Resume

Christopher L. Koerner

314-210-2528
chris@clkoerner.com
clkoerner.com

Objective

I have an optimistic worldview and believe the web and other open technologies are a positive change in our shared culture. I love to help develop systems and solutions that have a unique voice and that promote a sense of care and value to people.

I enjoy an atmosphere where creativity and learning are key components in creating opportunities to grow and develop as an individual. My personality is well suited to positions where commitment to people and their attention are critical.

tl:dr; (Too long:didn’t read) I like building things people use to make their lives easier. I use technology to help people communicate & communicate with people about technology.

Career Experience

Wikimedia Foundation

Movement Communications Specialist | February 2021 – Current

I work for the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit organization that supports Wikipedia and other free-knowledge projects. I work on programatic work that leverages my position of privilege at the Foundation to be a “force-multiplier” for the amazing work done by volunteers and staff.

  • Lead project management and ongoing support of Diff, a community news blog for the Wikimedia movement. Available since July 2020, Diff is a strategic communications touch point between community at-large and the Foundation. Diff strives to document the work happening across the movement; to learn and to share the work of our volunteers.
  • Advocate for equity and inclusion in all parts of my work. From ensuring translations are available for key communications to representation in the editorial voice and collective storytelling of the movement.
  • Continuously developed the Diff feature set with a combination of my own technical capabilities and project management with our partners at Human Made.
  • Grew the feature set of Diff; the ability for readers of Diff to subscribe via email, established visitor metrics inline with our privacy policy, oversaw integration with Wikimedia by way of oAuth login, and adding a community-wide activities and event calendar. 
  • Participated in the Communication department’s first working group for DEI (Diversity, equity, and inclusion) to help build a framework for ensuring our work is as welcoming and
  • inclusive as possible.
  • Provide strategic support for numerous organizational communications initiatives. From sharing our Annual Plan, to supporting communications from our Global Advocacy team, to developing communication plans for teams around their initiatives and audiences.

Community Relations Specialist (Communications) | June 2019 – February 2021

I worked across the movement, with people from every corner to highlight their work, strengthen bonds, grow new relationships, and improve the learning and sharing of information across the global free-knowledge movement. I loved it.

  • Lead the creation of Diff, a community news blog for the Wikimedia movement. Available since July 2020 it has seen over 740 posts from over 200 authors. Traffic to the site averages 35,000 monthly views with over 620 email subscribers. Staff and volunteers alike have added over 240 events to our shared community calendar. All growth is organic with one-to-one outreach to staff and volunteers alike being are largest vector of growth.
  • Continuously developed Diff feature set with the ability to subscribe via email, visitor metrics inline with our privacy policy, integration with Wikimedia by way of oAuth login, and soon a community-wide activities calendar.
  • Chaired the nomination process for Wikimedian of the Year, an annual award that recognizes volunteer contributors for their work within the movement. Organization work I lead cumulated in a  live online event to celebrate and acknowledge the work of the Wikimedian of the Year. 
  • Developed and implemented objectives and key results to establish movement communications functions for the organization. These OKRs increased the impact of our work by focusing it around the movement strategy and annual plan work. We strived to create measurable work with a mindset that inclusion and diversity are impactful metrics.
  • Supported the Brand Studio team as they explored a potential renaming of the Wikimedia Foundation, affiliates, and projects. Engaged directly with community to listen and advocate for the diverse voices across the movement. 
  • Created a strategy and communication plan to engage community in support of the Movement Strategy Recommendations – a multi-year effort to center the Wikimedia movement as the essential infrastructure of the ecosystem of free knowledge.

Community Relations Specialist (Community Engagement) | July 2018 – June 2019

I listened to the needs of our volunteer contributors and bring their concerns, feedback, and ideas to the Foundation teams for consideration. I worked with product owners and engineers to understand technical systems and share that information with our diverse communities around the world. I loved it.

  • Lead communication efforts for the Wikimedia Space project. Establishing a foundation of communication and collaboration among the various community stakeholders and the Wikimedia Foundation.
  • Co-developed communication strategy for Security team – how to best organize and communicate incident responses, policy changes, and best practices to the Wikimedia movement.
  • Worked with the product team responsible for the Wikimedia website (Reading Web) on numerous successful product deployments – Page Previews, Page issues, and Advanced mobile contributions.
  • Organized mobile user testing for Readers web team at Wikimania 2018 with a successful round of feedback necessary to strategically move the project forward.
  • Drafted initiative for staff orientation around better understanding the Wikimedia communities, their values, and motivations.

