Welcome to LifeRing-10

This blog is a platform for LifeRing membership discussion of the organizational structure of LifeRing.

The delegates to the 2009 LifeRing Congress adopted a far-ranging motion to form an Expansion Committee charged with proposing a plan to reorganize the LifeRing structure.  The Committee met and has now made its proposals.  The proposals are now before the LifeRing membership for the widest possible discussion.

The complete text of the Committee's report is available as a pdf file here and also as a blog post here, below, so that you can post comments to the report as a whole.

The seven sections of the report are also posted as separate blog posts below, so that you can post comments to individual sections of the report.  They are:

(1)  Introduction
(2)  Proposed Bylaws Changes
(3)  Commentary on Regional Representative (5.6 and 6.4.9)
(4)  Commentary on the new Chairman of the Board Position (6.17)
(5)  Commentary on Other Vice Presidents (7.1)
(6)  Executive Council
(7)  Energizing the Board is More Important than Expanding It

Please circulate these proposals as widely as possible among LifeRing members and friends.  A final decision on these issues will be reached at the 2010 LifeRing Congress/Expo in Denver, June 5, 2010.

-- Marty N.
LifeRing CEO

Full Report of Expansion Committee

=========================================================================
 Expansion Committee Report 12/7/09

 

{Sec. 1}  The 2009 LifeRing Congress created the Expansion Committee with the following motion:

Moved: That the Congress create an expansion committee charged with drafting a set of proposed Bylaws Amendments to expand the organization's leadership ranks.  The Expansion Committee is to publish a proposed draft within six months. The draft is to be circulated widely among LifeRing participants and to form the basis for a discussion in which every LifeRing participant has the opportunity to be heard.  After revising the draft in light of the membership discussion, the Expansion Committee is to present the proposed Bylaws Amendments to the 2010 Congress for a vote.
-- Proposed by Marty N.

 

Marty had introduced the issues in article in the Delegate's Briefing.  He included a handful of ideas to kick off the discussion:

·       Create 8 or 10 or more regional vice-presidents with responsibility in defined geographic areas

·       Create vice-presidents with responsibility for public relations, fundraising, data management, meeting support, and website development

·       Create an executive council composed of the regional vice-presidents and the other officers

·       Create the post of chairperson of the Board

·       Expand the Board of Directors from 9 to 11

 

The Expansion Committee reviewed these.    Our proposal adopts all but the last, but with some modifications.

The next pages list short, simple Bylaws changes, followed by more lengthy "informational" commentary.    The Bylaws changes define a structure for regional representatives and vice-presidents, but call out only minimum information regarding tasks and functions.   As a policy, we concluded specifics best be left in the hands of the Board of Directors to manage as LifeRing grows.   Our commentary has some more specific thoughts on where to start.  These are meant to be non-binding on the Board. 

Expansion committee members included Carola Z., Craig W., Michael W., Steve S., Andy R., Jim R., Bob O., Tom J., Kathleen G., Robert B., and Dru B.

{Sec. 2}  Proposed Bylaws Changes

Article 5.6 [amended]: Current members of the Board of Directors, officers, and current Regional Representatives shall be delegates to the Congress.

Article 6.4.9 [added]: The Board shall have the power to appoint and remove Regional Representatives. Such Regional Representative shall provide support to existing meetings and encouragement for the formation of new meetings within a region specified by the Board, including one or more on-line regions. The responsibilities of the Regional Representatives shall be specified by the Board. 

6.4.9.1 [added] The Board shall conform, if practicable, the boundaries of the Regional Representatives to the boundaries of any not-for-profit organizations established under Article 6.4.8

6.4.9.2: [added] Regional Representatives may appoint Area Representatives within a portion of their Region to assist them. 

6.17 [added]   The Board, at the first meeting after the conclusion of the Annual LifeRing Congress shall elect a Chairman of the Board for following year.   The Chairman shall serve at the pleasure of the Board as a whole.   Actions to elect or remove the Chairman shall require an absolute majority of the Board (five votes).   The Chairman shall be empowered to represent the actions of the Board to outside agencies and shall take on other responsibilities as the Board shall assign.

