“There shall be an Executive Committee of the Board of Directors consisting of the President, President-elect, Vice President, and Treasurer. The President shall serve as the Chair of this Committee. The Executive Committee shall manage the affairs of the ASSOCIATION between meetings of the Board of Directors and shall be authorized and empowered to act on behalf of the ASSOCIATION. “ AANA bylaws.
Aside from past AANA officers and board members, I expect many members are not aware of the duties and functions of the Executive Committee. Please share your view of the actions and responsibilities of the Executive Committee and what your role on this committee would involve.
Dan Simonson - The role of the Executive Committee in an organization is in most cases an outdated one. Highly active executive committees were far more necessary in the days before e-mail and the internet, because it was so difficult to keep the full Board informed and meaningfully involved between Board meetings. That condition can hardly be said to exist today.
I am a strong advocate for the wisdom of groups – and thus my default position would be to oppose meetings of the Executive Committee when the entire Board could just as easily be involved.
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Lynn Reede - Might the need for an Executive Committee to conduct the 
business of the Association between meetings of the Board have come to an end or might the role be limited to extremely time sensitive decisions? In doing a bit of research, this bylaw is present in many Associations from a past of limited engagement of some Board members or geographic issues making meetings difficult. The many options for communication make timely transaction of the business of the Board and Association possible if our work schedule cooperates. In my two years on the Board, I have enjoyed the engagement of each Board member in our work.
Certainly there are times that smaller groups should meet for dialogue to prepare discussions for the full Board. It may be simpler to convene 4 members of the Board instead of 11, but we are each volunteers elected to serve the members who hold us accountable for each decision that is made. Conference calls are put together very quickly. The call for transparency from the members is answered by the full Board. As OSANA President, I found no reason to convene the Executive Committee for strategic decisions.
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