Yesterday, the Wikimedia Foundation announced a new member and leadership appointments to its Board of Trustees. 

Shani Evenstein Sigalov, currently an EdTech Innovation Strategist and lecturer at the School of Medicine in Tel Aviv University, will be the newest member of the Board of Trustees. Nataliia Tymkiv will begin her second term on the Board of Trustees. The Board also re-elected María Sefidari to the role of Board Chair, and elected Nataliia Tymkiv as Vice Chair.  The announcement was made at the 2019 Wikimania conference, an annual international conference held this year in Stockholm, Sweden, that brings together nearly a thousand Wikimedia contributors from around the world.

The Wikimedia Foundation’s Board of Trustees oversees the Wikimedia Foundation and its work, and serves as the organization’s ultimate corporate authority. As an incoming trustee, Shani will serve a three year term effective immediately.

Shani assumes the seat formerly held by outgoing Trustee Christophe Henner, whose term of the Board concluded yesterday after serving for two years as Chair of the Board and one year as Vice Chair. The Board thanks Christophe for his service to the Board and his long-standing commitment to the Wikimedia movement and mission.

Shani joins the Board with a depth of experience in creating successful collaborations between Wikipedia and other free knowledge projects and educational, cultural and government institutions. She has designed and led for-credit academic courses focused on Wiki projects, and to date, her students have created hundreds of new articles in Hebrew and Arabic that have been viewed over 7 million times.

Shani has been a part of the Wikimedia movement since 2011, and has focused her contributions on closing gender and knowledge gaps by supporting female contributors and thematic groups, working with indigenous communities and promoting equitable access to knowledge. She has served leadership roles in several Wikimedia affiliates and thematic groups, including as the Chairperson for both Wikimedia Medicine and the Wikipedia and Education User Group, and as a Board member of Wikimedia Israel. She is also currently part of the Wikimedia 2030 partnerships working group as part of the Movement Strategy.  

Shani joins Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, Board Chair María Sefidari, Vice Chair Nataliia Tymkiv, and Board members Esra’a Al Shafei, Raju Narisetti, Dr. James Heilman, Dr. Dariusz Jemielniak, Lisa Lewin, and Tanya Capuano.

“Shani is a passionate, longtime Wikimedian who brings her enthusiasm for her mission to her colleagues, friends, and her students,” said Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director, Katherine Maher. “Her work on identifying gender and diversity gaps and welcoming new voices into our movement makes her a valuable addition to the Board as our movement continues to grow. I look forward to her contributions as Wikimedia moves forward to achieve our 2030 strategic direction.”

“Since joining the movement in 2011, it has become an integral part of my life,” said incoming Board Trustee Shani Evenstein said. “I believe we have enormous potential to amplify the impact of free knowledge through partnerships and collaborations. Together, we can create a source for free knowledge that is truly representative of all people and all cultures.”

“Our 2030 strategy process is our most ambitious initiative we have ever done as a movement, and this next year we’ll be moving from developing and discussing big ideas to implementing them,” said Board Chair Maria Sefidari. “It will be a period of laying the groundwork for the future. I am looking forward to continue supporting this movement as the Foundation’s Board Chair, as we move forward towards our vision for 2030.”

The Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

• María Sefidari, Board Chair
• Nataliia Tymkiv, Vice Chair
• Jimmy Wales, Founder of Wikipedia
• Dr. Dariusz Jemielniak
• Esra’a Al Shafei
• Dr. James Heilman
• Raju Narisetti
• Tanya Capuano
• Shani Evenstein Sigalov
• Lisa Lewin

About the Wikimedia Foundation

The Wikimedia Foundation is the nonprofit organization that operates Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia free knowledge projects. Our vision is a world in which every single human can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. We believe that everyone has the potential to contribute something to our shared knowledge, and that everyone should be able to access that knowledge freely. We host Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects, build software experiences for reading, contributing, and sharing Wikimedia content, support the volunteer communities and partners who make Wikimedia possible, and advocate for policies that enable Wikimedia and free knowledge to thrive. The Wikimedia Foundation is a United States 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization with offices in San Francisco, California, USA.

About Wikimania

Wikimania is the annual conference centered on the Wikimedia projects (Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia free knowledge websites) and the Wikimedia community of volunteers who contribute to them. It features presentations on Wikimedia projects, other wikis, free and open source software, free knowledge and free content, and the social and technical aspects which relate to these topics. Wikimania 2019 marks the 15th year of the conference.