7.1  [amended] LifeRing Inc. shall have the officers required by law, namely a President, a Treasurer and a Secretary.  In addition, the Board may appoint one or more Vice-Presidents to serve under the direction of the President.   Said Vice- Presidents shall have such responsibilities as the Board may delegate.

7.1.1. [amended] The President shall serve as the organization's chief executive officer, shall comply with the duties required by the law for such an officer, and shall have such other responsibilities as the Board may delegate.

7.1.2. [amended] The Treasurer shall comply with the duties required by the law, shall keep the books and render financial reports, and shall have such other responsibilities as the Board may delegate.

{Sec. 3} Commentary on Regional Representative (5.6 and 6.4.9)

(Originally 5.6 just called for members of the Board of Directors and officers to be delegates.  6.4.9 is new.)

The Board will have to decide the geographic or other nature of the reach of the Regional Representatives.   LifeRing has four different situations which may require different handling.  

First, Northern California has a heavy concentration of meetings. We might have multiple Regional Representatives -- perhaps as many as 10 -- or one Regional Representative assisted by Area Representatives.   The Bylaws language is open-ended on this, but 6. 4.9.2 specifically allows for two levels of regional/area representatives.

Second, we have a few regions where there are clusters of 3 to 10 of meetings: Denver, New York/Connecticut, Southern British Columbia, and Ontario. Each might naturally have one Regional Representative.

Third, we have broadly scattered meetings. Here Regional Representatives might cover large purely geographic regions such as the U.S. Pacific Northwest, Western U.S. (other than Nor. Cal., Pac. NW, and Denver), U.S. Midwest, U.S. South, U.S. East (other than the NY area), Asia, and Europe. The Officers and Service Center may still have primary connection with some isolated meetings and primary responsibility for establishing meetings in wholly new areas. Regions would, of course, be subject to adjustment at any time to reflect changing realities.

Fourth, we have on-line activities, including the e-mail lists, forum, chat, and NING.  One or more "Regional" Representatives may coordinate all the various moderators and convenors.  Here too, there may be value in having a second tier of Area Representatives for specific types of on-line activities.

The purpose of creating the Regional Representative position is to remove as many burdens from the President and the Service Center as possible, and to create a cadre of experienced leaders for the future growth of LifeRing.   Section 8.2.2 of the By-laws lists the responsibilities of the Service Center and many of those could be undertaken at a regional level. The Regional Representatives would also provide a communications channel within the organization. We would expect the Regional Representatives to be in regular contact with the convenors in their area, with other Regional Coordinators, and with the LifeRing Officers and Board.  The Board and Officers would need to define the form of that "regular contact".  One can imagine at minimum expecting the Representatives to talk in person or by phone with each convenor monthly. One can imagine monthly reports by phone, chat, or e-mail with the Board and/or Officers. One can imagine some form of regular phone or chat roundtable involving all Representatives. Filling the positions will not be easy and may not be possible in some regions at the present time.

It is envisioned that Regional Representatives will play a key role in expanding the reach of LifeRing and so it seems appropriate to make them automatic delegates to the annual Congress, as was suggested in the proposed By-law amendments.

Note this bylaws change does not make Regional/Area Representatives officers, and thus does not automatically subject them to the requirement of having a year of sobriety.  The committee, in its discussion, generally viewed the Regional and Area representatives as a tier between convenors and vice presidents.   The board may choose to make these people Officers via the powers granted in Section 7.1.   The Board may choose to define organizational policy on sober time, independent of the bylaws, as is currently done for convenors.

{Sec. 4}  Commentary on the new Chairman of the Board Position (6.17)

The Chairman of the Board position is new.  We have left the responsibilities open except for the one that seems absolutely natural – to represent the board's actions.  There have been cases in the recent past (e.g., a grant proposal) where the legal paperwork wanted a signature by the CEO/President and a second signature by someone who could represent the actions of the Board.  

