Declarations of Interest

Wikimedia UK trustees have a duty to make their conflicts of interests known, and to abstain from decisions where those conflicts may influence the decisions they make on behalf of the charity. This page documents the declarations of interest that the current trustees have made. WMUK staff may also use this page to declare conflicts of interest that they have that may influence the advice they provide to the Board. Records of past trustee and staff COIs are on the archive page.

Some interests may exceptionally need to be declared in a confidential manner. These are recorded on the office wiki, and the Chief Exec will have been made aware of them and will flag resulting issues as needed.

Staff declarations of interests, should any occur, will be dealt with directly by the Chief Executive, and will be recorded here as appropriate. The Chief Exec's interests will be recorded here by default.

Situations that arise where interests have been declared and managed are recorded in the minutes of board meetings.

General guidance for managing declarations of interests for charity trustees can be found here.

Trustees

Saad Choudri

Saad Choudri, a qualified and practising solicitor, has previously held or currently holds the following positions:

Current

• Employee of Miniclip (UK) Limited as Vice President of Business Affairs;
• Director and CEO of Legend Express Limited; and
• President of AdJunction Private Limited (Pakistan).

Past

• Employee of SEGA Europe Limited as Legal Counsel; and
• Special Constable (Metropolitan Police).

DoI with contractors

• Mark Robinson is a lawyer that WMUK contracted in March 2013 to advise on QRpedia privacy issues. Mark Robinson was seconded to Miniclip before Saad started working at the company. Saad has not engaged Mark in his capacity as a lawyer at Miniclip. Mark has been recommended as a good lawyer through colleagues of Saad's who have recommended him highly.

Greyham Dawes

No conflicts of personal interests nor conflicts of loyalties that could reasonably be seen as requiring to be disclosed and managed in connection with my directorship of Wikimedia UK

Chris Keating

• I am employed as a fundraiser by NDCS, and previously by King's College London and Parkinson's UK. Wikimedia UK has worked with some of these organisations in the past, with occasional editathons, but there has been no financial commitment to these relationships. While the situation hasn't yet arisen, I would naturally recuse myself from discussions relating to a current or former employer if.
• I have been a member of the Liberal Democrats since 1997, and was a staff member there between 2002-2010. In May 2014 I was a Lib Dem candidate the London Borough of Lambeth. To avoid the appearance of a conflict of loyalties I would recuse myself from any discussions in Wikimedia UK regarding the Liberal Democrats, though this situation has not so far arisen. (If you look at my editing history, you will see that some of my first edits were on Lib Dem related topics, though none since 2006.)
• Some of the trainers in Midas Training Solutions also provide "Train the Trainer" workshops as part of the Liberal Democrats' volunteer training programme, and I went on such a training course in 2004. I also worked with some of those people (in a voluntary capacity on both sides) in developing and delivering training sessions. I was not involved in the decision to select Midas as the supplier of Wikimedia UK's "Train the Trainer" programme, which resulted from a fair and open tender process. While there is no financial interest, I am aware that there might be considered to be a conflict of loyalties in this situation, and I intend to recuse myself from similar matters in future.

Michael Maggs

I am not aware of any current or likely potential conflict of interest or loyalty. In my previous role as partner of Kilburn & Strode LLP until March 2013 I provided legal (intellectual property) advice to a variety of clients, and acted adverse to a number of organizations. In the event that any of my previous professional activities give rise to a future conflict or perception of conflict I will disclose that immediately and will update my public statement here. I am currently a bureaucrat at Wikimedia Commons, in which role I may occasionally have access to non-public information for example via the bureaucrats' mailing list.

Alastair McCapra

Salaried post: (after 1 November 2013) Chief Executive, Chartered Institute of Public Relations; (to 31 October 2013) Chief Executive of the Landscape Institute/Company Secretary of Landscape Services Ltd.

Former salaried posts: Chief Executive, Icon the Institute of Conservation; Head of Policy Communications and Membership, the Royal Society of Public Health

Current and former Directorships: None

Current voluntary roles:Mentor to Ancient Materials, Technology & Conservation, a Kent-based heritage co-op.

Former voluntary roles: Honorary Treasurer, Landscape Architecture Europe, a Netherlands NFP; joint web editor, British Harpsichord Society;

Memberships: Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London; Fellow of the Institute of Association Management; Fellow of the Institute of Direct and Digital Marketing; member of ACEVO; member of The National Trust; member of the Art Fund; member of Fawcett Society

Political affiliation: none

A full statement on the managing of potential conflicts arising from Alastair's salaried role with CIPR can be seen here.

Carol Campbell

During my life I have been involved with a number of charities as an employee and as a trustee. I was previously Cathedral Executive Officer at Ely Cathedral, and I am currently a member of the Iona Community. I am not aware that any of these current or past commitments could reasonably be seen as conflicting with my role at WMUK but will amend my statement if the situation changes.

Kate West

I was an employee of the Charity Commission between 2003-2007 where I held a number of different positions. I did not work for the Commission when WMUK was registered as a charity and had no involvement in the process. I have since worked for political think tank Demos, and I am currently Chief Operating Officer at the Electoral Reform Society. I am not aware that any of these current or past commitments could reasonably be seen as conflicting with my role at WMUK.

Simon Knight

Some of my research is in the area of collective intelligence and analytics – of relevance to Wikimedia – should any interests arise in the course of my work I’ll update my declaration of interest as appropriate and recuse myself where conflicts arise. An employer with whom I have an on-going (unpaid) working relationship at the University of Cambridge is currently bidding for funding from WMUK and our contractors for a specific Mediawiki project. I am not involved in those decisions nor would I benefit financially from the project (see IT_Development/Technology_Committee_meetings/Minutes_1_April_2014). Aforementioned aside, I am not aware of any current or likely potential conflicts of interest or loyalty arising from my current position (as a PhD student at the Open University) or any previous positions and associations.

Gill Hamilton

I have a salaried post as Digital Access Manager at National Library of Scotland. The Library employs a Wikimedian-in-Residence, and to that end has a formal agreement with Wikimedia UK. In the past WMUK has part funded this post but currently it is fully funded by the Library. I am the line manager of the Wikimedian. Should the Library in the future seek funding or grants from WMUK to further support the Wikimedian or activities associated with their role, I would recuse from any board discussions. I am an elected member of council for the Europeana Foundation serving until December 2016 and a participant & occasional host for Open Knowledge Foundation Edinburgh chapter meetups.

Staff

Staff declarations of interests, should any occur, will be dealt with directly by the Chief Executive and recorded here as appropriate. The Chief Exec's interests will be recorded here by default.

D'Arcy Myers, Chief Executive

• Current paid consultancy: Interim CEO Wikimedia UK through Consultdarcy Ltd ( www.consultdarcy.org )
• Former posts: Interim CEO Allergy UK, Interim Director Research In Practice
• Current and former Directorships: Parity Trust
• Current voluntary roles: Mentor at MentorNet
• Memberships: Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing
• Political affiliation: none