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Maryana Iskander may have one of the least-understood jobs in all of tech. As the chief executive officer of the Wikimedia Foundation, she oversees hundreds of thousands of volunteers and a website that pulls in more traffic than Amazon, Netflix or LinkedIn.

Yet her 600-employee organization humbly raises funds to keep operating, she does not have authority to control the mighty volunteer workforce, and anyone can edit the popular website sometimes with malicious and mischievous content.

Iskanders job is a paradox, and so is she. She was born in Cairo but grew up a Texan. She has impressive educational bona fides, a Rhodes scholarship and a Yale law degree, but she downplays her credentials. She works from San Franciscos Financial District but has a home in Johannesburg, South Africa.

She is still relatively new. She took the helm at the Wikimedia Foundation at the beginning of 2022, previously serving as CEO of a South African youth employment nonprofit, Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator.

The Examiner sat down with Iskander in her office with a sweeping view of the San Francisco skyline to learn more about how Wikipedia works, what its like to lead it, and how she sees the job.

Are you the boss of all of Wikipedia? No. I am the CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation, which is an integral part of supporting Wikipedia, but actually, hundreds of thousands of volunteers all over the world are the people who make Wikipedia what it is.

Whats the Wikimedia Foundation? The Wikimedia Foundation is a nonprofit organization that supports not only Wikipedia, but other free knowledge projects. And being a nonprofit organization means that all of this content can be provided for free, and without ads, and in a way that feels pretty different from how other platforms operate.

Isnt Jimmy Wales the head of Wikipedia? I would say Jimmy Wales is both the founder and the spirit of Wikipedia. Jimmy continues to be part of the story of this thing thats grown beyond even his wildest imagination.

You said theres hundreds of thousands of volunteer editors. So how many people get paid and are professional editors of Wikipedia? Wikipedia is written by volunteers, unpaid people helping the rest of us make sure that we find information on the internet that is accurate and verified and cited and sourced. There are employees of the Wikimedia Foundation that provide support to these communities and volunteers, but the volunteers themselves are not paid staff.

What does the foundation do? It does a few important things. The most important is provide the technology and support the servers that allow Wikipedia to operate as one of the top 10 websites in the world. We also provide support to local communities all over the world through grants and capacity-building that is the free knowledge movement. And we provide legal litigation and advocacy that keeps free knowledge available and accessible.

How many people work for the foundation and where is it headquartered? Although the foundation is a U.S. nonprofit with San Francisco headquarters, I would describe it as a highly global organization. We have roughly 600 people scattered across over 40 countries and every region of the world. And I think that the diversity of our staff makes us a really good partner to the global community that we serve.

So are there other Wikipedias besides English-language Wikipedia? That is one of my favorite questions because Wikipedia is the most multilingual project in the world and on the internet. Wikipedia exists in over 332 languages. They vary in size, depending on how volunteer communities grow those Wikipedias. But 89% of all the articles on Wikipedia are not in English.

Why does Wikipedia have banners on its website asking people to give money? Theyre a small invitation for folks who find value in Wikipedia to chip in and ensure that this can remain as it is: An enterprise that doesnt rely on selling you anything with ads. Im not incentivizing you to stay longer than you need to stay.

Some volunteers are extremely devoted, and there are big gatherings where they come together. Is Wikipedia a cult? I dont think its a cult. I think its like a highly committed subset of humanity that comes from all walks of life, every corner of the world, and somehow finds a common cause in the idea of making free knowledge available to everybody. I think its the most extraordinary digital community in human history.

Since anyone can edit Wikipedia, doesnt it mean all kinds of stuff is wrong up there? There are many built-in mechanisms that help us try to make sure accurate and verified content is on Wikipedia. Sources have to be cited and verified. We have both human and machine tools to identify vandalism, which is usually taken down within minutes, certainly on high-profile topics.

Lets shift gears a little bit more to the personal. Is it a large personal responsibility to lead the nonprofit that manages such a powerful project? I think about that every day. The world is a complicated place, and many societies are polarizing right now. The remarkable thing about Wikipedia is that its a place people can come to disagree in order to get to a better answer. And actually, the opportunity to debate creates more neutrality and the opportunity for people to express differences of opinion and have to talk it out and again, provide the citations and provide those verifiable sources. I think it is an antidote to what were seeing with misinformation and disinformation around the world.

Do you worry about editors in Ukraine who are telling the truth about whats going on in the war and might face oppression? That is maybe the most visible and poignant of many situations where people in the world have to fight for free knowledge and put themselves at risk. Providing support and safety to volunteers and staff is our highest priority. You wrote about both Ukrainian and Russian volunteers trying to preserve information and free knowledge. That reminds you why being able to record history as its happening is one of the most important applications of Wikipedia.

What kind of student were you in school? Were you studious? Did you love to delve into encyclopedias? I come from a family of immigrants who you know often say came to America at a time when America was welcoming of immigrants and maybe a different way than its been in these past few years. And I think that the one thing I understood from my parents is that in America at that time, if you studied hard and you work hard, you know, America was going to give you opportunity. And I think that I really took that to heart.

Youre a Rhodes scholar who went to Yale Law School. Im sure those diplomas are impressive. Why dont I see them on the walls of your office? At the end of the day, you gotta get the job done. And we dont always have equal opportunities to go to fancy schools. It doesnt matter in the end if you cant get the job done.

The best institutions are the ones that allow people to unleash their potential, which is what Wikipedia is all about. That potential might be their curiosity to read an article, or edit articles related to a topic theyre interested in. Or take part in another Wikipedia-related project. Theres a home for them, and theyre welcome.

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What does the CEO who oversees Wikipedia do? We ask her. - San Francisco Examiner