[foundation-board] We have a COO

Thu Feb 4 11:46:11 UTC 2016

Dear members of the Board, Dear Rufus and Martin,

With more than 70 applications and a shortlist of four people, I am happy
to announce that we have found a great new COO, Mark Gibbs.

Mark brings extensive organisational experience to Open Knowledge
International, having worked as a VP for Operations / International
Operations for both established companies as well as start-ups. He has huge
knowledge about Project Management, which OKI will really benefit from, and
he has the right "sharing mentality" so that this knowledge will
disseminate within our organisation. He has managed offices and people in
the UK and has therefore a very good understanding of HR, both from a
cultural and legal perspective. And he has worked as a software developer
himself many years ago, and has been involved in technology companies for
most of his career.

He has not only great experience and knowledge at his disposal, but he is
also as a person a great match: he is calm, steady, solid in his approach
and demeanor, and I expect he will be very muched liked by staff. He is a
great complement to Sanders' and my personalities. He is volunteering on
some charity boards, is actively engaged in his local community as a
council member of the Isle of Wight, and he is a volunteer rugby trainer.

We have had 3 interviews with him, with Naomi, Sander and myself involved
at different stages, and I have spoken with him on the phone as well. Mark,
Sander and I met yesterday for two hours at Gatwick airport, where he
presented to us his approach to a problem we gave him earlier. And we
discussed his views on various aspects of the operational management of an
organisation such as ours. Afterwards, both Sander and I assessed him
individually and we both came to the independent conclusion that he would
be a perfect fit for Open Knowledge International (both Sander and I agreed
beforehand that we would not compromise our expectations, but we did not
have to do that anyway, because Mark is simply great).

I already discussed the terms of employment with him: his annual salary
will be 60,000 GBP, plus a performance-based bonus of up to 5,000 GBP per
year (starting after six months of employment). The first 6 months will be
a probation period and we will hire him for an initial term of two years.

After he and his family moved back from the Netherlands to the Isle of
Wight, he has been supporting his wife in building her own business. He is
now immediately available and could and should work asap.

I talked with Karin about this and we both think that, while we have no
formal rules about this, it would be best for me to share this background
with you. It would be great if you would have any advice for me in this
matter, or have any particular questions, or just some general feedback. As
you all know, these things should be decided quickly, so I plan on making
Mark a formal offer tomorrow and to sign contracts for him on Monday.

Because Mark will play a vital role in our organisation, I would like to
propose that he joins the next Board meeting on 9. March 2016 in person in
London.

I am really excited about this and I am looking forward to working with
Mark!

-- 
Kind regards

Pavel Richter
CEO
Open Knowledge International
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