Community Liaison | January 2016 – July 2018

  • Lead community outreach and collaboration programs for the technology team responsible for Wikimedia search.
  • Worked to communicate change and funnel feedback to the appropriate teams through collaborative writing and personal engagement with communities and their members.
  • Assisted the then-new Security team in communicating the first impactful change to the password policies for Wikimedia projects. The result was a smooth deployment with an informed movement.
  • Managed and directed community communications around the Wikimedia Maps service, in the midst of ambiguity around support for the product.

Mercy

Data Analytics & Engineering – Lead Business Solutions Analyst | Feb 2013 – January 2016

I worked on the Data Analytics & Reporting team inside of MTS, the IT department for Mercy a large regional non-profit healthcare system in the midwestern United States.

  • Lead a large-scale wiki-based collaboration and documentation effort.
  • Evangelized ‘open by default’ as an approach to collaboration across technical and non-technical co-workers.
  • Support and assist growth of wiki documentation by providing training to co-workers, upgrading system capabilities, involving co-worker feedback into decision-making, and continued growth of the wiki platform.
  • Work with developers on the data analytics and reporting team to help provide documentation and communication of our various systems, processes, and projects.
  • Developed and administered the collaborative “Measure Compendium” for Quality and Safety allowing for increased transparency and rapid dissemination of performance metric/measure knowledge across the ministry.
  • Leveraged open-source and freely available technologies to improve documentation efforts around key performance measures and the visual representations of the data via dashboards.
  • Started, and continued to support, a monthly internal newsletter around data management, analytics, and reporting topics to help better communicate projects, awards, initiates, and other sundry around the work we do.
  • Established data visualization (via web-based dashboards and reports) user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) standards.
  • Created standard templates, color palettes, and data visualization best practices.
  • Assisted in establishing standard workflow procedures around data visualization efforts.
  • Produced a seven-part series of videos to educate co-workers on the core strategies for our team.

Enterprise Architecture – IT Architect | 2011 – Feb 2013

This was the position I was originally hired for in 2011. It was a great opportunity to develop my understanding of healthcare and collaboration across the various services Mercy offers. I was able to work on a lot of great things. Here’s a few.

  • Developed strategy for the domains of enterprise content and collaboration – a first for the organization.
  • Worked with Mercy leadership to pilot and test modern collaboration and communication methods – beyond email.
  • Managed a project to establish a crowd-sourced feedback and idea management solution for internal services.
  • Advised internal IT communication team to develop a smart strategy of content creation and syndication.
  • Assisted migration from multiple ad-hoc intranets across organization to a more robust information workplace.
  • Enhanced learning of internal systems with dynamic presentation delivery and design-focused methodology.
  • Defined scope of knowledge management within IT department to help modify behavior and assist with on-boarding.
  • Established relationships with business leaders to help better align the strategy of business domains and IT.

Saint Louis University

Division of Student Development – Web Project Coordinator | 2008 – 2011

  • Collaborated with division leadership to migrate division and departmental content into a central enterprise content management system (CMS).
  • Managed existing content and developed new content, hierarchy and organization within the CMS.
  • Trained new users and provided support for the CMS.
  • Collected and analyzed reports regarding traffic statistics to determine success of online campaigns.
  • Developed and evangelized the student news and event resource called SLU Connection.
  • Managed the development of the Saint Louis University iPhone App.
  • Contributed to the 2010 redesign of the Saint Louis University web presence.
  • Developed the university’s first online prayer-book, which became the first printed version in over 12 years.
  • Developed various interactive tools for the undergraduate student community such as quizzes, polls, GPA calculators.
  • Technical advisor to both the student run radio station (KSLU) and TV station (SLU-TV).
  • Provided annual web strategy training to student leadership to further strengthen their web presence.
  • Technical and creative manager of the student staffed video production team.

John Cook School of Business – Web/IT Coordinator | 2007 – 2008 

  • Maintained all web services for the business school, including the public-facing website.
  • Created and shared web policies and procedures for the University-wide CMS.
  • Worked with Marketing and Communications department to develop new CMS schemas for implementation across campus.
  • Chaired business school web committee and kept key administrative staff abreast of on-going web activities.
  • Developed strong Search Engine Optimization techniques for the Business School utilizing tools such as Google Analytics and proper metadata implementation.

Apple

Educational Sales – Campus Representative | 2004 – 2006

  • Demonstrated and promoted Apple products on the campus of Saint Louis University.
  • Lead a site-specific marketing campaign for a $3.8 million account for Q1.
  • Generated $540k in retail sales for December.
  • Exhibited excellent public speaking skills while demonstrating Apple technology to students.
  • Organized and hosted meetings with members of the SLU academic community.
  • Created and executed creative events on campus to increase product visibility.

