By Kerry Egdorf, IOA Board Member & Chair, Nominations and Governance Committee

On behalf of the IOA Board of Directors and with great appreciation, IOA says goodbye to two members of the Board who have resigned due to personal and professional commitments. Ruthy Kohorn Rosenberg served on the Board from April 2018 to July 2019, including one year of service as the IOA Secretary. Elaine Shaw served on the Board from April 2018 to July 2019, including four months of service as the IOA Secretary. We are grateful for their passion and participation! 

This July, the Board of Directors elected Ronnie Thomson as the new 2019–2020 IOA Secretary. Congratulations, Ronnie, and thank you!

Per the IOA Bylaws and policy manual, each year the IOA Board determines the size of the upcoming Board to best meet the needs of the Association. The Bylaws allow a board size of 13 to 17. After these two resignations, the Board voted to fill both seats in order to remain at 15. The procedure to fill vacant seats is as follows: first, we ask the runner-up from the previous year’s election if they are interested and available to serve out the remainder of the former director’s term. If the runner-up is not available, then the Board continues the process with the next runner-up until the seat is filled. In the case that no one from the previous election is available or if more seats are vacant than can be filled from the previous year’s slate of candidates, the Board will seek nominations from the membership and the Board will choose among those candidates.

The Board is pleased to announce that Steve Prevaux, who was the runner-up in the last election, has agreed to join the Board to complete one of the open terms (August 2019 to April 2021).

Elaine Shaw, CO-OP® Pfizer	Ruthy Kohorn Rosenberg Brown University	Ronnie Thomson Halliburton	Steve Prevaux, CO-OP® University of South Florida

A Call for Nominations for the Remaining Seat

To fill the remaining open seat, the Board is seeking your input for nominations. Please consider nominating yourself or someone else to serve out the remaining term (October 2019 to April 2021).

As described in the IOA Bylaws, the qualifications for directors are as follows:

• A candidate must be an IOA member or retired member*, AND 
• Currently, hold active status as a Certified Organizational Ombudsman Practitioner and three years of organizational ombudsman work experience and three consecutive years of membership in IOA immediately prior to assuming office; OR
• Completion of the IOA course Foundations of Organizational Ombudsman Practice and five years of organizational ombudsman work experience and three consecutive years of membership in IOA immediately prior to assuming office; OR
• Seven or more years of organizational ombudsman work experience and three consecutive years of membership in IOA immediately prior to assuming office.

*Please note: one director currently on the Board is retired, therefore only members who are currently practicing will be considered for the open position.

To nominate yourself or someone else, please confirm eligibility to serve and complete the online nomination form.

Nominations will remain open until 12:00 PM noon on Friday, 16 August 2019. 

We will announce the new director to you before the end of September 2019. The new director will begin their term in October 2019 and is encouraged to attend an in-person Board meeting 21–22 October in Baltimore, MD.

Filling the above vacancy is just the beginning! In fall 2019, we will hold our annual elections for multiple director seats (terms for April 2020 to April 2023).

If you have any questions about the nomination process or about serving on the Board, please do not hesitate to contact me ([email protected]).

Sincerely,

Kerry Egdorf
IOA Board Member & Chair, Nominations and Governance Committee