Florence Devouard

Florence Devouard
Florence Devouard
Chair of the Wikimedia Foundation
In office 21 October 2006 – 17 July 2008
Preceded by	Jimmy Wales
Succeeded by	Michael Snow
Personal details
Born	(1968-09-10) 10 September 1968 Versailles, France
Spouse(s)	Bertrand Devouard
Children	Three
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, she resides in the village of Malintrat, near the city of Clermont-Ferrand in France. She had a master's degree in agronomy.^[2]

Devouard became active on WorldHeritage when she was a housewife and taking care of two children.^[2] 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.^[3] 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".^[4]

She is married to Bertrand Devouard and has three children.^[5]

Devouard holds an engineering degree in agronomy from ENSAIA. She also holds a DEA in genetics and biotechnologies from INPL.^[6][7] 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.^[8]

Co-founder of Wikimedia France in 2004, she is vice-chair of its board as of 2011 until December 2012.^[9]

References

• Lih, Andrew. The WorldHeritage Revolution: How a Bunch of Nobodies Created the World's Greatest Encyclopedia. Hyperion, New York City. 2009. First Edition. ISBN 978-1-4013-0371-6 (alkaline paper).

Notes