Congratulations Selena. Wishing you the very best in your new role.
You are welcome! On Mon, 13 Jun 2022 at 18:35, Risker <risker...@gmail.com> wrote: > Welcome to Wikimedia, Selena. It is very good to see this role being > filled by someone with your level of experience - especially your > experience in the open source and free knowledge communities. > > I am sure many people will be looking forward to meeting you and getting > to work with you, even those of us in the non-tech/non-product areas. > > Risker/Anne > > On Mon, 13 Jun 2022 at 13:24, Selena Deckelmann <sdeckelm...@wikimedia.org> > wrote: > >> Hello! >> >> I’m so excited to join you all, and I am grateful to Maryana and the many >> people I’ve met on my journey to today’s announcement. Thank you for this >> opportunity to introduce myself! >> >> My grandfather was a TV repairman and I grew up watching him tinker and >> fix things, but college was when I decided to explore electronics and >> computers. I started college thinking that I would play jazz violin and >> maybe get a chemistry degree! A year later, I’d learned about the Internet >> which resulted in skipping classes to install Linux from floppy disks, and >> landing a job at a help desk. >> >> My first programming language was TI-Basic >> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TI-BASIC>, and my second was C++. I spent >> many years with Perl (I’ve had dreams in Perl!), SQL >> <https://www.reddit.com/r/SQL/comments/doukj2/is_sql_considered_codingprogramming/> >> and later Python, and I’ve dabbled with wikis, including Federated Wiki and >> MediaWiki. I admire Ursula Franklin >> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursula_Franklin> and love her book The >> Real World of Technology. >> >> As I explored computers back in college, I felt compelled to share. The >> experience didn’t feel complete if I was alone. I vividly remember the >> people I connected with – who mentored me, who I wrote software with and >> who just listened. My love for the internet, its freedoms and >> connectedness, came from discovering a world of knowledge freely shared >> beyond anything I had imagined before. >> >> During my interviews with Wikimedia, I felt that strong connection again. >> I heard each person share their reasons for joining this movement and their >> hopes for its future – often in the form of very challenging questions! >> >> In the last few years, I’ve worked on problems at the intersection of >> Mozilla’s mission to help create an internet for the benefit of >> individuals, and its business. Very recently, this work resulted in >> shipping Total Cookie Protection, making several major changes to the UX of >> Firefox and launching a small advertising business called Firefox Suggest, >> designed with lean data practices from the start. I loved doing this work >> because of the difficulty of it, how intensely those involved had to work >> to understand one another and the communities they served, and that my >> pragmatic optimism had a part to play in getting things shipped. >> >> I also reflected on this moment in my own life: I grew up in Montana >> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montana>, where I attended public school. >> I love talking about, reading about >> <https://www.caseyjohnston.net/ask-a-swole-woman-archive/2021/10/23/how-do-i-even-get-started-with-lifting-weights> >> and sometimes doing weightlifting. I’m hapa >> <https://www.janm.org/exhibits/hapa-me>, and I met the Chinese part of >> my family as an adult. I think privacy and freedom >> <https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2175406> are >> intimately connected, and that exercising freedoms is a good way to keep >> them. I’m married to a high school teacher, and I have two kids who love to >> crash video meetings, including my interviews with the Wikimedia >> Foundation. >> >> All of that, together, is why I’m joining the Foundation. Wikipedia is >> the promise of collaboration on the internet and the movement for free >> knowledge made good on, in practice not in theory. I believe that Wikimedia >> projects have successfully demonstrated a model that produces trustworthy >> knowledge, and have created a home on the internet that the world >> profoundly trusts. I want to help make and ship things to advance free >> knowledge using the skills I have, while also continuing to learn from this >> ever expanding community of people all around the world. >> >> I plan to follow Maryana’s lead, and will start by meeting many people to >> really understand what we collectively need to create a global, equitable >> and inclusive future for free knowledge. >> >> Although I will join officially in August, I would love to hear from >> anyone interested in sharing directly with me at >> sdeckelm...@wikimedia.org. >> >> -selena >> >> >> On Mon, Jun 13, 2022 at 10:09 AM Maryana Iskander < >> miskan...@wikimedia.org> wrote: >> >>> Hi all, >>> >>> When I started in January, I shared with you that one of my top >>> priorities >>> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Chief_Executive_Officer/Maryana%E2%80%99s_Listening_Tour/My_Incoming_Priorities> >>> coming to the Wikimedia Foundation was to actively step in and support the >>> Foundation’s product and technology teams while we recruited executive >>> leadership of these mission critical functions with a new Chief Product and >>> Technology Officer. >>> >>> I am delighted to introduce you to Selena Deckelmann, who will be >>> joining the Wikimedia Foundation on August 1. She is based in Portland, >>> Oregon in the United States. >>> >>> Selena is currently the Senior Vice President at Mozilla, where she has >>> been for the last nine years. She leads the Firefox organization of more >>> than 400 people responsible for all Firefox product and technology >>> functions including desktop, mobile, web platform, and browser services. >>> >>> I have gotten to know Selena over several months and also learned from >>> people who have worked with her over many years. She is known for >>> successfully driving change