Nominating Committee Notes

The Nominating Committee for the 2016 Board consisted of Barrett Wilson, Lori Falco, Elizabeth Lachowicz, Jay Wilensky, and myself as Chairman. We were charged with proposing the makeup of the 2016 Board of Directors for the Folk Project.

A little background. Constitutionally, the only requirement for this Committee is that it recommend a slate of three nominees for Trustee to fill the positions of the three current Trustees whos terms expire this year. But by custom and tradition, that role has been expanded to recommend candidates for the entire Board of Directors. The Board of Directors consists of three categories of members:

Trustees: There are 9 Trustees on the Board, each serving for 3-year terms. Every year 3 Trustees come to the end of their terms. Trustees may be re-elected to additional terms. The Nominating Committee recommends a slate of three candidates, and the general membership may propose additional candidates. The general membership then votes for three Trustees from all the nominees at our annual General Membership Meeting in December.

Officers: After the three Trustees are elected, they and the other six sitting Trustees nominate and vote for the 4 officers of the Folk Project: President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer. The President must also be a Trustee. Those officers serve 1-year terms, and are term-limited to two consecutive terms. (They may serve again in their positions for additional terms after taking at least one year off.)

Committee Chairs: These are the leaders of the various activities of the Folk Project. Examples: Newsletter, Swingin' Tern, Publicity, Membership, etc. They serve 1-year terms, and may be re-elected to their positions without term limit.

Custom and Tradition. Generally, deference is given to Board members who wish to continue in their positions except in cases where the Board or Nominating Committee feels they have not performed their duties well, or, of course, where sitting Board members are not permitted to continue due to term limits. Sometimes Trustees may take on an Officer's or Committee Chair's position. Although not required to, they may relinquish the balance of their Trusteeship in favor of someone else in such instances. We often use a Trusteeship as an entry-level position to introduce new members into the Board. The Nominating Committee polls the entire current Board to find out who, amongst all serving members eligible to continue for another year wish to do so. And then the Nominating Committee seeks out likely candidates who are willing and capable of filling the empty seats.

This year:

Trustees: The three Trustees whose terms expire this year are Bob McNally, Jay Wilensky, and Joanne Cronin. All three wished to continue for another 3-year term, and the Nominating Committee agreed that their contributions in the past warranted that they do so.

Officers: None of the officers were term limited this year, but Andrew Hines felt that his outside activities would keep him away from too many meetings next year to properly fulfil his duties as Secretary. In inquiries for a replacement, the Nominating Committee suggested Lindsey Meyer to take on the position. She is currently serving as a Trustee with her term expiring in December 2016. She agreed to stand for Secretary, and give up her Trusteeship. in favor of a newcomer. The Committee recommends the continuation of all other Officers for another term.

Committee Chairs: All current Committee Chairs indicated a desire to continue in 2016 except the following:

Minstrel Staffing: Barrett Wilson declined to continue in 2016. After inquiries, the Committee recommends Deborah Graham take the post. Deborah is currently a Trustee with term expiring in December of 2017 and a co-chair of the Membership Committee. She will vacate those other positions.

Special Concerts: Scooter Fergusson will be stepping down from that post, and recommended that current Special Concerts Committee Member Pam Robinson take it on. Pam and the NomCom concur with that plan.

Merchandising: That Committee, originally chaired by Gloria Friedman became dormant earlier this year. Not finding a Champion to fulfil the duties of that Committee, the Nominating Committee proposes no replacement. Anyone interested in handling the purchase and sale of Folk Project tee shirts, Mugs and other paraphenalia are urged to contact the Board.

Other Committees. The other Committee Chairs have all agreed to continue in their positions, and the Nominating Committee concurs.

Replacement Trustees: The Nominating Committee considered several candidates to fill the remaining terms of vacating Trustees Lindsey Meyer and Deborah Graham, who will be stepping down from those positions to take on other duties described above. Of those candidates, the Committee recommends Kathy Caccavale to serve as Trustee through December 2016 and Mitch Radler to serve as Trustee through December 2017.

These recommendations are all sumarized on the attached chart. [Note to Newsletter: if there's room, this report and the attendant chart can also serve as an article in the December Newsletter. If there's not room, let me know, and I'll shorten it as space dictates. But it would be good to give the membership some insight as to the processes involved.]

Mike Agranoff

Chairman

Nominating Committee.

Morristown, NJ. USA

www.Minstrel.FolkProject.org