From the Board President
By Steve Maker

New Board Members
Get to Work

We’re always looking for great Board candidates. This year you, the members, elected several highly qualified Board members, some new and some continuing. New members are Tracey Becken, Marcy Marceau, and Janet Matz. Reelected members are Mike Yacavone and Dan Yates. Here’s how they’ve started this annual cycle of Co-op Board work.

New Board member orientation consists of three parts: orientation to our governance system, orientation to the way we work and what we aim to accomplish, and jumping in and participating.

Soon after the election, Tracey, Marcy, and Janet gathered with the Board President and a few other Board members to view and discuss a videotape on the Policy Governance system we use. Over the last year, we have put in place almost all of the policies we need to govern the way the Board works; how we delegate to the General Manager and monitor performance; and the legal, ethical, and prudence limitations we place on the General Manager. This is a significant body of work that saves us tremendous amounts of time, and guides the General Manager while allowing him maximum flexibility. Orientation to this style of work was an essential first step for our new members.

At the first meeting following the election, we included a detailed orientation of how this particular Board works. We elected the officers for the next year (President: Steve Maker; Vice President: Patricia Crawford; Treasurer: Mark Richardson; Secretary: Andy Daubenspeck). We worked on policies around our Giving program and the Co-op Community Fund, our long-term plan to enable greater community giving through voluntary donations. Our new members pitched right in.

This year will stand in contrast to last year for the Board. Now that we have the policies mentioned above in place, and now that we’ve acquired some experience with this new way of working, we’re ready to focus on the major job of the Board: connecting with members, looking into the future, and planning how to serve our members’ needs. These are called Ends policies, since they have to do with the ends we are trying to attain.

We’ve set up a number of committees to divide up and focus the Board’s work. A look at where the new and reelected directors have chosen to put their energies will demonstrate our belief that "jump in and work" is the best orientation.

The Membership committee is focused on communicating with members: listening, informing, and educating. Marcy has agreed to head that committee; Tracey and Mike will participate.

Although Ends policies will be the work of the entire Board, the Policy Governance committee will guide the discussions and craft policy language. Janet, Dan, and Mike will be important contributors.

Giving is one of our major efforts. The group that will guide the growth of the Community Fund and direct the giving includes both Tracey and Mike as observers.

We’ll be tuning our bylaws to keep up with the times; Dan will be essential in that effort.

Monitoring the performance of the General Manager, and therefore the organization, is a critical Board role. Mike and Janet are both helping out in that group.

The Finance committee is chaired by Dan, and includes Marcy and Tracey. Mike will be an observer in that group.

The Board Development committee is responsible for finding nominees for the Board and planning Board education, among other tasks. Mike and Janet will both be observers in that effort.

As you can see, our new and reelected directors have not delayed in taking a major role on the Board. One of the rewarding aspects of Board service is that everyone can contribute in significant ways, new or not, and those ways eventually benefit us all. We have often seen Board members move the entire Board forward in their first year. We are fortunate to have the energy and spirit of these wonderful, committed people.

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