Florence Devouard

Florence Devouard
Florence Devouard
Chair of the Wikimedia Foundation
In office 21 October 2006 – 17 July 2008 (&100000000000000010000001 year, &10000000000000270000000270 days)
Preceded by	Jimmy Wales
Succeeded by	Michael Snow
Personal details
Born	10 September 1968 (1968-09-10) (age 43) Versailles, France
Spouse(s)	Bertrand Devouard
Children	William Devouard Anne-Gaëlle Devouard Thomas Devouard
Occupation	Consultant in Internet Communication Strategy, Chair Emeritus of the Wikimedia Foundation

Florence Jacqueline Sylvie Devouard, née Nibart (born 10 September 1968) was the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation between October 2006 and July 2008, succeeding Jimmy Wales.^[1]

Devouard was born in Versailles, France. She grew up in Grenoble and studied in Nancy, and later lived in Antwerp in Belgium and in Arizona in the United States. As of 2008^[update], she resides in the village of Malintrat, near the city of Clermont-Ferrand in France.

She joined the board of Wikimedia Foundation in June 2004 and was a founder of Wikimedia France in October 2004. She serves on the Advisory Board of the Foundation since July 2008. On 9 March 2008, she was elected member of the municipal council of Malintrat.^[2] On 16 May 2008, she was made a knight in the French National Order of Merit, proposed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as "chair of an international foundation".^[3]

She is married to Bertrand Devouard and has three children, William (born 1996), Anne-Gaëlle (born 1998) and Thomas (born 2006).^[4]

Devouard holds an engineering degree in agronomy from ENSAIA. She also holds a DEA in genetics and biotechnologies from INPL.^[5][6] She worked in public research, first in flower plant genetic improvement, and second in microbiology to study the feasibility of polluted soil bioremediation. She was employed until 2005 in a French firm to design decision-making tools in sustainable agriculture and now is a consultant in Internet Communication Strategy. At times, she has disagreed with the notion of "verifiability, not truth" as the basis for building consensus via collaboration.^[7]

She is a member of Wikimédia France's board.

Notes

1. ^ http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Board_of_Trustees#Florence_Nibart-Devouard
2. ^ Election results, French Ministry of the Interior
3. ^ Decree of May 16, 2008
4. ^ Follain, John (2007-07-08). "A Life In The Day: Florence Devouard". Sunday Times (London). http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/personal_tech/article2027538.ece. Retrieved 2007-07-09. 
5. ^ l'INPL - Nancy : formation d'Ingénieurs et de docteurs
6. ^ Institut national polytechnique de Lorraine
7. ^ Wikimedia head: Wikipedia "policy "verifiability, not truth" is stupid" 2008-02-10

External links

	France portal
	Biography portal
	Wikipedia portal

• Anthere Consulting website
• Wikimedia Foundation and sustainability
• 2005 Board candidacy presentation
• Video-Interview on 10 February 2007 at the Lift07 conference in Geneva
• "What the future holds for Wikipedia". Swissinfo. 2008-01-25. http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/front/What_the_future_holds_for_Wikipedia.html?siteSect=108&sid=8667736.  Interview with Florence Devouard.
• 'Madame Wikipedia' runs web giant from village HQ 2007 AFP article
• A Life in the Day: Florence Devouard 2007 Times article

Non-profit organization positions
Preceded by Jimmy Wales	Chair of the Wikimedia Foundation October 21, 2006 – July 17, 2008	Succeeded by Michael Snow

Persondata
Name	Devouard, Florence
Alternative names	Nibart-Devouard, Florence
Short description	Agronomy researcher - genetics
Date of birth	1968-09-11
Place of birth	Versailles
Date of death
Place of death