BOARDNOMS CALLTOSERVE
Nominate Today,
Lead Tomorrow
The Association Forum of Chicagoland’s
Nominating Committee is seeking nominations for its 2011-2012 Board of Directors and Foundation Board of Trustees.
For ambitious association professionals,
it’s a unique opportunity to network with
industry leaders, advance their career and
give back to their profession.
This year, it’s also a unique opportunity to learn, as the Nominating Committee’s focus will be on improving
the board nominating process based
on recent changes to the Association
Forum’s bylaws. In response to those
changes, which altered the board composition, the Nominating Committee will
take advantage of this year as a transition year, building upon improvements
made to the nominating process last year
to not only recruit board candidates for
the present, but also to encourage and
develop board candidates for the future.
According to past Association Forum
Board Chair Patricia Blake, CAE, chair of
this year’s Nominating Committee, here
are five changes the Nominating Committee has implemented to clarify the path
to board service as the board transitions:
1. The Nominating Committee has
broadened its search for board
candidates. Due to the recent
bylaws changes that altered the composition of the board, three of the
Association Forum’s 2010-2011 directors are serving the unexpired terms
of colleagues. Although incumbents
are eligible to re-apply to serve full
three-year terms, the Nominating
Committee will consider new applications for these positions.
2. The Nominating Committee has
refined the board application. Last
year, the Nominating Committee
refined not only the application process, but also the application itself.
Candidates are asked to respond to
just a few very strategic questions so
the committee can learn how they’ll
contribute to the board as part of
a team and assess their leadership
skills. Candidates are asked to comment on issues facing the association community and describe how
the Association Forum can maintain
its relevance.
3. The Nominating Committee has
defined and explained its selection
criteria. The Nominating Committee
has made clear its selection criteria:
• Association background: What
kind of association do you
serve? Do you have previous
board experience? Do you have
a CAE?
• Association Forum experience:
How long have you been a
member and what activities
have you been involved in?
• Personal characteristics: Are
you approachable? Are you
visionary and strategic? Are you
ethical? Because part of your
responsibility as a board
member is to be a role model,
leadership qualities are
important.
• Board diversity: The Association
Forum is dedicated to diversity
in all its flavors — gender,
sexual orientation, ethnicity,
experience level and even
type, size and kind of organization. What will you bring to
our board composition?
• Commitment to active leadership: In addition to our two
annual board meetings, will you
attend the Annual Meeting
and Holiday Showcase, and
some of the CEO breakfasts and
education sessions? Not everyone is prepared to be the kind
of visible leader the Association
Forum needs them to be.
4. The Nominating Committee will
meet board candidates. As it did
for the first time last year, the com-
mittee will conduct face-to-face
interviews with candidates as a
group. In the past, interviews were
conducted one-on-one by paper
and telephone. Last year, 14 face-
to-face interviews were conducted.
This allowed the committee to bet-
ter gauge candidates’ personality,
enthusiasm and commitment, and it
helped members collectively have a
better conversation about candidates
and board composition.
Deadline for Nominations:
Dec. 6, 2010
The Association Forum’s Nominating
Committee will accept board nomi-
nations through 5 p.m. on Dec. 6,
2010. For more information, or to
make a nomination, visit
www.associationforum.org/about/
nomination.asp or contact
Lea Rucker at
rucker@associationforum.org.
