Wikimedia Foundation elections/Board elections/2015/Candidates

The election ended 31 May 2015. No more votes will be accepted. The results were announced on 5 June 2015. Please consider submitting any feedback regarding the 2015 election on the election's post mortem page.

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This page contains candidates for the 2015 Wikimedia Foundation Board elections. Members of the 2015 Wikimedia Foundation Elections Committee, or the Wikimedia Foundation staff, will verify wiki based candidate requirements. Wikimedia Foundation staff will verify identification and later verify offline candidate requirements. Verification of wiki based requirements and identification will be identified on this page. Offline candidate requirements will be verified at a later stage.

Candidates who are not eligible to run in this election will be archived on a subpage.

Withdrawn candidate is archived here.

The three individuals elected will join these members of the Board of Trustees:

Name	Languages	Location
Jan-Bart de Vreede (Jan-Bart)		Netherlands
Patricio Lorente (Patricio.lorente)	es-N, en-3, it-2	Argentina
Frieda Brioschi (Frieda)	it-N, en-3, es-1	Italy
Guy Kawasaki		California, United States
Jimmy Wales (Jimbo Wales)		England
Stu West (Stu)	en-N, es-1, ru-1	California, United States
Alice Wiegand (Lyzzy)	de-N, en-2	Germany

Houcemeddine Turki (Csisc)

Csisc (talk • meta edits • global user summary • CA • AE)

Candidate details	Houcemeddine Turki, wearing Black jacket and jeans and located in the centre of audience, on a commemorial photo at WikiArabia 2015 Personal: Name: Houcemeddine Turki Age: 21 Location: Sfax, Tunisia Languages: aeb-N, ar-4, fr-4, en-3, it-1, de-0 Editorial: Wikimedian since: 17 March 2009 Active wikis: frwiki, incubator, enwiki, metawiki
Statement	I am Houcemeddine Turki, born in May 24th, 1994 in Sfax (Tunisia) and I am currently B.Sc. Student, Faculty of Medicine of Sfax, University of Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia. I work regularly on the projects of Wikimedia Foundation and submit some works to them. I am also creating some Wikimedia Projects in Tunisian since 2011 and participating to the French Wikiconcours, the English WikiCup... By that, I had deep knowledge about the structure of Wikimedia Foundation and the faced problems. I am deeply interested in trying to find solutions to them and that is why I had chosen to be a candidate to these elections. In fact, I think that I can do more and deepen my experience if elected. If elected, I will try to ameliorate Wikimedia Projects: Promoting the standardization of non-standard languages by scientists and scholars in order to use them in Wikimedia Projects Promoting the inactive and Endangered Wiki Projects by monitoring their administrators Promoting the TranslateWiki System and letting it more performant Promoting the Wikipedia policies through the creation of brief, precise, simplified and more intelligible tutorials. Promoting the Education Programme through MOOCs. Promoting the evaluation and the verifiability of the articles of Wikipedia Promoting the inactive projects in Wikis through monitoring Trying to ameliorate main important articles in Wikipedia
Verification	Identity verification performed by Wikimedia Foundation staff and eligibility verification performed by the Elections Committee
	Eligibility: Verified Verified by: Varnent (talk)(COI) 01:45, 22 April 2015 (UTC)	Identification: Verified Verified by: Jalexander--WMF 19:35, 29 April 2015 (UTC)

Sailesh Patnaik (Saileshpat)

Saileshpat (talk • meta edits • global user summary • CA • AE)

Candidate details	At Train the Trainer program, Bengaluru 2015. Personal: Name: Sailesh Patnaik Age: 18 Location: Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India Languages: or-N, en-4 , hi-4 ,bn-1 Editorial: Wikimedian since: 2010 , Registered : 2012 Active wikis: Oriya Wikipedia, English Wikipedia and Hindi Wikipedia
Statement	I am Sailesh Patnaik, born in 28th August 1996 at Bhuabneswar, am a student and have passed my higher secondary studies in 2014. I am active in outreach programs and bringing new editors to Wikipedia. Currently am working to bring Odisha tourism under QRpedia project. I had chosen to be a candidate to these elections because I think that I can do more and improve my experience if elected. I will try to promote Wikimedia Projects/Ideology by :- Promoting the Indic language Wikipedias. Creating awareness of Wikipedia at grassroot level. To decrease the gap between foundation and community, and provide resources to the needful volunteers. Encourage and engage various language Wikimedians. Promoting Wikipedia education programs. Collaboration of interwiki projects among various language Wikipedias. Binding every language wikipedia's and promoting their wikimedia projects. Making inactive Wikipedia's live by taking lead and monitoring the volunteers. On Diversity : I hails from India with multilingual knowledge and have various experience in working with indic language community.
Verification	Identity verification performed by Wikimedia Foundation staff and eligibility verification performed by the Elections Committee
	Eligibility: Verified Verified by: Varnent (talk)(COI) 01:45, 22 April 2015 (UTC)	Identification: Verified Verified by: Jalexander--WMF 22:53, 22 April 2015 (UTC)