The Committee proposed a one-year term because the Board composition changes annually.  Each current group of Directors should be able to choose the Chair of their choice.   A longer term might also produce problems if the three-year Director term doesn't coincide with Chairmanship term.  Note election to Chairman (by the Board) is separate from election to the Board (by the Congress).  If a Chairman is not reelected as chair, he is still on the board.  Note finally that the one-year rotation/re-affirmation makes it a little more likely LifeRing will always have an energetic Board Chairman, rather than somebody who comes on strong but trails off after a year or two.  

Section 6.17 makes it relatively hard to appoint and remove the Chairman.   Given a quorum for a Board meeting is four (of nine), it is conceivable that without something like the requirement of an absolute majority vote, the vote of three board members could elect or remove the Chairman.  None of us on the Committee see this as a problem any time soon, but it seems poor policy to enable a loophole for action by a minority dissident faction.  

{Sec. 5}  Commentary on Other Vice Presidents (7.1)

(7.1 currently reads "LifeRing Inc. shall have the officers required by law, namely a Chief Executive Officer, a Chief Financial Officer, and a Secretary.")

(7.1.1 currently reads The Chief Executive Officer shall comply with the duties required by the law, and shall have such other responsibilities as the Board may delegate.)

(7.1.2 only replaces "Chief Financial Officer" with  "Treasurer".)

The bylaws change is very simple and open-ended here, allowing the board maximum flexibility.  The committee did, however, have extensive discussions on which officer positions would be desirable.

As a preliminary issue, however, we concluded that if LifeRing is have Vice Presidents, it seems best to rename the Chief Executive Officer position to that of President. (The less comfortable alternative would be to populate LifeRing with Vice Officers.)   Having changed Chief Executive Officer to President, it seemed natural to change Chief Financial Officer to Treasurer.

Because we created a Chairman of the Board position, we had to make very clear that the President, not the Chairman of the Board, carries the legal responsibilities assigned to a chief executive officer.  

The Expansion committee had a lengthy discussion on which officer positions might be appropriate.  Much of this was based on review of what our current Chief Executive Office does.   Much of the motivation here was to divide the functions now carried by Marty so that individuals not able to make the same time and intensity commitment could, as a group, carry out the same work.  That has to be balanced against the difficulty of finding people to fill out that group, of balancing "motivation vs. positions", of getting the job done but not piling too much on new positions.   Note that however tasks are divided, the President would still be responsible for managing the Vice Presidents, carrying out the functions if a vice president role is not filled, and managing the non-profit [510(c)(3)] as a whole.

The Committee would recommend establishing the following Vice President positions. 

1. Vice President for "External Development". This is the role of dealing with conferences and treatment organizations and of generating or organizing publications.  We would be extremely pleased if Marty could fill this position for the next several years and actively mentor successors.   There may be considerable interaction with the Board or a Board Committee here.

2. Vice President in charge of LifeRing Press.  This person would manage the
sales side of LifeRing, which is separate from the management of meetings and of the non-profit [501(c)(3)] corporation. This includes finding and managing the contract of an office assistant ... and filling in when the job is vacant.   The office administrator would do the day-to-day work; the VP would be more involved in coordination, planning, tax paperwork, finding people to fill the office assistant position, contracting, managing publications, etc.   The management of the office – the physical space, the phone, the computers -- would probably be shared between this VP, the President, and the Treasurer. In the long term, this may be a paid professional position.  In the interim, we seek a volunteer with business skills. This is a largest of the VP jobs, but breaking it out frees up the President considerably.

3. Vice President in charge of the Congress/Expo chair.   This would be an annually rotating position, but a seasonally big one.   This Vice President might work with the President, with the Board as a whole, or a committee of the Board.   We envision that the Vice President would manage all the local issues but that the President, Board, or Board Committee would assist with program planning and speaker recruitment.

