2010 Election Season Underway;
Background on the Nominating and Election Process

The SOA's nomination process is designed to identify and create a ballot of qualified candidates with strong skills in leadership, vision for the profession and strategic thinking.

With the 2010 election season underway, now is a good time to remind members about the nomination process and help them understand it better. There are several steps that determine who is on the election ballot for the positions of director, vice president and president–elect. This process was most recently revised in 2006 following a comprehensive review by a Task Force on Nominations & Elections that had been formed in response to a governance audit of the SOA.

At the foundation of the process is an understanding of the issues and challenges likely to face the profession in coming years and the strategic initiatives developed by the Board to address those issues. These issues and initiatives define the core of Board and Leadership work and play a critical role in candidate selection for the leadership positions of director, vice president, and president–elect.

The Board's Leadership Development Committee plays a key role in the process. First, the Leadership Development Committee selects members of the Nominating Committee (with advice and input from the Board of Directors). Second, the LDC identifies for the Nominating Committee the skills and experience needed for Board candidates to facilitate the work of the Board.

Another critical role is played by the Nominating Committee. The Nominating Committee contains approximately nine members, each of whom normally serves a three–year term. The Nominating Committee is selected to be representative of the membership in terms of geographic distribution and members' occupational interests. Given the SOA's international scope, the Committee has always included members from the U.S. and Canada, but this year for the first time also includes a China–region member. Members of the Nominating Committee are sought for their experience in the organization (often including prior service on the Board), knowledge of its needs and ability to select strong candidates for consideration by members. Nominating Committee members may not themselves be chosen as candidates for the Board, vice president or president–elect during the time they serve on the Committee.

The SOA wants its Board to be representative of the diversity and breadth of the SOA membership and has an open process for identifying potential candidates. Any Fellow may nominate another Fellow for consideration by the Nominating Committee and any Fellow may nominate himself or herself. A general call for nominees is issued to the membership through the SOA website. All such nominees are asked to complete a form that indicates their interest in serving.

The potential candidates are reviewed by the Nominating Committee in order to form the final ballot of candidates placed before the membership. The Committee reviews the list of interested candidates and their qualifications with the goal of developing a ballot of candidates having the strongest possible leadership qualities. All Fellows nominated (by themselves or others) are considered by the Committee. Those invited by the Nominating Committee to continue in the process complete a questionnaire asking about experience, strategic thinking, core competencies and teamwork and also complete a telephone interview with the Committee. After discussion and consideration of potential candidates, the Nominating Committee submits a recommended slate of candidates to the Board of Directors for final approval.

The ballot produced by the Nominating Committee provides SOA members with a full choice of candidates for each position: for president–elect (one candidate elected), the ballot normally contains three candidates; for vice president (three candidates elected), the ballot normally contains six candidates; for elected board member (six candidates elected), the ballot normally contains twelve candidates.

This process provides checks and balances, based on the multiple groups involved–the Board, the Leadership Development Committee and the Nominating Committee. The SOA often has more strong and qualified Fellows who are nominated than ballot positions it can fill.

There is still time for Fellows to submit their names or the names of other Fellows for consideration for SOA 2010 elections by sending a note of interest to elections@soa.org by March 31, 2010. Members interested in serving on a Section Council may also send a note to elections@soa.org.

The 2010 elections run from Aug. 9–Sept. 3. Information and background on the candidates will be available later this year. If you have any questions about the nominating and election process, please write to us at MemberComms@soa.org.