[foundation-board] PROPOSAL: Appointment of Karin Christiansen to Board and as Board Chair

[Rufus Pollock]

Dear Board Members,

I've writing to propose the following motion:

*To appoint Karin Christiansen as a new Board member and Chair of the Board*
.

More details regarding Karin and her suitability for chair can be found
below. Please *indicate your support (or opposition) to this motion by
responding to this email* with the *next few days.*

If you have any questions or would like to discuss this please just email
(or, if phone is preferable, give me a call on 07795 176 976).

Regards,

Rufus

## Context

After some extensive searching over the last few months Laura and I are
very happy to say that we've found a great candidate as a new board member
and board chair: Karin Christiansen. Karin was discussed in this regard at
the last board meeting in March and my understanding was that there was
general support for approaching her.

Karin was previously managing director of Publish What You Fund (and
remains on their board) and is currently the Secretary General of the
Cooperative party. Karin therefore has experience both of relevant sectors
but, more importantly, of senior management and board experience at NGOs.

Some more detail of Karin's experience can be found here in her linked in
profile: http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=11956354

Based on recent meetings with Karin and past experience I think Karin will
be a great addition to the board and an excellent chair (Laura, who also
met with Karin, strongly agrees). This is a view shared by others who know
her (such as Martin who worked with her at Publish What You Fund).

Some points to mention:

* Karin is now Secretary General of the Cooperative Party (which is closely
associated with Labour). We are non-partisan and rarely directly involved
in day-to-day political matters, however, on the informal call last week,
some people raised concerns that this could be an issue. To resolve this
Martin Tisne offered to sound some relevant Conservative. He has now done
so and reported that Karin as chair would NOT be an issue.

* Karin is happy to join as a board member and chair as soon as convenient
(subject, obviously to board approval). However, due to commitments in her
current position she would prefer for us not to make lots of noise about
the announcement for a couple of months and for initial activities to be
inward focused (i.e. board meetings, coaching or support to Laura and I,
general advice).
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