4. Vice President for Information Services. This person would oversee both LifeRing’s internal information and internet infrastructure. Although this position requires some comfort with all the subject matter involved, a primary duty will be to find and supervise persons with the necessary expertise for particular infrastructure tasks. For example, a webmaster might focus on lifering.org and lifering.com and perhaps the on-line software hosting the forums, chat, and the e-mail groups.  (Note the On-Line Regional Representative would coordinate the subject matter and contacts on Chat, the forums, Ning, and the e-mail lists.  The Board may play a role in website content issues.)  A data manager might focus on updating and/or restructuring LifeRing’s accounting, database and other systems for use by the President, Treasurer, and Board.

And what is NOT here?

1.  Fundraising chair (at least initially). The committee concluded that fundraising is a core responsibility of the Board and should stay there.   They may choose to develop a fundraising committee and may seek a vice president for support, but the lead responsibility should not be delegated.

2. Internal development, meeting support, and public relations. These appear in the Marty's initial proposal.  The regional coordinators should be playing a
big role with internal development and meeting support.  Public relations today mostly involve fundraising, the Congress, and the "external development" activities, all of which have been parceled out to other VPs. So the committee didn't see a role here.  If LifeRing develops a get a stronger communications infrastructure (e.g., a newsletter or its internet equivalent) it may be appropriate add something there.

The group discussed the task of filling the VP positions.  Filling some may be difficult.  We did note, however, that a substantial volunteer position can be a benefit to one's resume, thus making such jobs more attractive.   The Board might also choose to create positions as position-holders are found.  There might be some iteration too: the board might define a position, seek a candidate, and then adjust the definition of the position around a candidate's skills and interests.

Some VP positions may initially be filled by Board Members.  Many Officers have simultaneously been Board Members.  However, in the long run, it may be desirable for many of these positions to be separate, thus providing another intermediate step for LifeRing leadership development.

{Sec. 6}  Executive Council

Although the bylaws create the positions, the Committee concluded the way they are organized – who reports to whom – is best left to the Board and Officers to decide.  The answer may change, depending on which of the Regional/Area Representative and VP positions are created.   The answer may change with time.  

As noted in the discussion of Regional Representatives, the Committee did expect regular contact between Representatives and Officers or the Board, with the form of that contact left flexible.   If desired, there could be a Council of Regional Representatives that regularly met together with the President.   The President would then report to the Board on routine regional matters; a Regional Representative might report directly on non-routine ones. 

Coordination among the other VPs may depend very much on the individual VP.    Some, like the External Development or Congress VP might work regularly with the President, the Board, and/or a Board Committee.  The LifeRing Press and Information Services VPs may operate fairly autonomously when things are routine and may coordinate extensively with the President, other officers, the Board, or a Board Committee when new things are in the works or when problems arise.   Here too, it seems appropriate to leave the Board maximum flexibility rather than formally define one structure in the bylaws.

{Sec. 7}  Energizing the Board is More Important than Expanding It

The Committee chose not to pursue Marty's suggestion of expanding the board from 9 to 11.  We noted that when LifeRing expanded the board from 7 to 9 members a few years back, there was hope this would produce a more active board.   There was a sense in the group that the 7-to-9 expansion had not been particularly successful in meeting that goal.  We rarely get even 7 board members at a meeting.   The more central question how to make the Board we have more active.  

Any organization depends on a strong board to be successful.  Therefore, we encourage LifeRing to take measures to activate and engage all individual board members in the work that needs to be done.   Below are some of the options we discussed.  Others are less well developed, but we gladly submit additional notes to the board if desired.

First, the Committee noted that responsibility for fundraising will always remains with the Board, and that it is a very important one.  They, or a committee from the Board, should take a more active role here.   It was also noted that as LifeRing grows larger, support staff, and possibly paid support staff, would be useful here.  For now, however, the group felt it was best to focus this effort within the Board. 