Dariusz Jemielniak (pundit)

pundit (talk • meta edits • global user summary • CA • AE)

Candidate details	At Wikimania 2014 in London Personal: Name: Dariusz Jemielniak Age: 40 Location: Warsaw (Poland) / Cambridge, MA (US) Languages: pl-N, en-4, ru-1, de-1 Editorial: Wikimedian since: 2006 Active wikis: pl-wiki, meta, en-wiki, commons
Statement	The coming years will be a challenge to Wikimedia (in terms of new technologies, user retention, increasing diversity, directions of content development). I would like to help re-shape our strategy&governance, find good roles for WMF and the chapters, reach out to Academia, as well as de-bureaucratize the movement. My experience: Wikimedia I’ve been elected to chair the FDC for 3 terms. A steward, checkuser/admin/bureaucrat (pl-wiki). Ex-ombudsman. I ran strategy workshops for Wikimedia chapters. Academic I'm a professor of management heading NeRDS. I wrote the first ethnography of Wikipedia (Common Knowledge? Stanford Uni Press). I've had visiting appointments at Cornell, Harvard, Berkeley, MIT. Professional I’m on advisory boards of Copernicus Science Center (20 million USD budget/year), and of English Teaching grants. I’ve advised on strategy professionally, and I've been a mentor/juror in international startup competitions (e.g. Intel Business Challenge, KIICS). On diversity I'm European, I also benefit from other privileges (race, gender etc.). I've lived abroad in the US and Denmark. Still, my awareness of diversity, and the Global South problems is enriched by having grown up in a regime with censorship, and frugally (~30 USD/month). I'm a member of honorary committee of Polish Pride Parade. I hope to be the first elected Board member not from Northern America or Western Europe.
Verification	Identity verification performed by Wikimedia Foundation staff and eligibility verification performed by the Elections Committee
	Eligibility: Verified Verified by: Ruslik (talk) 19:15, 22 April 2015 (UTC)	Identification: Verified Verified by: Jalexander--WMF 22:53, 22 April 2015 (UTC)

Mohamed Ouda (Mohamed Ouda)

Mohamed Ouda (talk • meta edits • global user summary • CA • AE)

Candidate details	At Wikiarabia 2015 in Tunisia Personal: Name: Mohamed Ouda Age: 29 Location: Cairo, Egypt Languages: ar-N – en-3 Editorial: Wikimedian since: 2006 Active wikis: Arabic Wikipedia – Arabic Wikisource – metawiki – commons
Statement	I've been involved in Wikimedia projects since 2006. currently I am admin/bureaucrat , and I am one of the founders of WM Egypt usergroup. I took part in many Wikimedia-related initiatives, such as (Wikipedia Education program in Egypt, Wiki love monuments contest) and I wish to make a cultural diversity in the Board of Trustees If elected my goals will be : Help and support the Wikimedia communities to grow especially in middle east and Africa. Expand collaboration with education and cultural groups Counter the trends of the editor trends study, by experimenting with far reaching changes to software, permissions and community processes.
Verification	Identity verification performed by Wikimedia Foundation staff and eligibility verification performed by the Elections Committee
	Eligibility: Verified Verified by: Varnent (talk)(COI) 03:26, 28 April 2015 (UTC)	Identification: Verified Verified by: Jalexander--WMF 19:28, 29 April 2015 (UTC)

Josh Lim (Sky Harbor)

Sky Harbor (talk • meta edits • global user summary • CA • AE)

Candidate details	Speaking at the 2013 Wikimedia Conference in Milan Personal: Name: Josh Lim Age: 24 Location: Manila (Philippines) / Singapore / Pittsburgh, PA (United States) Languages: en-N, tl/fil-N, es-2/3, pl-2, zh-2, fr-1, ja-1 Editorial: Wikimedian since: 7 April 2005 Active wikis: en.wiki (admin), en.wikivoyage, tl.wiki (bureaucrat), tl.wiktionary (admin), es.wiki, pl.wiki, meta, commons, incubator
Statement	We are at a crossroads both as a movement and as a community. We face the dual challenge of figuring out what we've achieved in the past and also how we ought to move forward. I strongly believe that while we’ve done great things, we have the potential to do more, especially with growing our developing world presence, building diversity, encouraging community growth, guiding our technological advancement, and fostering shared project ownership. In this time of great change I intend to find stronger ways of empowering our communities in the developing world, reinforce the role of affiliates in spreading the movement worldwide, streamline the movement's bureaucracy to respond better to community needs, and work to restore communities’ trust in the Foundation through fostering constructive dialogue. My experience: Wikimedia: I bring ten years' worth of experience with involvement in both Wikipedia and non-Wikipedia projects. I've also presented on Wikimedian community dynamics at different conferences. Governance: I've been a board member of Wikimedia Philippines since 2010 and a member of the Affiliations Committee since 2013. Professional: I was recently the community manager for a prominent Singaporean startup. Diversity: My Wikimedia experiences were shaped in Asia and Eastern Europe, and I am intimately familiar with the movement's challenges and opportunities in the developing world.
Verification	Identity verification performed by Wikimedia Foundation staff and eligibility verification performed by the Elections Committee
	Eligibility: Verified Verified by: Ruslik (talk) 07:36, 28 April 2015 (UTC)	Identification: Verified Verified by: Jalexander--WMF 03:14, 28 April 2015 (UTC)

