When the Wikimedia Foundation's new CEO was announced on Diff, former US Ambassador to Chile Bernadette Meehan looked like the perfect choice. With all due respect to the WMF's current and past executive directors and CEOs, there has never been one who had the formal qualifications that Meehan has.

After working for seven years for two New York banks, Meehan started her career in the professional foreign service and worked her way up to be Special Advisor to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, then moved to a position at the Obama White House where she served as Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and then as spokesperson for the National Security Council. In 2015 she was a fellow at the Georgetown University's Institute for the Study of Diplomacy. She later worked as Executive Director of International Programs and Chief International Officer at the Obama Foundation, before returning to foreign service in 2022 as ambassador to Chile.

There were a few questions that came up, one I though quite serious, when I reviewed Meehan's qualifications. Near the middle of the talk page Talk:Bernadette Meehan is a yellow box saying that an undeclared paid editor had edited the article. In fact the UPE account had created the article in early 2015 and been blocked as a sockpuppet a few months later. There were 44 other accounts in the sockfarm. Another possible indication of UPE occurred soon after Meehan became a fellow at Georgetown University. An unregistered or "IP" editor, whose IP address geolocates to that university, had added several semi-personal facts to the article. Neither of these sets of edits is proof that Meehan was a UPE or even that she edited with a conflict of interest. But this was serious enough that I should ask her directly. Through the WMF I asked for an interview and then submitted a total of seven written questions about many topics. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time to complete the full set of questions before this issue of The Signpost. And Meehan doesn't even start working for the WMF until January 20.

Amazingly, Meehan sent me an email last Friday introducing her views on the bulk of the questions, and directly answered the most serious question about undeclared paid editing. Part 1 of this interview follows. I hope to publish Part 2 in our next issue. If readers want to contribute to Part 2, please just put your questions in the Comments section below or email me drectly.

Hello to The Signpost readers and thank you for reaching out to me! I could not be more excited to join the Wikimedia Foundation, particularly at this moment in time. Wikipedia will celebrate 25 years of existence in January, shortly before I begin my tenure. This role feels like the culmination of many of my prior experiences across the private sector, non-profit sector, and government service, and I am eager to bring these different skills and perspectives to the Wikimedia community. In some ways, it feels like my journey here began even before my professional career, back when I was a high school exchange student in Argentina.

At this pivotal moment in its history, I believe it is vital to bring more awareness and education about the value that the Wikimedia projects bring to the world. Demonstrating why these efforts are so important to the information ecosystem and why, in a moment when generative AI is expanding, the Wikimedia projects are a more essential backbone of the internet than they have ever been before. I hope to play a key role generating awareness, encouraging more people to contribute to these projects, and helping to raise the perspectives and profile of the collective Wikimedia community in the ongoing conversations about policies and issues that affect our projects and people. Any new endeavor is a humbling experience, and I recognize that I have a lot to learn as I take on this role. Therefore, my initial focus will be listening to the community, asking questions, and learning all I can.

Like most subjects of Wikipedia articles, I do not know the user who created the article or who made the other edit you reference. I think your question is a solid example of the Wikipedia model working in practice - every edit in the open, lots of Wikimedians working together to spot and block undisclosed paid editing, and improving the content by removing anything that might not be written from a neutral point of view or be verifiable.

Thank you to The Signpost for the role you play in this ecosystem. I look forward to our engagements and to building our future together!

Thank you, Bernadette and welcome to the WMF and Wikipedia!

I've taken the liberty of not using your formal title "Madam Ambassador" as it is a tradition among Wikipedians to call WMF CEOs by their first names. Tradition means a lot around here. Among the most important traditions are assume good faith and don't bite the newbies.

Thank you for giving a direct answer on the UPE/COI question, and for taking your private time to answer so quickly.