Director Wolfe serving CSI members Janet Piccola
and Betty Chavira at the Las Vegas Convention
How may I serve you?
Election season is upon us, not just for public office, but for
CSI offices, as well. Our elections won't take place for a couple
of months, but across the country, CSI chapters are gathering
to find new candidates to replace their retiring Institute directors.
Despite
the long history of this process, and the importance of
electing members to our board of directors, I suspect most members
don't know much about what their Institute directors do, or where
they come from. I recall that I was a member for many years before
someone explained the difference between a region director and
an Institute director.
Each of CSI's ten regions has two Institute directors; each director
serves a three-year term. One director from each region is a design
professional; the other is an industry professional or an associate
member. Each region holds elections for Institute directors in
two consecutive years; there is no election in the third year.
This arrangement allows regions to elect one new Institute director
at a time, thereby providing continuity that would not be possible
if both directors were elected at the same time. It also provides
an interesting rotation of representatives on the Institute's
board of directors, with new people coming each year, and a continually
evolving group of senior directors.
What does an Institute director do? Accordin
g to CSI's Administrative
References,
a. Institute directors are corporate directors
of the Institute whose first priority is to establish Institute
policy and to manage and control the affairs of the Institute.
In this capacity, they serve the interests of all members of the
Institute.
b. Institute directors are the managers and operating
officers of their respective regions. They are responsible for
administration of their regions and assistance to chapters within
their regions. In this capacity, they serve the interest of the
members of their regions.
That's simple and straightforward; except for the additional region
duties in the second paragraph, it sounds like the description
of the duties of any member of any board of directors. Of course,
reading only a few paragraphs further we find a long list of specific
duties, but still, they are typical for the job.
Looking carefully at this short description, we can draw some
interesting conclusions. |
