SSA Calls For Board Nominations

Building and Growing Together

Deadline for nominations -- July 15, 2008

Dear Members:

I am writing on behalf of the SSA Board of Directors to request the submissions of names for consideration to a temporary appointment to the SSA Board for 2008-09. The SSA Board currently has two vacancies. The SSA bylaws allow the Board to appoint directors to fill vacancies with people to remain in place until the next AGM. The Board would like to fill these two vacancies as soon as possible with people that would become Directors until the 2009 AGM. The SSA Board has developed formalized processes for governance for the Association. These include effective and transparent processes for the recruitment and nomination of Directors, as described below.

A. BOARD REPRESENTATION

One of our goals is to achieve diversification in the make-up of the SSA Board. We want to attract individuals not only from a diversity of communities across the province but, equally importantly, from different walks of life and with diverse backgrounds, interests and expertise. After having studied the composition of the current Board, the Nominations Committee has concluded that we need to expand the diversity on our Board of each of the following groups:
- women
- aboriginal
- legal
- corporate and/or business executives
- communications or media
- marketing/public relations

However, we wish to emphasize that individuals who do not fall into any of these categories are equally welcome and necessary, and we encourage our Members to put forward their names. There are many different skills, backgrounds and experiences that can contribute to the organization’s success.


B. AN OPEN, RESPONSIBLE AND EFFECTIVE RECRUITMENT PROCESS

The Board of Directors has developed a recruitment process for new Directors that is open, responsible and effective. The process works as follows:

1. Members submit names and basic biographical* and contact information to the Chair of the Nominations Committee.

2. The Nominations Committee reviews the submitted names with a goal to ensuring diversity in terms of background, expertise and community representation.

3. Potential candidates are sent a folder of information, in the way of an orientation, outlining the SSA Mission, the nature of the SSA’s work, and the responsibilities and expectations of Directors of SSA.

4. After looking at the above information, candidates make a decision on whether they wish to have their names forwarded for appointment to the SSA Board, and so inform the Nominations Committee Chair.

5. The names of confirmed candidates are forwarded by the Nominations Committee to the Board for approval.

*The basic biographical information forwarded to the Nominations Committee should include the following: name, address, District, gender, occupation, any Board experience, and any particular expertise (e.g., legal, financial, administrative, other) that might be useful to the Board. Potential candidates should be informed that neither Board experience nor expertise is a requirement, and that we are looking to have a diversity of people on the Board.

A key step in this process is the candidate’s reading of the information about the nature of her or his work as an SSA Director and the commitment that is expected by the organization. The SSA Board strongly believes that the decision made by a candidate to let her or his name stand for appointment must be an informed one on the basis of accurate information about the nature of the responsibilities entailed.

Please remind interested candidates that they must be nominated by a Member of the Association (normally a District). Members are asked to forward names to the Chair of the Nominations Committee, Leslie Blyth either by regular mail or e -mail. The deadline for submission of names is July 15, 2008.
If there are any questions about this process described above, please forward them to Leslie Blyth at blythl@sasktel.net.

Sincerely
Jeannette Kuc,
President, SSA Board of Directors