On Thursday, June 14th the IPRA Board of Directors unanimously approved to reduce the IPRA Board of Directors from 21 members to 14 members. The Board also approved to suspend elections for 2008, except for Section Boards, and maintain the current Board of Directors through 2008. The Board motioned to suspend four areas of the IPRA By-Laws in order to accommodate retaining the current Board. Retaining the current Board of Directors through the attrition and planning process will ensure a high knowledge base of the Governance issues, which the current Board has. The final reduction plan is anticipated to take through 2008 to allow for staggering of terms on the Board.
“It is our responsibility to see through what we started 2 years ago,” commented Chairman of the Board, Amy Charlesworth. “So I support suspending electing new Board Members until the process is completed. It would be unfair for new members to be placed on the Board while we work through the process when they may be quickly phased out.” The Board of Directors agreed it may be discouraging to run an election when the winning candidates may loose their seat as early as one year.
The new IPRA Board of Directors will be made up of the following positions:
- Chairman
- Chairman-Elect
- Past Chairman
- A representative from each section (except the student section)
- Four district representatives
All of the previously named regions have been reformatted to accommodate four districts - not six regions. District 1 consists of Northern Illinois; District 2 consists of Chicago-Metro; District 3 consists of Central Illinois and District 4 consists of Southern Illinois.
Elections will continue this fall for Section Boards, but the sections and regions will not be electing a new Board Representative. The IPRA Board of Directors would like to thank anyone who was interested in being nominated in 2008 for their interest and encourages candidates to seek a position on the new Board when the process resumes. The IPRA Board of Directors also gives their gratitude to the Governance Task Force members and Chair Liza McElroy for their two years of work on the new Governance Structure.
McElroy indicated to the Board, “This is our final recommendation after we listened to the sections, members and affiliates on how they wanted their Board structured. Though this final recommendation is different from our initial recommendation, we researched and listened to the members. We followed through on what we promised to the members and the Board of Directors.”
The IPRA Chairman of the Board, Amy Charlesworth, also formed the Governance Attrition Task Force to start the project management and planning process for the development of the new Board of Directors. Past Chairman of the Board, Bill McAdam, will head the Task Force. An initial recommendation will be given to the current IPRA Board of Directors in November. An important aspect will be the staggering of Board member terms as not to have all members elected at once.
Congratulations to the Board and members of IPRA for the leadership shown in approving a fundamental change to the make-up of the IPRA Board. This new structure will serve the members well and will create a Board more able and nimble to deal with quick and constant change. Thanks for being open minded and bold. Also a big thank you to Liza for her leadership and commitment to this Task Force and IPRA. This is a great first step in a long needed look at IPRA’s governance. I am very proud to be an IPRA member and proud of our leadership and staff.
Well done!
Steve Scholten
Bloomingdale Park District
The IPRA Student Section will not be eliminated from IPRA’s structure. The Student Section President will still have a place during Board Meetings as an Ad Hoc Non-Voting Member. The Students will also have a voice through the College and University Relations Committee. The new Student Section election process will help build a greater relationship between students and professionals.
In my opinion, the IPRA Board members should be the best and the brightest in the field. Our old system sometimes encouraged the (short straw) candidate, not the best. I am so pleased to see the board adopt this drop in the size of the IPRA Board to a more workable number. Ultimately, I would love to see the board revisit its size again and have general elections for the the best candidates but I believe the sections and active affiliates give the members the best opportunity to learn committee structure, show responsibility for completion of a project and ultimately the best way to get board candidates.