Wikimedia Aotearoa New Zealand (WANZ) is very pleased to welcome two new committee members. Sophia Coghini and Lucy Schrader are well-known members of our community and will provide useful viewpoints as we develop the forward plan of our affiliate for 2024/25. The addition of these two committee members expands our committee to the maximum allocation of 9 people permitted under our constitution. These leaders join existing board members Victoria Leachman (President), Mike Dickison (Vice President), Marshall Clark (Treasurer), Christine Richardson (Secretary), Lisa Maule, Axel Downard-Wilke, and Heather Knox. 

Sophia Coghini

Sophia is a multidisciplinary artist, Pasifika advocate and independent researcher of Niuean (Alofi, Hikutavake), Tahitian, Māori (Ngāti Porou, Ngāpuhi), Italian and Hungarian descent. She began editing Wikipedia when she was involved in the Creative New Zealand Wikipedian in Residence project led by Lisa Maule in 2022. Sophia administers the talawiki website, presented at the World of Wikipedia event in Sydney in 2023, and was a performer and attendee at Wikimania 2023 Singapore.

Lucy Schrader

Lucy is the Digital Outreach Manager for the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. She has developed tools and workflows to share Te Papa’s collections, data, and research on Wikipedia, Wikidata, and Wikimedia Commons. She works with Te Papa’s curators and content creators to encourage them to engage with Wikimedia projects as outreach channels for specialist subject knowledge. With Heidi Meudt, Botany Curator, she runs a regular staff lunchtime Wikipedia meetup. Lucy was a presenter at Wikimania Singapore and is a regular attendee at the Wellington meet-up.
The elections for the committee will be held at the Annual General Meeting planned for April 2024. If you have an interest in standing for election to the committee at the AGM please contact Dianne Skelton for more information. Details on the process can be found in the constitution of Wikimedia Aotearoa New Zealand. See sections 24 and 25 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vp-y1NMFul7DjWlskXJei0TyFIZ0S3-k/view.