Resume

Professional Experience

Wikimedia Foundation

Project Manager | 2025 – Current
Coordinated complex projects from ideation to completion involving human rights, trust and safety, knowledge integrity and legal concerns. Centered protecting people and projects during fast-moving times of high-intensity when humans and information was at risk.

• Contributed to a wide range of cross-cutting projects in the volunteer support annual goal, including drafting internal standards, supporting the Mental Health Resource Center, Communicating Safely, and Message that Matters initiatives.
• Orchestrated onboarding and training for staff members shifting roles in the wider team supporting trust and safety and committee governance in the global volunteer community.
• Surveyed area managers supporting the various sub-teams of the larger department to identify an overall theory of change to support the leadership in conceptualizing their new structure with each other and their staff members.
• Maintained momentum across key departmental objectives, strengthened community communication and support resources, and ensured stability within the team during periods of transition.
• Guided leadership through discussions about impact metrics in an environment where quantitative measures cannot capture with completeness the complexities of the work, especially when responding to swiftly evolving external challenges involving knowledge integrity and human safety realities.
• Created materials to share with the volunteer community to expand their capacity to address perennial and expansive issues impacting free knowledge, particularly about the legal realities of contributing to the Wikimedia projects in the current geopolitical environment where personal and information safety can change rapidly.

Impact: Connect people and work across various teams to ensure the community trust in the Wikimedia Foundation’s capacities to provide a safe atmosphere to curate the sum of all human knowledge is minimally impacted by external threats to people and projects.

Communication Specialist | 2022 – 2025
Created and coordinated global communications and community engagement strategy for one of the world’s largest volunteer networks of more than 300,000 contributors across 300+ language communities.

• Co-led participatory processes connecting community members, the Board of Trustees, and executive leadership—ensuring transparency, inclusion, and shared accountability and understanding in major policy initiatives.
• Designed and implemented 25 learning modules for onboarding and training 4 global community governance committees, embedding equity and accessibility across diverse cultural contexts.
• Launched the Mental Health Resource Center, a first-of-its-kind hub supporting volunteer well-being and community health resiliency. Resources available in many bridge languages for the 300+ language communities.
• Strengthened trust and safety and human rights communication workflows, improving cross-team coordination during crisis and non-crisis response.
• Authored community-facing learning materials to inform community members about the legal realities of contributing to open knowledge projects and what they can do to protect themselves and the Wikimedia projects.

Impact: Strengthened global community trust in the Wikimedia Foundation and enhanced the Foundation’s capacity for inclusive, transparent engagement.

Community Facilitator | 2021 – 2022
Led the design and implementation of participatory governance systems for Wikimedia’s globally-distributed volunteer community.

• Co-developed and facilitated the community-driven Board of Trustees selection process with the Board’s Governance Committee and the Wikimedia community, where community members get to vote to select trustees from the community membership, ensuring equitable representation and multilingual accessibility.
• Created engagement frameworks adopted by 15 international facilitators to strengthen inclusion and responsiveness across 30 language communities.
• Organized transparent consultations on major policy changes (Universal Code of Conduct, Bylaws updates), embedding community feedback into governance decisions.
• Partnered with the Board of Trustees and senior leadership to host community forums fostering shared learning and alignment between the volunteer community, the Board, and staff.

Impact: Institutionalized collaborative decision-making and enhanced trust between Wikimedia’s communities and Wikimedia Foundation leadership.

Community Health Consultant | 2016 – 2019
Designed and led an international research and policy initiative to assess and improve community health across Wikimedia projects.

• Conducted mixed-methods research (surveys, interviews) with a diverse selection of volunteers to identify systemic barriers to safety and inclusion.
• Authored 13 structural and procedural recommendations for the Wikimedia Board of Trustees, including the blueprint for the Universal Code of Conduct (adopted community-wide in 2022).
• Facilitated cross-regional workshops in Berlin, Stockholm, Amman, and Cambridge to co-create solutions for harassment prevention and governance transparency.
• Collaborated with an international team of 12 consultants to address policy and support gaps in community health.

Impact: Advanced a global culture of safety and belonging through evidence-based, volunteer-guided community health reforms.

Independent Education Consultant | 2016 – Present
Provide research, facilitation, and accessibility consulting to higher education institutions and nonprofits.

• Designed action research on community health and inclusion; presented findings internationally.
• Counseled universities on providing inclusive environments, particularly to students with disabilities and veterans.

Wiki Education Foundation / San Francisco State University

Visiting Scholar | 2016 – 2018
Developed educational and historical content for Wikipedia, adding 30,000+ words and 400+ references that generated over 13 million views. Connected with Civil Rights Movement figures to expand content resources.

Saint Louis University

PhD Candidate & Graduate Assistant | 2011 – 2016
Adjunct Instructor | 2009 – 2012
Financial Aid Coordinator | 2007 – 2012
Conducted qualitative research on disability in higher education; served as ombudsman and consultant for graduate research design; created financial literacy programs for law students and managed scholarship systems.

St. Louis Pet Rescue

Executive Director | 2009 – 2016
Founded and led a nonprofit animal welfare organization, growing its operations to a six-figure annual budget and reducing euthanasia rates in three counties by 80%. Secured funding through grants, partnerships, and major events.