David Conway (Smerus)

Smerus (talk • meta edits • global user summary • CA • AE)

Candidate details	Smerus exemplifying intelligence and culture Personal: Name: David Conway Age: 65 Location: Kyiv, Ukraine/ Levoča, Slovakia / London, UK. Languages: English-N, ru-4, fr-4, de-3, it-2 Editorial: Wikimedian since: 22 December 2005 Active wikis: en-wiki, commons, en-wikivoyage
Statement	The mission is to disseminate knowledge. The obstacles to negotiate are very varied, including scepticism and misunderstanding by outsiders, and good old human nature from insiders. We must reach out for cooperation to those who can help us build, in schools, colleges, universities and professions; and as providers to all those who by poverty or social discrimination have knowledge withheld from them, as well as to those who want to complete assignments or revise for quizzes. So we need to communicate as fully possible with all those who engage with us in whatever form. About me. 65, British, have worked for 25 years as manager and/or leader in large-scale development aid projects throughout the former Soviet Union. Previous work in clothing manufacture (UK and Sri Lanka), enterprise development. Degrees in economics, maths, psychology and music history. Former non-executive director on boards of National Health Service Trusts, and of UK colleges. Many years experience as senior elected councillor in UK local government. Created many Wikipedia articles including GAs and FAs. Run an annual music festival in Slovakia. Honorary Research Fellow, University College London. Writer and lecturer on musicology. See my user page for more. Why choose me? I have the skills and experience. I have the time and the commitment. I can make a (good) difference.
Verification	Identity verification performed by Wikimedia Foundation staff and eligibility verification performed by the Elections Committee
	Eligibility: Verified Verified by: Varnent (talk)(COI) 23:42, 28 April 2015 (UTC)	Identification: Verified Verified by: Philippe Beaudette, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 17:15, 29 April 2015 (UTC)

Francis Kaswahili Kaguna (Francis Kaswahili)

Francis Kaswahili (talk • meta edits • global user summary • CA • AE)

Candidate details	Francis Kaswahili Kaguna Personal: Name: Francis Kaswahili Kaguna Age: 54 Location: Dar es Salaam Languages: English-N, Swahili-N and Sukuma-N Editorial: Wikimedian since: 10:36, 11 Agosti 2012 Active wikis: meta.wikimedia, Manawa|TalkEducation First
Statement	I am Francis Kaswahili Kaguna, speaking English, and Swahili. Am from Africa Tanzania with my dream of integrating our lovely global to be the one and that’s why am contesting for the second time to the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation, I am optimistic that the link between the world and Africa need a someone and that someone is Francis Kaswahili Kaguna, I'm quite sure that the contribution of Africa is very important in the Wikimedia Community. I promise that if elected my focus will be on the following: As the Board of Trustees is the ultimate corporate authority in the Wikimedia Foundation my sanction on this Board will be led by principals, speed and standard I will encourage all the community regardless of color, religions, gender or age to participate fully in creating or supporting WIKIS projects wherever they are, Liaise with various experts maintain excellent relationships between all continents in their participation in all Wikimedia projects, including Wikipedia and the eleven sister projects. I will encourage all users of the Wikimedia community to organize Concerts so people can meet together to discuss how to have a sustainable Wikimedia community.
Verification	Identity verification performed by Wikimedia Foundation staff and eligibility verification performed by the Elections Committee
	Eligibility: Verified Verified by: Ruslik (talk) 19:03, 29 April 2015 (UTC)	Identification: Verified Verified by: Jalexander--WMF 08:03, 2 May 2015 (UTC)

Cristian Consonni (CristianCantoro)

CristianCantoro (talk • meta edits • global user summary • CA • AE)

