Ivan Sigal joins Georgia Popplewell: Global Voices has a new Dream Team

Ethan Zuckerman has done more startups than I have. I'm incredibly lucky that I launched my first one - the non-profit citizen media organization Global Voices - with Ethan nearly four years ago, and even luckier that it has so far been pretty successful. Quitting while I'm ahead, I haven't tried launching another one since..

A number of people have asked me why I - or both of us - didn't try to make full-time jobs running Global Voices. There are lots of reasons. Ethan has a book he desperately wants to write and I've got research and writing I want to do myself - work that simply wouldn't be possible while running an NGO full-time. I also felt uncomfortable with the idea of fund-raising to create a salary for myself as head of an organization I started and whose contributors are largely volunteers.

Another reason, however, has to do with knowing what you're good at and what other people are better at. Ethan and I were the best people possible to launch GV and get it off the ground.  But for running a global citizen media organization long-term, the ideal skill-sets change. We're thrilled to be handing GV over to two people whose skills and temperaments are best suited to GV's next phase, now that the start-up sprint is over and the marathon of building a sustainable NGO has begun.

In Georgia Popplewell, who was promoted from managing editor to Managing Director this spring, we have a cool-headed, efficient, tech savvy blogger and experienced journalist. She has proven that she can keep this completely virtual organization running smoothly and organized, manage all kinds of personalities and culture clashes, put out fires, you name it, all with a smile and a brilliant sense of humor. She is much beloved by the community. She has the patience and tolerance of a saint. She is our bedrock.  We can't imagine what we would have done if she hadn't stepped in to save us (me in particular) from drowning several times over the  past couple of years. Nor can we imagine what we would do without her going forward. Oh, and did I mention she is cool-headed? (It's a quality I tend to lack and thus greatly admire.)

In August, Ivan Sigal will take up the reins as Global Voices' Executive Director. A newcomer to GV, he is a veteran of the nonprofit media world after spending a decade at Internews, most recently as Regional Director for Asia and before that as Regional Director for Central Asia and Afghanistan. A fluent Russian speaker, he is also a first-class photographer, with a forthcoming book of photos and essays from Central Asia and Eastern Europe. He spent the past year as a fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace, researching how access to new forms of digital media affects people and outcomes in conflict-prone parts of the world. He's been writing about some of his ideas on a great new blog, burning bridge. Ivan not only brings a fresh perspective and new energy to the job, but also tons of experience in non-profit fund-raising, organizational management, and project development at a level that Ethan and I both lack - and which GV has now grown to need very badly. Plus everybody who met him at the Budapest Summit thought he was a very cool and charming guy.

Working closely with Georgia and Ivan are of course Managing Editor Solana Larsen, Rising Voices' David Sasaki, Sami Ben Gharbia of Global Voices Advocacy, Portnoy Cheng & Leonard Chien coordinating GV's "Lingua" translation projects, and Jeremy Clarke, our "geek in chief."

It's a dream team.

Like it or not, Ethan and I won't be going away completely. Ethan is Chairman of GV's Board of Directors, and I remain an active member of that board as well - doing what I do best which, in addition to promoting GV to potential supporters and partners, primarily consists of coming up with crazy ideas and lighting fires under people's behinds from time to time...

(Photos by Joi Ito, taken at the Global Voices Budapest Summit)