The Board should actively seek other tasks to take on either as a whole or via committees.   In additions to fundraising, as noted in the discussions of the VPs, there may be a Board or Board committee roles in working with the Expo/Congress VP on program development, with the Information Services VP on online web content development, and possibly with the "External" Development VP.   Board committees serve to energize the board as a whole, but they also provide an extra opportunity for experienced Board members to pass the knowledge on to newer ones, thus providing an additional rung in the experience ladder.

The Board should explore ways to make the Board meetings more productive, perhaps by finding something other than the chat format.  Our Committee recognized finding alternatives is difficult. Semi-annual or quarterly in-person meetings would be great, but probably too expensive to consider.  A conference-call may be even more confusing and unproductive.   However, one of both of these may work for smaller Board committees.

The Committee felt that the Board would be strengthened by changes in our usual procedure for nominating and electing new Board members.  A nominating committee should be named and that committee should actively recruit qualified people to run for Board positions. A deadline for nominations -- from both the nominating committee and the general membership -- should be set at least a week before the annual Congress with, of course, ample notification to all interested members. Election of the new Board members should take place earlier in the weekend of the Expo/Congress – say, early Saturday – and several hours should be set aside on Sunday for the first meeting of the new Board, using an agenda handed down by the old Board. It may be useful that the whole Congress portion of the weekend occur earlier so that the business of the organization could be conducted free from the distraction of many members having to leave.

[End]

=========================================================================

                    

Section 1 Only -- Introduction

The 2009 LifeRing Congress created the Expansion Committee with the following motion:

Moved: That the Congress create an expansion committee charged with drafting a set of proposed Bylaws Amendments to expand the organization's leadership ranks.  The Expansion Committee is to publish a proposed draft within six months. The draft is to be circulated widely among LifeRing participants and to form the basis for a discussion in which every LifeRing participant has the opportunity to be heard.  After revising the draft in light of the membership discussion, the Expansion Committee is to present the proposed Bylaws Amendments to the 2010 Congress for a vote.
-- Proposed by Marty N.

 

Marty had introduced the issues in article in the Delegate's Briefing.  He included a handful of ideas to kick off the discussion:

·       Create 8 or 10 or more regional vice-presidents with responsibility in defined geographic areas

·       Create vice-presidents with responsibility for public relations, fundraising, data management, meeting support, and website development

·       Create an executive council composed of the regional vice-presidents and the other officers

·       Create the post of chairperson of the Board

·       Expand the Board of Directors from 9 to 11

 

The Expansion Committee reviewed these.    Our proposal adopts all but the last, but with some modifications.

The next pages list short, simple Bylaws changes, followed by more lengthy "informational" commentary.    The Bylaws changes define a structure for regional representatives and vice-presidents, but call out only minimum information regarding tasks and functions.   As a policy, we concluded specifics best be left in the hands of the Board of Directors to manage as LifeRing grows.   Our commentary has some more specific thoughts on where to start.  These are meant to be non-binding on the Board. 

Expansion committee members included Carola Z., Craig W., Michael W., Steve S., Andy R., Jim R., Bob O., Tom J., Kathleen G., Robert B., and Dru B.

Section 2 Only -- Proposed Bylaws Changes

Proposed Bylaws Changes

Article 5.6 [amended]: Current members of the Board of Directors, officers, and current Regional Representatives shall be delegates to the Congress.

Article 6.4.9 [added]: The Board shall have the power to appoint and remove Regional Representatives. Such Regional Representative shall provide support to existing meetings and encouragement for the formation of new meetings within a region specified by the Board, including one or more on-line regions. The responsibilities of the Regional Representatives shall be specified by the Board. 

6.4.9.1 [added] The Board shall conform, if practicable, the boundaries of the Regional Representatives to the boundaries of any not-for-profit organizations established under Article 6.4.8

6.4.9.2: [added] Regional Representatives may appoint Area Representatives within a portion of their Region to assist them. 