Candidate details	At the General Assembly of Wikimedia Italia in Rome in 2011 Personal: Name: Cristian Consonni Age: 28 Location: Trento, Italy Languages: it-N, en-4, fr-3 Editorial: Wikimedian since: August 24, 2007 Active wikis: it-wiki
Statement	Are we reaching our goal of enabling every human being to access the sum of all human knowledge? What should we do to further the mission? Participation and collaboration are key elements of the movement and its spirit, but these need trust to be well established. We should develop a path away from the mentality of "us vs them" that we have experienced in many occasions. About me I discovered Wikipedia through the free software world. I begun editing in 2007 and since then I have dedicated a growing share of my free time to Wikimedia: I have been elected in 2010 to the board of Wikimedia Italia where I have been Program Coordinator (2010–2011), Vicepresident (2011–2014) and finally Treasurer (2014-). In 2012 I helped organising Wiki Loves Monuments in Italy and in 2013 I joined the WLM international team. In July 2013 I have been elected to the Funds Dissemination Committee (this was my candidacy statement). In 2013–2014 I worked in a research centre in Trento (Italy) and my work revolved around OpenStreetMap and Wikipedia. I have a M.Sc. in Physics and since November 2014, I am a PhD student in Computer Science at the University of Trento, Italy. When I was running for the FDC a friend and long-time Wikipedian asked me "Why aren't you running for the board?", my answer was: "Because the path is long, but it should be walked", this is why I am running for the board, because I want to bring my experience and view in.
Verification	Identity verification performed by Wikimedia Foundation staff and eligibility verification performed by the Elections Committee
	Eligibility: Verified Verified by: Varnent (talk)(COI) 23:58, 30 April 2015 (UTC)	Identification: Verified Verified by: Jalexander--WMF 08:03, 2 May 2015 (UTC)

Peter Gallert (Pgallert)

Pgallert (talk • meta edits • global user summary • CA • AE)

Candidate details	Peter at Wikimania 2012 in Washington, D.C. Image CC-BY-SA, credit: Karen Sayre Personal: Name: Peter Gallert Age: 44 Location: Windhoek (Namibia) Languages: de-N, en-4, af-2, ru-1 Editorial: Wikimedian since: 2008 Active wikis: Mainly English Wikipedia with some contributions on German Wikipedia, commons, meta, and incubator
Statement	The Wikimedia movement, the best thing since sliced bread, faces a challenge that needs to be overcome sooner rather than later; it is the rift between the Foundation and the editor community. This challenge is not just about communication. The Foundation has grown beyond its own expectations. It is now protruding into software development, media literacy, Internet governance, and education. Despite the current abundance of donations the question of what its core business is, needs to be asked and answered. I am a lecturer of Computer Science at the Polytechnic of Namibia. I was a member of its Senate for five years, and the head of the Computer Networking department for three. I am researching and writing about the Wikimedia phenomenon as part of my work and as a hobby. I do outreach, lobbying, experiments, and critical analysis. I have presented Wiki[m|p]edia-related thoughts on conferences and in publications, scientific and popular. As such I tick the boxes in the Call for candidates: I reside in Africa, I have experience with a small language project in the incubator. I know and learn and teach about technology, and I have management experience of projects and people. Besides that I am editing English Wikipedia to improve the coverage of Namibian politics, geography, and history.
Verification	Identity verification performed by Wikimedia Foundation staff and eligibility verification performed by the Elections Committee
	Eligibility: Verified Verified by: Varnent (talk)(COI) 23:58, 30 April 2015 (UTC)	Identification: Verified Verified by: Jalexander--WMF 08:03, 2 May 2015 (UTC)

María Sefidari (Raystorm)

Raystorm (talk • meta edits • global user summary • CA • AE)

Candidate details	Taken right after going to La Aventura del Saber to speak about Wikipedia, 2014. Personal: Name: María Sefidari Age: 32 Location: Madrid, Spain Languages: Español-N, English-4, Français-3 Editorial: Wikimedian since: 5 March 2006 Active wikis: Spanish Wikipedia (administrator and bureaucrat), Meta.
Statement	Hi, I’m a Psychology lic. I’m a long-time volunteer who started out on en.wp nearly a decade ago and am now most active on Meta and Spanish Wikipedia, where I founded the LGBT Wikiproject. I’m a founding member of Wikimedia España, and served as its Vice-President, as well as being involved in international cooperation through Iberocoop. I’ve also served as a member of the Affiliations Committee and on the Individual Engagement Grants committee. I am a big believer of empowering people through official recognition and/or grants. I’m currently serving my first term on the Board, which has included the ED transition and some high-profile staff changes. It is said that Calm seas don’t make good sailors, and I think it’s true. Being now familiar with Board dynamics and how the WMF works, I offer my experience to effectively support our shared vision, ensuring diversity is at the heart of WMF’s strategic efforts to retain and increase editorship. Our volunteers are our key advantage. I believe the WMF is here to serve Wikipedia and its sister projects, and to support our communities while we face the challenges ahead together. Times of change are challenging: I’m deeply committed to broadening channels for community participation in WMF governance and policymaking. You can count on me for that.
Verification	Identity verification performed by Wikimedia Foundation staff and eligibility verification performed by the Elections Committee
	Eligibility: Verified Verified by: Varnent (talk)(COI) 23:58, 30 April 2015 (UTC)	Identification: Verified Verified by: Jalexander--WMF 08:03, 2 May 2015 (UTC)

