Heilman (User:Doc James)	Community	Special projects committee chair		Appointed on 10 August 2017, term extended 20 April 2020, re-extended August 26, 2021	English Wikipedia
	Nataliia Tymkiv (User:NTymkiv (WMF))	Affiliates	Acting Chair	Wikimania 2022	Reelected in June 2019	Ukrainian Wikipedia
	Shani Evenstein Sigalov (User:Shani (WMF))	Affiliates	Acting Vice Chair; Community Affairs Committee chair	Wikimania 2022	Elected in June 2019	Hebrew Wikipedia
	Esra'a Al Shafei	Appointed	Acting Vice Chair; Product Committee chair	Wikimania 2023	Reappointed on 18 September 2020
	Lisa Lewin	Appointed	Board Governance Committee chair	November 1, 2021	Appointed on 30 January 2019, extended August 26, 2021
	Raju Narisetti	Appointed	CEO Transition Committee chair	Wikimania 2023	Reappointed on 18 September 2020
	Tanya Capuano	Appointed	Audit Committee chair	Wikimania 2024	Reappointed on 26 August 2021

Notes:

Former members

See also: History of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

From the Board Chart template:

Committees

• Wikimedia Foundation Audit Committee (Charter)
• Wikimedia Foundation Board Governance Committee (Charter)
• Wikimedia Foundation Human Resources Committee (Charter)
• Wikimedia Foundation Special Projects Committee (Scope)
• Wikimedia Foundation Product Committee (Charter)
• Wikimedia Foundation Community Affairs Committee (Charter)
• Funds Dissemination Committee
  • Current liaisons: Dariusz Jemielniak and Esra'a Al Shafei
• Affiliations Committee (Charter)
  • Current liaisons: Shani Evenstein Sigalov, James Heilman, and Nataliia Tymkiv (alternate)
• Elections Committee
  • Current liaison: Esra'a Al Shafei
• Language committee (Charter)
  • Current liaison: James Heilman

Further reading

• List of Board meetings (with minutes)
• List of Board resolutions
• Board deliberations process
• Composition of the Board of Trustees
• Presentations by Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees members
• Essays and discussions on ideal membership:
  • What makes a good Trustee?
  • Traits of a great WMF Trustee
  • The ideal Wikimedia board of trustees
  • Ideal candidate profile (2019)