6.17 [added]   The Board, at the first meeting after the conclusion of the Annual LifeRing Congress shall elect a Chairman of the Board for following year.   The Chairman shall serve at the pleasure of the Board as a whole.   Actions to elect or remove the Chairman shall require an absolute majority of the Board (five votes).   The Chairman shall be empowered to represent the actions of the Board to outside agencies and shall take on other responsibilities as the Board shall assign.

7.1  [amended] LifeRing Inc. shall have the officers required by law, namely a President, a Treasurer and a Secretary.  In addition, the Board may appoint one or more Vice-Presidents to serve under the direction of the President.   Said Vice- Presidents shall have such responsibilities as the Board may delegate.

7.1.1. [amended] The President shall serve as the organization's chief executive officer, shall comply with the duties required by the law for such an officer, and shall have such other responsibilities as the Board may delegate.

7.1.2. [amended] The Treasurer shall comply with the duties required by the law, shall keep the books and render financial reports, and shall have such other responsibilities as the Board may delegate.

Section 3 Only -- Commentary on Regional Representative (5.6 and 6.4.9)

(Originally 5.6 just called for members of the Board of Directors and officers to be delegates.  6.4.9 is new.)

The Board will have to decide the geographic or other nature of the reach of the Regional Representatives.   LifeRing has four different situations which may require different handling.  

First, Northern California has a heavy concentration of meetings. We might have multiple Regional Representatives -- perhaps as many as 10 -- or one Regional Representative assisted by Area Representatives.   The Bylaws language is open-ended on this, but 6. 4.9.2 specifically allows for two levels of regional/area representatives.

Second, we have a few regions where there are clusters of 3 to 10 of meetings: Denver, New York/Connecticut, Southern British Columbia, and Ontario. Each might naturally have one Regional Representative.

Third, we have broadly scattered meetings. Here Regional Representatives might cover large purely geographic regions such as the U.S. Pacific Northwest, Western U.S. (other than Nor. Cal., Pac. NW, and Denver), U.S. Midwest, U.S. South, U.S. East (other than the NY area), Asia, and Europe. The Officers and Service Center may still have primary connection with some isolated meetings and primary responsibility for establishing meetings in wholly new areas. Regions would, of course, be subject to adjustment at any time to reflect changing realities.

Fourth, we have on-line activities, including the e-mail lists, forum, chat, and NING.  One or more "Regional" Representatives may coordinate all the various moderators and convenors.  Here too, there may be value in having a second tier of Area Representatives for specific types of on-line activities.

The purpose of creating the Regional Representative position is to remove as many burdens from the President and the Service Center as possible, and to create a cadre of experienced leaders for the future growth of LifeRing.   Section 8.2.2 of the By-laws lists the responsibilities of the Service Center and many of those could be undertaken at a regional level. The Regional Representatives would also provide a communications channel within the organization. We would expect the Regional Representatives to be in regular contact with the convenors in their area, with other Regional Coordinators, and with the LifeRing Officers and Board.  The Board and Officers would need to define the form of that "regular contact".  One can imagine at minimum expecting the Representatives to talk in person or by phone with each convenor monthly. One can imagine monthly reports by phone, chat, or e-mail with the Board and/or Officers. One can imagine some form of regular phone or chat roundtable involving all Representatives. Filling the positions will not be easy and may not be possible in some regions at the present time.

It is envisioned that Regional Representatives will play a key role in expanding the reach of LifeRing and so it seems appropriate to make them automatic delegates to the annual Congress, as was suggested in the proposed By-law amendments.

Note this bylaws change does not make Regional/Area Representatives officers, and thus does not automatically subject them to the requirement of having a year of sobriety.  The committee, in its discussion, generally viewed the Regional and Area representatives as a tier between convenors and vice presidents.   The board may choose to make these people Officers via the powers granted in Section 7.1.   The Board may choose to define organizational policy on sober time, independent of the bylaws, as is currently done for convenors.