by getting stakeholders aligned around what’s >>> needed, and being seen as a trusted partner. Selena has built strong >>> credibility over many years with colleagues and also with a broader >>> developer community. She is described as a leader who can make the tough >>> decisions, develop skills, grow diverse contributors, and inspire teams. >>> She also has a great laugh and looks for joy in her work! >>> >>> As context for the recruitment process: given the critical need to get >>> this right, we used two firms with global search expertise who >>> specialized in product/technology executive leadership roles. This meant >>> double the work, but allowed us to more quickly build a large, globally >>> diverse pool of over 500 candidates. Once we identified a smaller number of >>> finalists, they participated in real-life case studies of some of our >>> current challenges and met with Wikimedia stakeholders over the course of >>> many months. >>> >>> As you all know, we have a highly unique and sometimes difficult >>> environment with a multifaceted mission, complex structure, and often >>> competing stakeholders. This is going to be a challenge for anyone, >>> especially given the steep learning curve at Wikimedia (which I can confirm >>> from my own experience!). I hope you will sign up to help me successfully >>> onboard Selena as she gets started! >>> >>> Selena will share her own message with you shortly, and she can be >>> reached directly at sdeckelm...@wikimedia.org. >>> >>> Maryana >>> >>> Maryana Iskander >>> >>> Wikimedia Foundation CEO >>> >>> *** >>> >>> https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2022/06/13/wikimedia-foundation-welcomes-selena-deckelmann/ >>> >>> >>> Wikimedia Foundation welcomes Selena Deckelmann as Chief Product and >>> Technology Officer >>> >>> 13 June 2022, San Francisco — The Wikimedia Foundation today announced >>> the appointment of Selena Deckelmann as Chief Product and Technology >>> Officer. Selena is currently serving as Senior Vice President of Mozilla, >>> where she was responsible for Firefox. She will officially join on August >>> 1, 2022. >>> >>> Selena will lead the product and technology teams at the Wikimedia >>> Foundation. These teams support the technology infrastructure and >>> innovation that powers Wikimedia projects, including Wikipedia, one of the >>> most visited websites in the world with more than 16 billion pageviews per >>> month. They also enable more than 300,000 global volunteers to edit >>> Wikimedia projects each month. >>> >>> “Selena has a proven track record of delivering results by enabling >>> individuals and teams to tackle unique and often complex challenges,” said >>> Maryana Iskander, CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation. “She has dedicated her >>> career to open source technologies for empowerment and inclusion.” >>> >>> At Mozilla, where she has been for nearly a decade, Selena currently >>> leads the Firefox organization of more than 400 people responsible for all >>> Firefox product and technology functions including desktop, mobile, web >>> platform, and browser services. She oversaw some of the company’s most >>> significant achievements including performance projects like Quantum Flow, >>> architectural changes like Project Fission, key features like Enhanced >>> Tracking Protection and Total Cookie Protection, and services such as >>> Firefox Monitor. In her nine years at Mozilla, Selena held various other >>> roles including Vice President for Firefox Desktop, Senior Director for Web >>> Platform Engineering and Gecko Runtime, and Senior Manager for Gecko >>> Security Engineering. >>> >>> Selena also brings experience from her previous roles as co-founder of >>> Prime Radiant, a software as a service business that explored how to >>> improve business processes at scale with checklist automation software, and >>> as Consulting Director of Development for The Ada Initiative, an >>> organization that was dedicated to increasing the participation of women in >>> open source and technology communities. She was a major contributor to >>> PostgreSQL, one of the largest free and open source databases in the world. >>> >>> “Open collaboration produces better solutions for the world, and >>> technology is a critical enabler of making this true,” said Selena. “I look >>> forward to contributing to Wikimedia’s inspiring free knowledge mission.” >>> >>> As Chief Product and Technology Officer, Selena will work with Wikimedia >>> Foundation staff, technical contributors, volunteer developers, >>> researchers, and communities to support Wikimedia’s 2030 Movement >>> Strategy >>> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2017/Direction> >>> to advance free and open access to knowledge. The majority of the >>> Foundation is focused on product and technology development in service of >>> our mission. >>> >> _______________________________________________ >> Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines >> at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and >> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l >> Public archives at >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/message/XO27SCB2UKZ6H6YRKFZLBR4URFW2VPGW/ >> To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-le...@lists.wikimedia.org > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines > at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > Public archives at > https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/message/JKRQYY65QDJPV626QSBB4BNHU2HLB4MM/ > To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-le...@lists.wikimedia.org -- Best regards, James Popoola President, Wikimedia Fan Club University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria Co-founder, Wiki Loves SDGs Nigeria & TCD Africa Instagram <http://instagram.com/TheJamesPopoola> | Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/jamespopoola247> | Twitter <http://twitter.com/TheJamesPopoola> | Linkedin <http://linkedin.com/in/JamesPopoola>
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