Wikimedia Foundation Board Governance Committee/2016 competence matrix
The Board Governance Committee has discussed the competence matrix for the Board of Trustees, including the desirable areas, as well as the areas currently covered. While the discussions held through May 2016 have not been fully conclusive (and will be continued through August), we have identified the following areas:
- Software, IT teams, agile, hacking
- Future of tech: big data, AI
- HR, organizational diversity, cultural change management
- Academic (esp. quantitative social studies, history of media, etc.)
- Legal (cyberlaw, privacy, IP, copyright)
- Global NGO and community management
- Open source organizations
- Experience from other boards of comparable organizations
- Media for-profit property (such as Huffington Post, NY Times, or CNET)
- Accounting, audit, finance
- Marketing, branding, PR
- Fundraising
- Government, policy making
- Academia (higher education governance, international environment, qualitative approaches, etc.)
This list does not signify equal weights we put to the areas, and it is a combination of currently covered and currently missing areas. Following the Board meeting in April, we have identified the two key areas as most crucial for expert seat covering:
- technology (deep, intimate understanding of how software works, possibly coming from open-source involvement),
- Global organization and community management and change in non-profit world.
Our further discussion and work will focus on prioritizing these areas, as well as working on creating a wide, high-quality poll of candidates.