Education

PhD, Higher Education & Qualitative Research — Saint Louis University
MA, Student Administration & Learning Theory — Saint Louis University
BS, Foreign Language & Literature (German) — Southern Illinois University

Volunteer Experience

•   Pack Committee Chair, Assistant Den Leader, Scouting America (2022 – 2024)
•   Assistant Scoutmaster, Scouting America (2021 – Present)
•   Community Health Working Group, Wikimedia Foundation (2018 – 2019)
•   Volunteer Coordinator, WikiConference North America (2019)
•   Volunteer Coordinator, WikiConference North America (2018)
•   Helping Hands Committee, Rockwood School District (2018 – 2021)
•   WikiJournal of the Humanities Editor (2017 – 2021)
•   Program Reviewer, Wikipedia Project Grants Committee (2017 – 2020)
•   OCLC Wikipedia + Libraries Wikipedia Expert (2017 – 2018)
•   Review Education & Training Coordination Chair, ACPA (2015 – 2016)
•   Coalition for Disability Membership Chair, ACPA (2015 – 2016)
•   VP of Parent Education, Rockwood School District (2015 – 2017)
•   Sponsorship Coordinator, MoCPA (2015 – 2016)
•   Wellness and Accessibility Chair, MoCPA (2015 – 2016)
•   Classroom volunteer and room mom, Rockwood School District (2010 – Present)

Publications

• Koerner, J. (2020). Wikipedia @ 20. MIT Press. [Volume Editor]
• Koerner, J. (2020). Wikipedia has a bias problem. Wikipedia @ 20. MIT Press.
• Koerner, J. (2018). Why this Wikipedian believes in sharing knowledge freely. Wiki Education Foundation.
• Koerner, J. (2017). Don’t take it personally. Ladies Get Paid.
• Koerner, J. (2016). An exploration of the lived experiences of college students with disabilities.
• Koerner, J. (2016). Talking Points: Access for All. CURRENTS Magazine. April 2016.

Speaking engagements

• Communication: strategies for strong, compassionate conversations WikiWomen Camp 2023: New Delhi, India
• Crafting Stories: Building Communities WikiWomen Camp 2023: New Delhi, India
• Wikimedia 2030 Strategic Direction Wiki Conference North America 2019: Boston, Massachusetts
• Opening Keynote: Wikipedia@20  WikiConference North America 2019: Boston, Massachusetts
• Implicit Bias: The damage report  WikiConference North America 2018: Columbus, Ohio
• Surveys: Get answers to your questions  Learning Days at Wikimania 2018: Cape Town South Africa
• Implicit Bias Lightning Talk Learning Days at Wikimania 2018: Cape Town South Africa
• Implicit bias and Wikipedia  Wikipedia Day 2018: New York City
• Birth of Bias: implicit bias’ permanence on Wikipedia, Wikimania 2017
• Visiting Scholars: Developing a Model for Educational Institutions and Associations to Support Editing, Wikimania 2017
• Bias about Disability on Campus, ACPA 2017: Columbus, Ohio
• Mourning a Dissertation, ACPA 2017: Columbus, Ohio
• An exploration of the lived experiences of college students with disabilities, ACPA Midwest 2016 Kansas City, Missouri
• Brown bag presentation: Lived experiences of college students with disabilities, McKendree University Lebanon, Illinois October 2016
• Students with Disabilities on our Campuses, MoCPA 2015 Lake Ozark, Missouri, October 2015
• Students with Disabilities Persisting Through Higher Education: Their Perspective ACPA 2014: REINVENT Indianapolis, Indiana April 2014

Press

• Tola, Z. (2021), Meet the Candidates: BOE Election 2021. Marquette Messenger.
• The Leader. (2021). Seven seeking two seats on Rockwood school board.
• Singer, J. (2021). The women of Wikipedia are writing themselves into history. Glamour.
• Panovka, R. (2021). No rest for the wiki: the free encyclopedia is one of the last vestiges of an earlier Internet. Bookforum. 
• Sengul-Jones, M. (2020). Harnessing Wikipedia’s superpowers for journalism. DataJournalism.com. 
• Robinson, A. (2020). The ascent of Wikipedia. Science Magazine.
• College of Humanities and Social Sciences. (2020). Vetter publishes book chapter on Wikipedia’s twentieth anniversary. Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
• Gossett, S. (2020). The Internet should be more like Wikipedia. Built-In.
• Harrison, S. (2020). How Wikipedia become a battleground for racial justice. Slate.
• Menand, L. (2020). Wikipedia, “Jeopardy!,” and the fate of the fact. The New Yorker.
• Keegan, B. (2020). How 9/11 shaped Wikipedia. Slate.
• Ekman, P. (2020). Interview with Joseph Reagle and Jackie Koerner. Wikipedia Signpost.
• Wacha, M. (2018). Wikipedia Day 2018. CUNY Academic Commons.
• Beutler, W. (2017). What you missed at Wikimania 2017. The Wikipedian.
• Longmore Institute. (2016).Introducing, our new Wikipedian: Jackie Koerner. Paul K. Longmore Institute on Disability Blog.
• Boyle, S. (2011).Let us introduce you: Jackie Koerner. The University News.

Personal accomplishments

• Alpha Epsilon Lambda National Honor Society
• NAFC Certified Personal Trainer
• Scouting America Wood Badge trained
• WikiConference North America 2019 Movement Strategy Working Group representative, Cambridge, Massachusetts 
• WikiConference North America 2018 Attendee and scholarship recipient, Columbus, Ohio
• Wikimania 2018, Attendee and scholarship recipient, Cape Town, South Africa
• Wikimedia Leadership Bootcamp 2018 Attendee Hosted by Wikimedia D.C.
• Wikimedia Diversity Conference 2017 Attendee and scholarship recipient Stockholm, Sweden