Resolution:Approving Changes to the Trustee Selection Process
 | This proposal has been approved by the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees. It may not be circumvented, eroded, or ignored by Wikimedia Foundation officers or staff nor local policies of any Wikimedia project. Please note that in the event of any differences in meaning or interpretation between the original English version of this content and a translation, the original English version takes precedence. |
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| This resolution was approved on April 23, 2025. |
Whereas, the Governance Committee has, with input from the rest of the Board of Trustees, been reviewing the processes for selecting Trustees to consider whether they sufficiently meet the Wikimedia Foundation’s governance needs;
Whereas, the Governance Committee has recommended adopting several changes to the trustee selection process, starting in 2025, including:
- producing a more robust list of criteria regarding the Board’s needs in terms of skills and experience to help inform the 2025 process for nominating Community- and Affiliate-selected Trustees, including making rules for disqualification more explicit;
- creating a “cooling off” period before Foundation staff are eligible to run in elections to be nominated as Community- and Affiliate-selected Trustees;
- actively encouraging community members to run in future elections that are held to nominate Community- and Affiliate-selected Trustees; and
- requiring a vote of confidence from the Board in order for any sitting trustee (regardless of selection method) to be eligible for reappointment; and
Whereas, the Governance Committee will continue its review and suggest additional changes to be adopted in the future;
Now, therefore, it is
RESOLVED, that the Board approves the Governance Committee’s recommendations;
RESOLVED, that the Board affirms the Governance Committee’s authority to set the rules for elections to nominate Community- and Affiliate-selected Trustees, including candidate qualification criteria;
RESOLVED, that the Governance Committee will run the process of recruiting candidates; and
RESOLVED, that the Governance Committee will determine the process and criteria for the Board to take a vote of confidence prior to reappointment of sitting trustees.
Approve
- Nataliia Tymkiv (Chair), Kathy Collins (Vice Chair), Lorenzo Losa (Vice Chair), Esra'a Al Shafei, Victoria Doronina, Maciej Nadzikiewicz, Raju Narisetti, Jimmy Wales, Luis Bitenourt-Emilio, Shani Evenstein Sigalov
Not Present
- Mike Peel, Christel Steigenberger
References