Phoebe Ayers (phoebe)

phoebe (talk • meta edits • global user summary • CA • AE)

Candidate details	Board panel, Wikimania 2014 Personal: Name: Phoebe Ayers Age: 34 Location: California (soon to be Massachusetts), USA Languages: EN-native, ES-2 Editorial: Wikimedian since: 2003 Active wikis: en.Wikipedia, Wikidata, Commons, en.Wikivoyage, Meta; to a lesser extent: es.Wikipedia, en.Wikibooks
Statement	In the next two years, the WMF Board will: Help guide the WMF to take on many challenges, including declining editorship and readership, new patterns and devices for consuming information, and representing the world’s diversity in our projects; Work with the WMF Executive Director to develop and act on strategic plans for the WMF, including areas such as improving software development, building partnerships and addressing current editor needs; Assess these strategies, and plan for WMF’s long-term future; Appoint new members and improve board effectiveness. I am currently serving my second term on the Board; I was selected by the chapters for a term from 2010-2012 and elected for 2013-2015. During my terms I’ve served as secretary, vice-chair, and on the committee that selected the new Executive Director. I am a strong, articulate and committed trustee, and I have the skills and familiarity with how the Board & WMF works to guide us through this period and provide continuity. I am a voice for supporting community needs, transparency, and long-term planning. About me: For many years, I have been a Wikimedia advocate, educator, researcher, Wikimania organizer, and editor. I am active in GLAM work, speak and write widely about Wikimedia, and have taught hundreds of people how to edit. In my job, I am a computer science and engineering librarian, starting a new position soon in the MIT Libraries.
Verification	Identity verification performed by Wikimedia Foundation staff and eligibility verification performed by the Elections Committee
	Eligibility: Verified Verified by: Varnent (talk)(COI) 08:05, 2 May 2015 (UTC)	Identification: Verified Verified by: Jalexander--WMF 08:03, 2 May 2015 (UTC)

Denny Vrandečić (Denny)

Denny (talk • meta edits • global user summary • CA • AE)

Candidate details	Portrait made for the 2012 German fundraiser. CC-BY-SA Tobias Schumann Personal: Name: Denny Vrandečić Age: 37 Location: San Francisco (previously island of Brač, Stuttgart, Rome, Karlsruhe, Los Angeles, Berlin) Languages: German-native, Croatian-native (and thus also sr-3, bs-3, sh-3), English-5, French-1, Uzbek-0 (but learning) Editorial: Wikimedian since: May 12, 2003 Active wikis: Wikidata, en.Wikipedia, de.Wikipedia (created the 20.000th article there), hr.Wikipedia (previously), Meta, MediaWiki
Statement	Wikimedia is a modern wonder - and yet, it must change: most of our projects, as they are today, cannot truly succeed. To achieve our mission, we must increase the effectivity of every single contributor. At the same time, the communities are often seen as change resistant - but falsely so: they do welcome change, done right, as I have shown with Wikidata. I joined Wikipedia in 2003, was the first admin on the Croatian Wikipedia and co-created Semantic MediaWiki (used at NASA, WHO, FSF, translatewiki, etc). I co-wrote WMDE’s first EU research grant, RENDER (budget 4.4M€). With the communities, WMF and WMDE, I developed the Wikidata proposal, secured 2M$ in donations, hired and led the team. Wikidata became the biggest source of new contributors in the past decade. Now at Google, I help to release Freebase content to Wikidata. I have led large changes in our projects secured major donations and funding worked in small and large Wikimedia projects increased individual effectiveness sustainably engaged new contributors I worked with and understand the strengths and weaknesses of our infrastructure, the MediaWiki software, the communities - and how they interact. In the last twelve years, Wikimedia has become an important part of my life - case in point, my wife, also a Wikipedian, and I met at Wikimania! As a trustee, I would offer my skills and experiences to guide and help Wikimedia in the changes ahead of us.
Verification	Identity verification performed by Wikimedia Foundation staff and eligibility verification performed by the Elections Committee
	Eligibility: Verified Verified by: Varnent (talk)(COI) 17:34, 2 May 2015 (UTC)	Identification: Verified Verified by: Jalexander--WMF 07:07, 4 May 2015 (UTC)

Ali Haidar Khan (Tonmoy) (Ali Haidar Khan)

Ali Haidar Khan (talk • meta edits • global user summary • CA • AE)

