As an organisation, The Engine Room makes a lot of choices. Some of them big: Who will we accept funding from, how will we grow smartly? Some of them small: should we go to this event or that event, what colour should the background of that website be?
When you add up all of these choices and the values underpinning them you have us: our culture, our work, our impact.
Our board of directors is an important resource for making these big (and small) decisions. Directors provide guidance, approve financial and legal choices and changes, and use their rich backgrounds and expertise to support various aspects of our strategy.
You can find information about our current board here.
With that in mind, we are happy to announce two new directors on our board: Elizabeth Lindsey and Ivan Sigal. Both Elizabeth and Ivan bring expertise and wisdom that we are thrilled to have on our governance team.
- Elizabeth Lindsey is the executive director of Byte Back, a nonprofit in Washington, DC that promotes economic opportunity for underserved communities by providing computer literacy, access to technology, and career training. Prior to her work at Byte Back she was the Chief Operating Officer at Groundswell.
- Ivan Sigal is the executive director of Global Voices, an international network of volunteer writers, editors, translators, and activists producing citizen media from marginalised and misrepresented communities. Ivan sits on the board of the Documentary Photography Project at Open Society Foundations and is a fellow at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society.
We are also saying goodbye to board member Brenda Burrell, a tireless Zimbabwean activist, co-founder of The Kubatana Trust, and maker of the IVR (interactive voice response) service Freedom Fone. She has been on our board for 3 years, supporting us as we grew from seedling to tree and we will miss her.
We are grateful for the energy and advice that has helped propel us, and we’re excited about our next chapter of governance as we grow and evolve!