BOE Leadership selection

[Kimberly Tully]

Hi all - I'm wondering how other boards select who will be nominated for board leadership (president and vp).  Do you have a whole group discussion, do folks "campaign" for positions in the background, do you have multiple people nominated for one position, etc...Thanks for any insight!

[Vanessa Warren]

We never discussed it in the past. Nominations at the re-org meeting were awkward at best. Most folks taking the “don’t look at me” posture. But we always surmised that our long time leadership team would step up. Since I became president I have made a practice of saying, at the June meeting, that I was willing to continue if no one else was interested. I will instigate a learning process to grow the next team either by suggesting some folks consider the VP position to delve into the role and do a reverse of positions for mentorship. This was done as I was being groomed and trained.

[Paul Haggett]

This is an interesting string. Our board has typically made nominations at the reorg meeting. We’ve never openly discussed who might seek nomination ahead of time. I’m ending my 2nd year as president and will probably seek a nomination for another year from someone in advance of the reorg.

[Karen Burka]

At our last meeting of the school year (prior to reorg), our practice is to ask board members to announce if they will be seeking a nomination for either president or vp. This allows members to announce their intentions and for all board members to think about who they will support.

[Melinda Leising]

In my experience (about to start 6th year on the board), there isn’t a lot of competition for the leadership positions. I was asked to be VP my 3rd year by the then-president who had been in the role for several years. She was nearing the end of her term and wasn’t running for re-election so I served as her VP for one year then her last year on the board, I was president and she served as my VP so she was there to mentor me but let me lead…. I’m now in a position where on July 1, my board of 7 will have two new members… no one else wants to be president so I’ve asked two different members to consider being VP. I don’t plan on being president forever so I want to give others a chance to be part of the leadership team with the hopes they’ll take over as president some day. (The person with most seniority on the board never wants to be president so even though she’s willing to be VP, I’d rather get someone else in the role who might be willing to move up to Prez.) I will have discussions with most if not all members before the reorg meeting so there are no surprises.