Candidate details	Photo taken during Wikimedia Conference 2015. Personal: Name: Ali Haidar Khan (Tonmoy) Age: 29 Location: Dhaka, Bangladesh (South Asia) Languages: Bengali-N, English-4, Hindi-2, French-1 Editorial: Wikimedian since: 19 January 2008 Active wikis: bn.wikipedia, meta.wikimedia, en.wikipedia, commons.wikimedia
Statement	When I started using Wikipedia back in 2004, internet was rare in my country; we didn’t have any good keyboard to write in our language, there was no one who could show me how to write a Wikipedia article or at least tell that I too can write an article. So, it was not until 2008 that I started contributing on Wikipedia on a regular basis. That’s the challenge we still face in the developing regions of the world - the global south where I belong to. From the start of my involvement, I've been focusing on building the Wikimedia community in Bangladesh, picking volunteers and grooming them up. I am a founder member & Treasurer of WM Bangladesh. Now we have a growing, active and vibrant community. I’ve been involved in organizing most of the Wikimedia events in Bangladesh, from planning to execution, from arranging logistics to running sessions. Some of these events are: Wikipedia's 10th Anniversary Programs in Dhaka-2011, first ever Bengali WP Unconference-2012, WP Zero Launch Event in Dhaka-2013, Nationwide Bengali WP 10th Anniversary Programs – 2014 & 2015. As a FDC Advisory Group member, I took part in formulating the FDC framework for WMF. I am a member of WMF’s Funds Dissemination Committee for 3 years & served as Vice-Chair for 2 terms. I've completed undergrad in Finance, MBA in Technology & Operations and have 7 years’ experience in financial sector. I believe I can bring diverse perspective & diversity to WMF board.
Verification	Identity verification performed by Wikimedia Foundation staff and eligibility verification performed by the Elections Committee
	Eligibility: Verified Verified by: Varnent (talk)(COI) 18:19, 3 May 2015 (UTC)	Identification: Verified Verified by: Jalexander--WMF 07:07, 4 May 2015 (UTC)

Nisar Ahmed Syed (అహ్మద్ నిసార్)

అహ్మద్ నిసార్ (talk • meta edits • global user summary • CA • AE)

Candidate details	Ahmed Nisar (front row, fourth from right, in brown blazer) at TTT Bengaluru, Conducted by CIS A2K in 2015. Personal: Name: Nisar Ahmed Syed Age: 50 years Location: Pune, Maharashtra, India. Languages: ur-N, te-N, hi-3, en-4 Editorial: Wikimedian since: 2007, after change of User Name in 2009 Active wikis: Urdu, Telugu, Hindi & English
Statement	I am Nisar Ahmed Syed, hails from Andhra Pradesh India. Currently at Pune for the past 8 years. I am a post graduate in English and Urdu Literature, and a Bachelor in Education. Voluntarily retired as a school assistant in Education Department from Chittoor District of Andhra Pradesh. Wikimedia Impressed by Wikipedia, I have started my contributions in Telugu and Urdu Wikipedia. Inspired by the motto of WMF, Free Knowledge and Open Source, I have been working in content creation in Wikipedia to enrich it. I have a passion in outreach too, in this regard I have been working to bring Wikipedia to the masses of Indian Sub-continent. Recently I have created Urdu Wikipedia India User group to bring awareness of Wikimedia movement in Urdu speaking clusters of India. Aims and goals Help Indic language communities in content creation and outreach programs. Help User groups to collaborate each other and with the WMF. Bring Wikimedia to masses through media for a broader use of Free Knowledge. Create a road map for Indic language User groups to do better from the past learning. Unify the diversified communities, to distribute free knowledge.
Verification	Identity verification performed by Wikimedia Foundation staff and eligibility verification performed by the Elections Committee
	Eligibility: Verified Verified by: Varnent (talk)(COI) 18:19, 3 May 2015 (UTC)	Identification: Verified Verified by: Jalexander--WMF 07:07, 4 May 2015 (UTC)

James Heilman (Doc James)

Doc James (talk • meta edits • global user summary • CA • AE)

Candidate details	Dressed for what I do in the other half of my life Personal: Name: James Heilman Age: 35 Location: Cranbrook, B.C., Canada Languages: English and French Editorial: Wikimedian since: 2008 Active wikis: Mostly En WP, Commons, WV, and Meta but also many others as part of medical translation efforts
Statement	We have a lot of excellent candidates, many of which have a great deal of experience. My prior work is visible on my user page. I, however, think we should concentrate on discussing the issues that currently face the WM movement and how to solve them. Some of our challenges include: shrinking editor numbers especially on En Wikipedia undisclosed paid advocacy poor template compatibility between languages copyrighted material being added to Wikipedia and not being removed software development that has not been supported by the editing community lack of breadth of content in languages other than English and major European languages use of language that is more complicated than needed like minded organizations wishing to support our work but not knowing how Some of these have relatively simple technical fixes. Others can be addressed by collaborating with other organizations. All can be improved by prioritizing a better relationship between the editor communities and the WMF. About a year ago I cut back on work as an ER physician to give more time to improve Wikipedia. I have worked to try to address all of the above issues. While some may never be fully solvable, the WMF in collaboration with the community can and should do much more to address them. I will prioritize efforts to bring this about.
Verification	Identity verification performed by Wikimedia Foundation staff and eligibility verification performed by the Elections Committee
	Eligibility: Verified Verified by: Varnent (talk)(COI) 18:36, 3 May 2015 (UTC)	Identification: Verified Verified by: Jalexander--WMF 07:07, 4 May 2015 (UTC)

