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Board Election Process

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IAABC Board Officer Election Process

The annual election of officers takes place at the first meeting of the newly seated Board. While Board terms are two years, officer’s positions are for one. There’s therefore a Board officer election every year.

Newly-seated Board members can’t know the abilities of who is vying for an officer’s position as this is their first meeting as Board members, and they may themselves be seeking an officer position, with none of their team members konwing their own skills.

We have a collegial board, and a supportive one. In order to keep that supportive collegiality while adequately assessing suitability for officer positions, based on the available pool of candidates, a process must be followed that allows each Board member the best understanding of an officer candidate’s abilities and intentions. This isn’t easy, and must always be done with care and sensitivity to individual ambitions, wishes and self-assessed suitability.

The following is the process followed to seat Board officers for the IAABC.

  1. Term of Officers
  1. Board member terms are two years.
  2. The terms of officers are one year.
  3. Election of officers is conducted as the first order of business at the first Board meeting of the newly-seated Board.
  4. Officers elected each year are:
    1. President
    2. Vice President
    3. Secretary
    4. Treasurer
  1. Declaration of Intent
  1. At least 1 week before the initial meeting of the Board, those wishing to run for officer’s positions send a written declaration of intent to the Executive Director, to be shared with all sitting and incoming Board members. These letters would be stored with the year’s election information as a corporate record.
  2. The declaration states what experience the candidate has, and why they believe themselves to be the best candidate for the job. The declaration also states which other officer positions the candidate would be able to hold.
  3. This applies to all Board members seeking seats, including newly-seated members, previously-seated members, and members already in their desired officer position.
  1. Meeting to Conduct Election of Officers
  1. The Executive Director presides over the initial part of the meeting to elect Officers of the Board.
  2. The newly seated Board discusses the options for candidates, each candidate’s suitability, and any concerns or support they might want to express.
  3. Nominations for each officer’s position, including self-nomination, then takes place, to be seconded by another Board member. Should no member second the motion, the nominee will not be eligible.
  4. The Executive Director records the voting for the minutes.
  5. A candidate who fails to be elected for a position may be nominated for a subsequent position by any Board member or the Executive Director. A second must be given, followed by a vote. The nominee must be willing to hold that position. Positions cannot be forced upon Board members.
  6. Once officers have been elected, the President shall preside over the remainder of the meeting.
  7. Pre-voting and voting by proxy are not permitted for election of officers or other IAABC Board business.
  1. Appointment of Officers
  1. In the event that all officer positions are not filled, the President shall appoint an officer from the Board members at large until such time as another volunteer is found.
  2. In the event that the President’s position is not filled, the Executive Director shall appoint an interim President until such time as another volunteer is found.

Board Officer Job Descriptions

President Job Description:

General Responsibilities

  • The President is responsible for ensuring that the Board of Directors are aware of and fulfill their governance responsibilities to IAABC; comply with applicable laws and bylaws; conduct board business effectively and efficiently; and are accountable for their performance.
  • In order to fulfill these responsibilities, and subject to the IAABC bylaws, the President presides over meetings, proposes policies and procedures in conjunction with the Executive Director, guides the Board in the development of policies and procedures, sits on various committees, monitors the performance of Directors and Officers.
  • Submits various reports to the board and to the membership.
  • Keeps abreast of committee actions and activities, and performs other duties as the need arises and/or as defined in the bylaws to assist in ongoing IAABC projects and tasks.

Accountability 

  • The President is accountable to the Board of Directors as specified in the bylaws.
  • The President may delegate specific duties to Board members and/or committees as appropriate.
  • The President ensures that an agenda is planned and communicated for board meetings.
  • The President presides over meetings of the Board of Directors. In this capacity, the President: chairs meetings according to "Robert’s Rules of Order, Newly Revised” for the purposes of encouraging all members to participate in discussion and arrive at decisions in an orderly, timely and democratic manner. In boards that operate with an executive committee, the President performs the above duties for the executive committee.

Professional Relations 

  • The President ensures that the organization maintains positive and productive relationships with media, funders, donors, and other organizations. In this capacity, the President serves as a key spokesperson for the organization. Duties may include representing the organization to the media, representing the organization on governmental or non-governmental organizations and committees, and timely and appropriate reporting of Board decisions and actions to members. In this regard, it’s imperative that the President understand all of the organization’s programs, what they imply in the marketplace, and what complementary or competitive programs are also in the marketplace.

