Dear Wikimedia friends, On behalf of our board, I am delighted to announce that Christian Rickerts will be the new Executive Director of Wikimedia Deutschland. The board followed the transition team’s unanimous recommendation and hired Christian effective May 1, 2015.
Wikimedia Deutschland is shaped by the work of volunteers as well as paid professionals. Christian Rickerts comes with experience from both perspectives. In 1995, he co-founded Schüler Helfen Leben e. V., a non-profit association that promotes equal access to education for children and young people in the Balkans. Later, he served as the association’s first Executive Director and led the Schüler Helfen Leben Foundation. After that, he worked in the for-profit as well as the non-profit sector, first as a consultant for strategy and organizational development at Capgemini, then as the Executive Director of the German section of Reporters Without Borders. Since 2012, he has been Vice President Corporate Communication at the Bertelsmann Stiftung, the largest privately held non-profit foundation in Germany. Christian’s profound knowledge of the intersection between voluntary and paid work as well as his value-driven thinking and methodological diversity have deeply impressed us. We are thrilled to get him on board and to shape Wikimedia Deutschland’s future together. Christian is highly motivated to join the Wikimedia movement. We are confident that he is the perfect fit for the role of the Executive Director. Jan Engelmann will continue to be our interim ED until May. On behalf of the board, I would like to express my gratitude for his outstanding efforts. A huge thank you goes to the transition team[1], which has planned, led, and brought this collaborative process to a successful close within eight months. The team was constituted in June 2014, composed of members of our board as well as representatives of our staff, our members and the German Wikimedia community. The work of the team has been straightforward and exceptional. We are convinced that their experience is highly valuable for the broader movement. Therefore, the team is planning to share their insights and learnings at the upcoming Wikimedia Conference. Starting in May, you will have the chance to join us in providing Christian with a warm welcome to the Wikiverse. Many of you will meet Christian at the Wikimedia Conference in May. He is also planning to attend Wikimania in July. Best regards, Tim Moritz Hector [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Deutschland/Transition_Team -- Tim Moritz Hector Chair of the board Wikimedia Deutschland e. V. | Tempelhofer Ufer 23-24 | D-10963 Berlin tel.: +49 (0)30 - 219 158 260 http://www.wikimedia.de Wikimedia Deutschland - Gesellschaft zur Förderung Freien Wissens e.V. Eingetragen im Vereinsregister des Amtsgerichts Berlin-Charlottenburg unter der Nummer 23855 B. Als gemeinnützig anerkannt durch das Finanzamt für Körperschaften I Berlin, Steuernummer 27/681/51985. _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
