Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2008-02-18/New board members

On Wednesday, Wikimedia Foundation Chair Florence Devouard announced the appointment of two new trustees: Michael Snow, and developer Domas Mituzas (Midom):

"The members of the board of trustees of Wikimedia Foundation have recently agreed to add two new board members, both being members of our community, for a term which will expire at next board elections (June-July 2008). The first is Michael Snow, long time editor of Wikipedia, and twice candidate to the board. Rather than presenting him, I recommend that you go read into detail his candidate statements, back in 2004 or in 2007. Michael is an American lawyer, has been the founder of the Signpost and is currently the Chair of the Communication Committee. He is noticeable (somehow) for being very calm and wise."

"The second is Domas Mituzas, long time developer in our tech team. He is from Lithuania and works for MySQL. He has been a member of the core tech team for... ever, and is the Foundation hardware volunteer officer. He is noticeable for being a very friendly, cheerful, and tall individual."

Snow finished 5th in the 2007 Board elections, just 25 votes behind Frieda Brioschi, who received the final spot in those elections. In selecting Snow, former Board member Oscar van Dillen was not selected; van Dillen received just 5 more votes than Snow in the 2007 elections, and as a result, did not hold onto the spot which he had been appointed to in December 2006.

Mituzas' selection, meanwhile, was the first time the Board appointed a community representative who had not stood in prior elections. While Mituzas has been a long-time community member, and has served as Hardware Officer, a volunteer position, since May 2005 (see archived story), he has never been a candidate for the Board of Trustees.

Both users' terms will come up for re-election in June or July, in the next series of Board elections. It is not clear whether either of the two replace Michael Davis as Treasurer of the Foundation, or whether that position will be appointed as well. It is possible that the Board will again expand to nine members, adding a new Treasurer and another representative, either elected or appointed.