Reflections on 15 years at Wikimedia Foundation and a new chapter

I’ve spent a lot of time over the last few weeks thinking about institutional continuity—about what it means to build, sustain, and eventually step away from a project that is fundamentally larger than any of the individuals inside it. After 15 truly incredible years at the Wikimedia Foundation, I’ve decided it is time to begin a new chapter. This August, I will be transitioning to a new role outside the foundation.

When you spend a decade and a half immersed in the Wikimedia ecosystem, it fundamentally alters your worldview. We live in an era defined by digital fragmentation, where the dominant internet business models are built to monetize outrage, construct walled gardens, and divide our attention. Wikipedia stands in contrast to this, and it has been immensely rewarding to be a part of it.

What this community has proven is that humanity will actually choose to build something beautiful, collaborative, and entirely dedicated to the public good if they are simply given the space and the tools to do so. Protecting this global information commons has been a defining privilege in my professional life.

But I want to be entirely transparent with you: when I first arrived 15 years ago, I didn’t fully understand how this magic actually happened. And the community, quite healthily, didn’t fully know what to make of me either.

I think back to my first Wikimania, where I was viewed with a healthy, distinct dose of Wikimedian skepticism. To many of you, I wasn’t quite a peer yet; I was a walking dollar sign. I was affectionately—and sometimes pointedly—dubbed “the money lady.” There is a world where an executive might find that frustrating. But as I grew to understand this community, I realized that skepticism wasn’t a bug; it was a feature. It was the natural, protective immune system of a community that fiercely guards its independence and its values. It took some time to earn your trust, and honestly, that’s exactly how it should be.

In the process of earning that trust, you fundamentally changed me for the better.

Before Wikimedia, I thought I understood what collaboration meant. In the outside world, “collaboration” is often just a buzzword for a top-down committee meeting. You taught me what true collaboration looks like. It is messy, it is passionate, it requires patience, and it demands a profound willingness to listen to voices across different cultures, languages, and perspectives. You taught me that the best consensus isn’t the easiest one, but the one forged through rigorous debate and a shared devotion to truth. You patrolled my understanding of the community with the same terrifying, beautiful precision you use to patrol the edits on a featured article.

While my role focused primarily on building financial sustainability, I have always been acutely aware that the real value of Wikipedia isn’t the capital we raise—it’s the billions of edits you make. It is your late-night citation hunts, your copyright verifications, your formatting fixes, and your radical commitment to neutrality. You are the ones doing the heavy lifting.

That heavy lifting, of course, is anchored by a vast, decentralized infrastructure of global affiliates—the chapters, thematic organizations, and user groups that turn our global mission into local reality.  Building capacity, scaling local communities, and navigating the hyper-local complexities of our world is quiet, exhausting, and fundamentally vital work. The growth of our community is a testament to your resilience, and it has been a profound privilege to support it.

Steering an open, decentralized movement like ours requires a rare kind of leadership—one that understands how to respect community autonomy while keeping a massive global entity moving forward. I want to express my deep appreciation for our CEO, Bernadette Meehan. Bernadette has stepped into this singularly complex role with immense clarity, grace, and an authentic respect for our community’s core values. I have absolute confidence in her vision and her stewardship, and I leave knowing the Foundation is in the steadiest possible hands.

I am also entirely confident in the team that will carry the Advancement Department’s work forward. Sheetal Puri will be stepping into the role of Interim Chief Advancement Officer while the Foundation begins an open search for my permanent replacement. Supported by our incredibly talented crew of directors and staff across the entire Advancement department, I know this work will continue without missing a beat.

As I prepare to attend Wikimania in Paris later this month, I am looking forward to seeing many of you in person. I’ll be there as a deeply grateful admirer of your work, hoping to share a coffee and exchange some memories.

Thank you for the trust you eventually placed in me, for changing the way I think about human potential, and for making the internet a profoundly better place. It has been an honor to do this work alongside you.