While you were on vacation…
27 August 2006

The reason for writing this series is to tell our members what is going on at Institute, and there is a lot to tell. During the last year, my first as an Institute director, I learned a lot about our board of directors, financial status, operations, and staff, and more. I also had the opportunity to witness first-hand how our officers and directors work together to resolve differences, and I was impressed with what I saw.

As we enter this new year, many important activities are in the works. This month, I'll say a little about several of the more significant ones, and as the year goes on, we'll look at some of them in more detail. As always, I'll try to explain the subject, and tell you the way I see it. Remember - when I express my opinions, that's just what they are; I'm not speaking for the Board, but as your representative. That doesn't mean I won't do a little cheerleading now and then, but I won't try to fool you.

One of our top priorities is finding a new executive director. The Executive Director Search Task Team (EDSTT), comprising Tom Deines, Teri Hand, Jack Klemeyer, George White, Gary Betts, and Chairman Ross Spiegel, has been working over the summer. After discussions with a number of national search firms, they chose Korn/Ferry International, an executive-level recruiter headquartered in Los Angeles. In late August, Korn/Ferry made stakeholder calls, then interviewed the Executive Committee, one director from each CSI region, and CSI senior staff. Following those interviews, Korn/Ferry sent a draft position specification to the Board for review and comment.

The schedule for the remainder of our search for an executive director is tight, but both the EDSTT and Korn/Ferry are confident it can be met.
  • Specification published for public access: Week of 28 August. The specification will appear on both CSI's and Korn/Ferry's websites.
  • Screening and interview of potential candidates by Korn/Ferry: 28 August through 27 September.
  • Task Team teleconference to review long list of candidates: 4 October.
  • First round of interviews by Task Team: 12 through 13 October.
  • Second round of interviews by Task Team: 31 October through 1 November.
  • Referencing verification by Korn/Ferry: Week of 6 November.
  • Presentation of se lected candidates to Board: 18 November.
Another consultant, The Greenway Group, is working with the Board to address issues that have been identified as critical to CSI's growth - branding, governance, and establishment of a Product Manufacturer's Council. The goal of this effort is to increase awareness of CSI and improve the way we run our organization.

Some of the work being done by other task teams includes:
  • Governance: This team is looking at the size and composition of the Board, how directors and officers are selected, and leadership development.
  • MasterFormat Maintenance: One of the changes in the last MasterFormat update was the introduction of a maintenance team that will continually review use of MasterFormat and requests for new numbers and titles, and work with manufacturers and information integrators.
  • SectionFormat/PageFormat: This group is actively working on SectionFormat, posting drafts to the CSI website for review.
  • Sustainable Facility: This could be the beginning of a new Format document, this one designed to organize sustainable product information in a standard format.
  • Terminology Initiative: Ideally, the same terms would be used for the same things everywhere. This task team is working toward that end, beginning with an investigation of existing glossaries, abbreviations, etc.
  • UDS. The UDS has been available for some time; this group is working on promotion and maintenance of the UDS. It is also working on education and certification programs for CAD technicians.

As always, money and membership are a part of every discussion, and they will come up again and again in these articles. Without members there is no need for an organization, and without money there is little it can do. Until next month, here are a few things to think about: Where do members come from? Why do members volunteer, or, more to the point, why do they not volunteer? Why do you - or do you not - go to our / your region conference, or our annual convention? What is the function of a region? What is the optimum size for our board of directors?


Sheldon Wolfe, RA, FCSI, CCS, CCCA
Institute Director, North Central Region, CSI