Tim Davenport (Carrite)

Carrite (talk • meta edits • global user summary • CA • AE)

Candidate details	File:Timbo-super-serious.jpg Carrite with his trusty GR#3, Bella Beluga. Tim hails from the West Coast of the USA. Personal: Name: Tim Davenport Age: 53 Location: Corvallis, Oregon, USA Languages: English-N, Spanish-1, Russian-1 Editorial: Wikimedian since: Dec. 28, 2008 Active wikis: En-WP
Statement	I am a content writer on English-Wikipedia with nearly 58,000 edits and more than 250 starts. I'm also well versed on Wikipolitics through participation and reading at Jimbotalk, Wikipediocracy (where I contribute as "Randy from Boise"), ArbCom, and AN/I. We hear that the community doesn't own Wikipedia, that WMF owns Wikipedia. This is actually true. But we are not helpless. We, the community, have three designated seats on the WMF Board to provide direct input as fundamental policy decisions are actually made. We, the volunteers, are in an uneven power relationship with WMF's expanding paid staff. We see the negative effects in the SuperProtection fiasco on De-WP and the seemingly inexorable move towards implementation of the execrable Flow. This is why the community desperately needs alert, critical, questioning voices for its seats on the 10-member WMF Board. The WMF Board has the vital function of oversight of a multimillion dollar charity's professional staff, organizational goals, vision, and general practices. Don't expect strong oversight from those afraid to question authority and to say their piece when necessary. Thanks for your consideration.
Verification	Identity verification performed by Wikimedia Foundation staff and eligibility verification performed by the Elections Committee
	Eligibility: Verified Verified by: Ajraddatz (talk) 06:17, 4 May 2015 (UTC)	Identification: Verified Verified by: Jalexander--WMF 07:07, 4 May 2015 (UTC)

Samuel Klein (Sj)

Sj (talk • meta edits • global user summary • CA • AE)

Candidate details	Samuel Klein.   Credit: Lane Hartwell Personal: Name: Samuel Klein Age: 37 Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA Languages: English, German-2, Spanish-2, French-2, Hebrew-1, Chinese (Mandarin)-1 Editorial: Wikimedian since: 23 January 2004 Active wikis: meta(a), en.wikipedia(a), commons. Less activity on each sister project and sw.wikipedia
Statement	I have been on the WMF Board since 2009, and chair the Audit Committee. The WMF is restructuring this year, open to new ideas. It doesn't want to continue as before: with large, slow projects and troubled community relations. We should all take this chance to bridge WMF-community gaps: Replace centralized programs with distributed ones Design software with the communities that will use them Solve pressing project needs (experiment on new spaces instead!) Use targeted messaging to inspire contributing knowledge more than money About me On-wiki, I've been an editor, translator, publisher, and steward. I led Wikimania in 2006 and planned the Kiswahili WP Challenge in 2009. I've lived in Germany & Kenya. As Director of Content at One Laptop per Child, I oversaw sending Wikipedia and Wikijunior to 2M children in the developing world. I am currently a Fellow at Harvard's Berkman Center, and chair the technical committee of the Digital Public Library of America. This will be my last run for the Board. Supporting Wikimedia is one of the joys of my life, but I support term limits and have proposed one for adoption this year.
Verification	Identity verification performed by Wikimedia Foundation staff and eligibility verification performed by the Elections Committee
	Eligibility: Verified Verified by: Ajraddatz (talk) 06:17, 4 May 2015 (UTC)	Identification: Verified Verified by: Jalexander--WMF 07:07, 4 May 2015 (UTC)

Syed Muzammiluddin (Hindustanilanguage)

Hindustanilanguage (talk • meta edits • global user summary • CA • AE)