Volunteer Experience

WordCamp US 2019 & 2020 – Lead Volunteer Organizer | Dec 2018 – 2022

I helped to organize the largest US community event around WordPress, the open-source software that enables millions to publish on the web. I was the lead of a team of four volunteer organizers in charge of outreach, organizing, scheduling, and training a team of 100+ volunteers to staff the three-day event. We made sure the nearly 2,000 attendees were able to smoothly register, find their way throughout the venue, and enjoy their experience of attending WordCamp US.

St. Louis WordPress Community – Co-organizer | Dec 2012 – January 2021

I help organize and host the St. Louis WordPress Meetup group. We have two monthly meetings: one for general topics and one more developer focused. I host the former and often present on various topics. We also organize a yearly local conference called WordCamp St. Louis that invites over 250 people to present and learn more about the WordPress ecosystem.

MediaWiki Stakeholders’ Group – Member | August 2014 – March 2018

A MediaWiki user group of collaborators who have a passion for making MediaWiki more approachable for third-party usage. As of this writing, we’re starting to develop a plan to better understand the requirements and approach to better collaborate with third-party wiki administrators and their communities.

St. Louis Pet Rescue – Marketing  and Technology Officer | 2009 – 2016

I helped manage the web presence, marketing, and growth of St. Louis Pet Rescue, a 501c3 non-profit.

Education

Bachelor of Communication – Saint Louis University

Associate of Arts – Theatre – Jefferson College

Skills

I have a strong communication and technology background with exemplary success in understanding the goals and focus of marketing and communication functions and how technology can support the vision of the organization.

I am a well-organized professional who prides myself on being communicative, empathetic, and patient with whomever I’m working with. I enjoy working in the service of others in a healthy and collaborative way.

I value user-centric design and systems that have a tight integration between visual design, user interface and technological platforms.

I believe a successful project lies not only in the right process, people, and technology, but also in the evangelization and advocacy with stakeholders. Working as partners who together can create a better solution than if we worked in silos.

I feel strongly about strategic thinking when it comes to how an organization represents itself among a community of decentralized actors. Any formal organization can appear sectioned off from the whole and one of the best ways to deter this line of thinking is by communicating clearly and with purpose.

I have learned that communication is not just a unique skill, but the one that is often sacrificed when budgets and timelines are short. I’m a reflective thinker that would rather launch positive incremental improvements than a large ill-received solutions. The best path to success is in clear, thoughtful, dialog.

Presentations

Personal Timeline

2022

  • In progress.
  • Took a month-long sabbatical from work to reset and reflect. Went on a family vacation for the first time in two years. 
  • A lot of growth at work is putting me in a hopeful mood for the future of my own work and the work we do in service to our communities and movement. Something much needed after the last two years filled with ambiguity. 
  • Got to travel for the first time for work in two years. Met and bonded with some of my great co-workers in South Africa.  

2021

  • Things started looking brighter as we were able to start emerging from the house.
  • My kids flourished as they were able to return to school in-person. They’ve both become people I’m proud of and this year shows how resilient and kind they are.

2020

  • Ugh, what a year. Happy to have survived.
  • Eldest daughter started High School. Youngest daughter started kindergarten. 
  • Attended Branding Workshop in Bengaluru, India and met some amazing volunteers.

2019

  • Took on a programs role as Project Manager for the Wikimedia Space blog. 
  • Attended Wikimedia Hackathon 2019 in Prague, Czechia.
  • Attended and presented at the Wikimedia CEE Meeting (Central and Eastern Europe) on connecting communities with Wikimedia Space. 
  • Lead Volunteer organizer for WordCampUS, the largest WordPress-related community event in North America.

2018

  • Presented at EMW Spring 2018 in Houston, Texas on the State of the MediaWiki community
  • Hosted session at Wikimedia Hackathon 2018 in Barcelona on building a WordPress plugin to embed Wikimedia content.
  • Traveled to Cape Town, South Africa to help organize user testing for the mobile web team. 

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013 – Went to PAX East in Boston with my family.

2012 – Went to Seattle & Portland for our belated honeymoon. My wife quit her job to finish her PhD!

2011

  • Left Saint Louis University after 9 years and started a new career as an Enterprise Architect at Mercy while my daughter started kindergarten. 
  • Traveled to Indianapolis, Boston and Tulsa, OK and Rogers, AR.

2010

2009 – Worked on some cool projects at work and with my wife, didn’t get to travel.

2008 – Co-authored a technical paper for SIGUCCS and presented it in Portland, OR at their Fall Conference.

2007 – Heartland Delta V delegate for Saint Louis University.

2006 – My first daughter was born & I graduated from SLU.

2004 – Married my talented and beautiful wife.

1981 to 2003 – Lots of embarrassing personal development.

1981 – Began existing.