Signing Officer

  • The President has signing privileges and permissions in the event that the Executive Director is not available to do so. The President may sign correspondence, applications, reports, contracts and other documents authorized by the board and in the absence of the Executive Director, in accordance with the bylaws in order to supervise business and operations of IAABC. Great care should be taken that no document is signed by the President without the knowledge, if at all possible, of the Executive Director to avoid inadvertent redundancies in services, or contracts already in negotiation by the Executive Director.

Board Development

  • The President ensures, with the Executive Director, that structures and procedures are in place for effective recruitment, training, and evaluation of board members.

Fund Raising

  • The President ensures that structures and procedures are in place for securing the resources required by the organization.
  • This may require the President to play a leadership role in fundraising campaigns.

Vice President Job Description:

The Vice President serves as Board chair in the absence of the President, and handles all duties of the President in the event of an interim lapse in office of the president or should the President be unable to fulfill their duties.

  • The office of the Vice President serves as "owner” of all IAABC discussion lists and social media groups and accounts under the email address vicepresident@iaabc.org.
  • The Vice President assists in list management and subscription clean-up during renewal and other times when Communications Director needs assistance.
  • The Vice President may be asked to serve as committee liaison to the Board of Directors if the President is unavailable or in additional support of the President.

Treasurer Job Description:

  • The Treasurer is responsible for keeping track of the organization’s financials, working in conjunction with the Executive Director and the Bookkeeper. The Bookkeeper works with the accountant for our annual audit and tax filings.
  • The Treasurer meets with the Executive Director and/or President and the Bookkeeper to set the annual budget, make projections, and fully understand expenditures and income for the organization.
  • The Treasurer conducts a quarterly review of the organization's accounting with the bookkeeper, and requests monthly reports from the bookkeeper to present to the Board at the next Board meeting.
  • The Treasurer does not make payments, reimbursements or deposits unless specifically asked to do so by the Board or Executive Director. All income and expenditures are done through the Bookkeeper.
  • The President and/or Executive Director, with a majority vote of the Board, may assign all of the above duties to a staff Bookkeeper. The Board Treasurer will then act as liaison to the Board and Bookkeeper, and make monthly reports to the Board regarding all accounts and corporate funds and securities.

Secretary Job Description:

General Responsibilities: 

  • Organizations are required by law and by custom to maintain certain records for several purposes, including:
    • accurate recollection of decisions;
    • accurate recording of votes and measures;
    • determination of eligibility to vote;
    • continuity of policies and practices; and
    • accountability of directors and officers.
  • The Secretary is responsible for ensuring that accurate and sufficient documentation exists to meet legal requirements, and to enable authorized persons to determine when, how, and by whom the board's business was conducted. In order to fulfill these responsibilities, and subject to the organization's bylaws, the Secretary records minutes of meetings, ensures their accuracy, and availability, maintains member agreements and records in the Policy Book, fulfills any other requirements of a Director and Officer, and performs other duties as the need arises and/or as defined in the bylaws. (see note 1)

Accountability

  • The Secretary is accountable to the Board of Directors. Through the Board of Directors, certain duties of the Secretary may be delegated to the Executive Director, Board members and/or committees as appropriate; however, the accountability for them remains with the Secretary.

Specific Duties :

Minutes

  • The secretary is responsible for ensuring that accurate minutes of meetings are taken and approved. Requirements of minutes may vary with the jurisdiction but should include at a minimum:
    • date, time, location of meeting;
    • list of those present and absent;
    • list of items discussed;
    • list of reports presented;
    • text of motions presented and description of their disposition.

Custodian of records

  • The secretary ensures that the records of the organization are maintained as required by law and made available when required by authorized persons. These records may include founding documents, (eg. letters patent, articles of incorporation), lists of directors, board terms, committee meeting minutes, and other official records.

Bylaws

  • The Secretary ensures that changes and updates to the Bylaws are recorded appropriately within the Board book, and that all amendments are dated and greyed to reflect changes.

Meetings

  • The Secretary participates in Board meetings as a voting member. The secretary records meeting minutes as described above.

Note 1: Minutes should have enough information to help absent directors and members understand what issues were discussed and what decisions were made. MInutes should not be verbatim reports of meetings, nor should sensitive material be included in public minutes.

Adopted 6-26-19

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