The members of the council not only supervise the everyday functions of the foundation, but they are also responsible for setting long-term goals. As Dariusz Jemielniak points out, this is why it is so important to include members from outside the US and Western Europe.
"The Board of Trustees is the overarching body of the Wikimedia Foundation, and is directly involved in the organization's strategy, appointing the director, and general control of the organization. I would like to increase the involvement of the academic world in Wikipedia, improve strategy and inter-organizational relations, as well as decreasing the Anglo-centrism of the organization," he stated.
The Wikimedia Foundation is engaged in supporting different communities and runs the servers for each of the 287 language versions of Wikipedia and its sister projects, such as Wikitionary, Wikibooks, and Wikiquote. The Foundation also owns the logos of each project and supervises their technological development. Unlike companies, newspapers, and publishing houses, Wikipedia does not have a rigid structure. It is the community that structures Wikipedia.
There are specific rules for elections for the Board of Trustees: Each of the creators of Wikipedia and its sister projects have the right to vote, as do those who have edited over 300 articles before 15 April 2015, and at least 20 between 15 October 2014 and the beginning of the election. Voting was attended by over 180 Wikipedia affiliates from all over the world.
"There were 5167 votes from representatives of our community, which is more than any of our elections so far" – stated Gregory Varnum.
Professor Dariusz Jemielniak works with theoretical management and he specialises in high technology management. He is currently head of the International Management Studies at the Koźmiński University in Warsaw and has created an internet dictionary ling.pl and English-language learning site angielski.edu.pl. For the last ten years he has been active on Wikipedia (User: Pundit). He has served in many different functions for the foundation, including as chairman of the finance committee for three consecutive terms.
Source: press releases, ed. AW