QUOTE(Milton Roe @ Sat 6th December 2008, 2:08pm)
the IT people answer to WFM, which is run by the CEO, which answers to the board.
From what I've heard, the CEO (Sue Gardner) does not answer to the board at all, and in fact the board is effectively powerless over her, in part due to a golden parachute in her employment agreement (basically, firing her would bankrupt them). The WMF board is an essentially powerless entity.
QUOTE(Milton Roe @ Sat 6th December 2008, 2:08pm)
It only takes a one-time collusion of a majority of the WMF board to change everything, forever.
Unlikely to happen; nobody gets on the WMF board now without getting personally approved by both Jimmy and Sue. Elected seats now comprise a tiny minority of the board, with the remainder appointed through mechanisms that are entirely controlled by either Jimmy or Sue. In my opinion, this was done in response to the near-coup late last year, in which a vote to "pack" the board with people unfriendly to Jimbo (and which would likely have been followed by a vote to eject Jimbo from the board) failed by a single vote.
QUOTE(Milton Roe @ Sat 6th December 2008, 2:08pm)
For as long as they want. I suppose Brion and Co. could declare loyalty to Jimbo and sabotage the software or in some way stage a passive-aggressive "strike." But strikes can be broken, and it only takes one IT person to defect, also.
Brion is not going to revolt as long as they continue to pay him, and I suspect he'd even remain loyal even if not paid for a while. Just not the sort of person he is. Whatever feelings Brion has on the social and political issues, he keeps very much to himself.