Candidate details	Syed Muzammiluddin at the Christ University, Bangalore in 2014 as part of Wikipedia Education Program. Personal: Name: Syed Muzammiluddin Age: 41 years (as on May 04, 2015) Location: India Languages: English, Hindi and Urdu Editorial: Wikimedian since: January 2011 Active wikis: Wikipedia languages: Hindi, Urdu and English, Maithili (while in Incubator) and Wikimedia Commons, Studied various Wiki Projects and Communities (see statement below).
Statement	Association with Wikimedia Projects: Key Positions in language Wikipedia(s): Urdu (Sysop), Hindi (Reviewer, Filemover and Rollbacker), English Wikipedia (Account Creater), Maithili (Admin of Maithili Wikipedia Mailing List), Commons (Filemover and Rollbacker),. Key Areas of My Edits: articles related to Monuments of Spain (344 articles), AIDS Control Agencies in India, Urdu Poets of India, Women Achievers of India, etc. Presented community perspective on Hindi Wikipedia during the WMF-India Community Consultation 2014. Played proactive role in the launch of Maithili Wikipedia. Wrote WMF Blogs for Hindi, Urdu, Maithili, Punjabi, Sanskrit and Esperanto Wikipedia Communities besides Projects such as Wikipedia for Schools. Studies on other Wikimedia Projects and Communities underway. Worked as Programme Officer under the Access to Knowledge Programme, Centre for Internet and Society, India between 2013-14. Proposed Contribution as Board Trustee: Discharge of all predefined role duties. To gain further insight into WMF projects and communities. To aim for more interaction of community members for precise need assessment and meeting requirements. To give a more focused approach, especially for Indian and South Asian language communities.
Verification	Identity verification performed by Wikimedia Foundation staff and eligibility verification performed by the Elections Committee
	Eligibility: Verified Verified by: Ajraddatz (talk) 18:42, 4 May 2015 (UTC)	Identification: Verified Verified by: Jalexander--WMF 00:03, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

Edward Saperia (EdSaperia)

EdSaperia (talk • meta edits • global user summary • CA • AE)

Candidate details	Opening Speech at Wikimania 2014 Personal: Name: Edward Saperia Age: 30 Location: London, UK Languages: English-N Editorial: Wikimedian since: 2010 Active wikis: Mostly outreach work. Diligent lurker & canvasser.
Statement	WMF Vision We can be a lot more than we are. Two main barriers: Community tools: Mediawiki falls far behind contemporary norms in user experience for non-readers, e.g. group communication, community development, cross platform experience, API/developer platform. Obvious symptoms: The developer community is tiny. Wikiprojects are lacklustre, but could be a huge source of community growth. Sister projects exist in silos, hindering contribution & readership. We could be the home of data journalism on the web, but we aren’t. Organisational outreach: We are largely ignored within the wider media landscape; it is critical to our mission to develop more effective ways of interacting with academia, education, politics & government, journalism, publishers of all types, the startup ecosystem, third sector etc, beyond expecting them to become editors. About me I was originator and conference director for Wikimania London, the largest ever gathering of Wikimedians & an enormous outreach project. In 2014 I was awarded UK Wikimedian of the Year. I received an IEG Grant for Open Access Reader, a tool to identify significant academic research missing from Wikipedia - an example of a new type of editing, with potentially a new audience. I am currently community strategist for the third largest political party in the UK, & previously was community strategist for the largest UK startup hub.
Verification	Identity verification performed by Wikimedia Foundation staff and eligibility verification performed by the Elections Committee
	Eligibility: Verified Verified by: Varnent (talk)(COI) 02:02, 5 May 2015 (UTC)	Identification: Verified Verified by: Jalexander--WMF 00:03, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

Mike Nicolaije (Taketa)

Taketa (talk • meta edits • global user summary • CA • AE)

Candidate details	Help desk volunteer at GLAM-WIKI 2015  Credit: Romaine Personal: Name: Mike Nicolaije Age: 28 Location: Netherlands Languages: nl-N, li-N, en-4, de-1, fr-1, la-1 Editorial: Wikimedian since: 15 February 2008 Active wikis: wikipedia (complete list), commons, wikidata, meta, wikiversity
Statement	Dear fellow-Wikimedians, the coming years will be a challenge for our movement. Mobile contributions, organised vandalism, paid advocacy, and above all – changing numbers of volunteers. People should come first. We need to appreciate our volunteers. I believe in direct communication with boardmembers. Full discussion on all issues. If 1000 people want to talk, that is only 3 a day. I believe in less bureaucracy. Simply ask what you need, and we can discuss it. Less paperwork. Hire developers to solve small software requests. Contributions I mostly write articles and add images to pages. I’m a steward, admin on wikidata and bureaucrat and ex-arbcom at the Dutch Wikipedia. Also an OTRS-volunteer. Wikimedia I'm a member of WM Netherlands and WM Belgium, and assist/coordinate starter courses, GLAM cooperations and activities. Wikipedia won the Erasmus Prize, and I discussed this on television. I currently work with the WMF, to get an online volunteer knighted. Professional Medical intern from the Netherlands, with bachelors in medicine and biochemistry. Work at the plastic surgery department of Utrecht University Childrens Hospital, and am a Basic life support instructor. On diversity I'm Malaysian Chinese and Dutch. Lived several months with my family in Malaysia and spend time in South America (Curaçao). I assisted at Gender Gap meetings. Am against discrimination in all forms.
Verification	Identity verification performed by Wikimedia Foundation staff and eligibility verification performed by the Elections Committee
	Eligibility: Verified Verified by: Varnent (talk)(COI) 02:02, 5 May 2015 (UTC)	Identification: Verified Verified by: Jalexander--WMF 00:03, 6 May 2015 (UTC)