Candidates for the Board of Directors

Kirill Lokshin

I certify that I am a member in good standing of Wikimedia District of Columbia; that I am over 18 years of age; that I have not been found to be of unsound mind; that I have not been found to have breached a duty under the Nonprofit Corporations Act; that I am under no order prohibiting me from serving; and that I do not owe the District of Columbia any outstanding debt.

(a) I have no direct or indirect financial interest in any ongoing or planned transaction or arrangement undertaken by Wikimedia District of Columbia.

(b) I am not subject to any law, regulation, agreement, or other covenant that would prevent me from taking full part in the deliberations of the Board or would require me to excuse myself from such deliberations in circumstances other than those related to a financial conflict of interest.

(c) I have not been convicted of any felony.

(d) I am not an employee, director, officer, or agent of the Wikimedia Foundation, or of any Wikimedia chapter other than Wikimedia District of Columbia. I am a member of the Affiliations Committee and the Ombudsperson of the Funds Dissemination Committee, both of which are advisory committees to the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation, and have certain fiduciary duties to the Wikimedia Foundation in my capacity as a member of said committees.

(e) I have participated in various Wikimedia projects as User:Kirill Lokshin since 2005, and have never been subject to disciplinary action on those projects.

My name is Kirill Lokshin (User:Kirill Lokshin on Wikipedia). I was one of the initial members of Wikimedia DC, and have served on the Board and held the position of Secretary since the founding of the chapter. I last stood for election to the Board two years ago, in 2013.

Over the course of my current term, my main focus has been the continuing organizational development of the chapter. As the chair of the Governance Committee, I have overseen the drafting and adoption of a number of new financial, governance, and organizational policies, as well as ongoing revisions to older policies which have brought them into line with current best practices within the Wikimedia movement. I serve on the Executive, Safe Space, and Audit Committees, and currently chair the latter.

We are entering a critical period of organizational growth as we shift towards a strategic model for achieving long-term impact within the movement, and pursue commensurate increases in volunteer capacity, funding, and program footprint. In this crucial time, I hope to continue serving the members of this chapter as a member of the Board.

John Sadowski

I meet all eligibility criteria as listed at the Board election page.

Disclosures:

(a) I have no financial interest in any ongoing or planned transaction or arrangement undertaken by Wikimedia District of Columbia.

(b) I am not subject to any law, regulation, agreement, or other covenant that would prevent me from taking full part in the deliberations of the Board or require me to excuse themselves from such deliberations.

(c) I have never been convicted of any felony.

(d) I am not an employee, director, officer, or agent of the Wikimedia Foundation or of any other Wikimedia chapter, and I hold no fiduciary duty to said organizations.

(e) I am active on English Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons. I participated in the Campus Ambassador Program in 2011, in events organized by Wikimedia New England before its official organization as a user group, in Wikimedia District of Columbia since January 2015, and in several conferences organized by various Wikimedia organizations. I have never been subject to disciplinary action in any of these contexts.

I'm a chemist specializing in DNA nanotechnology research. I have always strongly believed in communicating science to the public, since having a well-educated public is important to resolving the many policy issues that have a scientific basis. This has been the main reason I contribute to Wikipedia, where my editing is mainly on the topics of nanotechnology, biophysics, science policy, and budgetary policy.

It’s been a pleasure serving on the Board for the past term. Since I joined the chapter, I have helped organize a number of edit-a-thons, including with the American Chemical Society and the Office of Science and Technology Policy. I was the primary editor for a written comment to the Copyright Office on orphan works last year, and participated in our most recent Congressional briefings.

The chapter has had many successes in organizing edit-a-thons and even conferences in concert with our many partner organizations, and I'd like us to extend our reach even more in the years coming forward. The public policy committee started out strongly last year, and I’d like to recruit more people from the policy world into our committee. This is a good time to be doing policy work, as the Wikimedia Foundation is stepping up the visibility of its policy efforts, and our counterparts in the EU have a well-organized policy network of their own. Our focus can go beyond copyright law; one thing I’m especially interested in is open science. I’d also like to plan a series of “policy forums” with invited speakers and/or panels. This would connect people across the disparate networks of our partners, and give them an opportunity to interact and form a cohesive network of our own.

I also would like to extend our partnerships beyond our traditional GLAM organizations and government agencies. I'd like us to work with the various embassies here in D.C. to aid with Wikimedia projects in underrepresented languages, especially the Medical Translation Project. Also, given Washington’s history as an African-American cultural center, I’d like the chapter to broaden our reach into this community by partnering with schools, public libraries, and community organizations in the eastern part of D.C. and in Prince George’s County.