Good governance is a critical component of any organization, whether the organization is brand new or 175 years old. Our predecessors have provided us with an excellent system of Board governance. Here’s a quick rundown of the positions on the ASA Board of Directors, and how individuals get elected to each one.
The Board has fourteen elected and two appointed positions. Elected Board members serve three year terms. The treasurer and the secretary (who is also executive director) are appointed positions, and may be appointed for five years at a time. Only elected Board members may vote on Board matters.
All Board members are volunteers, except the Secretary/Executive Director, who is an employee of the ASA.
ASA members who will have had continuous ASA membership for at least the five years prior to the start of their service on the Board are eligible to be candidates for elected Board positions.
Candidates for President and Vice President are selected by the ASA Committee on Nominations. Candidates for Council of Chapters Representative and Council of Sections Representative are selected by the nominating committees of the Council of Chapters Governing Board and the Council of Sections Governing Board, respectively. Candidates for Publications Representative are selected by the editors of the ASA’s journals. Candidates for International Representative are selected by a subcommittee appointed by the Committee on Nominations.
All of that, while important, is pretty dry. But if you are still reading this blog, you’ve gotten to what makes the ASA’s governance system special, in my opinion. While the candidates for the various Board positions are selected through different processes, all of them are voted on by the entire ASA electorate. This is very important, because it means that every person on the Board is there to serve the interests of the entire membership. For example, I served as Council of Chapters Rep to the Board from 2001-2003. In that role, it was my responsibility to make sure that the interests of chapters were presented to the Board. But it was also my responsibility to look beyond that to serve the entire membership.
Thus, while Board members have differing roles to make sure specific major constituencies like chapters, sections, publications, and international members are well represented, Board members’ ultimate role is to serve to the best of their ability the membership as a whole.
ASA Board members understand this, and do a great job serving our association and our profession.
In 2014, the American Statistical Association is celebrating its 175th anniversary. Over the course of this year, this blog will highlight aspects of that celebration, and look broadly at the ASA and its activities. Please contact ASA Executive Director Ron Wasserstein (ron@amstat.org) if you would like to post an entry to this blog