Section 4 Only -- Commentary on the new Chairman of the Board Position (6.17)

The Chairman of the Board position is new.  We have left the responsibilities open except for the one that seems absolutely natural – to represent the board's actions.  There have been cases in the recent past (e.g., a grant proposal) where the legal paperwork wanted a signature by the CEO/President and a second signature by someone who could represent the actions of the Board.  

The Committee proposed a one-year term because the Board composition changes annually.  Each current group of Directors should be able to choose the Chair of their choice.   A longer term might also produce problems if the three-year Director term doesn't coincide with Chairmanship term.  Note election to Chairman (by the Board) is separate from election to the Board (by the Congress).  If a Chairman is not reelected as chair, he is still on the board.  Note finally that the one-year rotation/re-affirmation makes it a little more likely LifeRing will always have an energetic Board Chairman, rather than somebody who comes on strong but trails off after a year or two.  

Section 6.17 makes it relatively hard to appoint and remove the Chairman.   Given a quorum for a Board meeting is four (of nine), it is conceivable that without something like the requirement of an absolute majority vote, the vote of three board members could elect or remove the Chairman.  None of us on the Committee see this as a problem any time soon, but it seems poor policy to enable a loophole for action by a minority dissident faction.  

Section 5 Only -- Commentary on Other Vice Presidents (7.1)

(7.1 currently reads "LifeRing Inc. shall have the officers required by law, namely a Chief Executive Officer, a Chief Financial Officer, and a Secretary.")

(7.1.1 currently reads The Chief Executive Officer shall comply with the duties required by the law, and shall have such other responsibilities as the Board may delegate.)

(7.1.2 only replaces "Chief Financial Officer" with  "Treasurer".)

The bylaws change is very simple and open-ended here, allowing the board maximum flexibility.  The committee did, however, have extensive discussions on which officer positions would be desirable.

As a preliminary issue, however, we concluded that if LifeRing is have Vice Presidents, it seems best to rename the Chief Executive Officer position to that of President. (The less comfortable alternative would be to populate LifeRing with Vice Officers.)   Having changed Chief Executive Officer to President, it seemed natural to change Chief Financial Officer to Treasurer.

Because we created a Chairman of the Board position, we had to make very clear that the President, not the Chairman of the Board, carries the legal responsibilities assigned to a chief executive officer.  

The Expansion committee had a lengthy discussion on which officer positions might be appropriate.  Much of this was based on review of what our current Chief Executive Office does.   Much of the motivation here was to divide the functions now carried by Marty so that individuals not able to make the same time and intensity commitment could, as a group, carry out the same work.  That has to be balanced against the difficulty of finding people to fill out that group, of balancing "motivation vs. positions", of getting the job done but not piling too much on new positions.   Note that however tasks are divided, the President would still be responsible for managing the Vice Presidents, carrying out the functions if a vice president role is not filled, and managing the non-profit [510(c)(3)] as a whole.

The Committee would recommend establishing the following Vice President positions. 

1. Vice President for "External Development". This is the role of dealing with conferences and treatment organizations and of generating or organizing publications.  We would be extremely pleased if Marty could fill this position for the next several years and actively mentor successors.   There may be considerable interaction with the Board or a Board Committee here.

2. Vice President in charge of LifeRing Press.  This person would manage the
sales side of LifeRing, which is separate from the management of meetings and of the non-profit [501(c)(3)] corporation. This includes finding and managing the contract of an office assistant ... and filling in when the job is vacant.   The office administrator would do the day-to-day work; the VP would be more involved in coordination, planning, tax paperwork, finding people to fill the office assistant position, contracting, managing publications, etc.   The management of the office – the physical space, the phone, the computers -- would probably be shared between this VP, the President, and the Treasurer. In the long term, this may be a paid professional position.  In the interim, we seek a volunteer with business skills. This is a largest of the VP jobs, but breaking it out frees up the President considerably.

3. Vice President in charge of the Congress/Expo chair.   This would be an annually rotating position, but a seasonally big one.   This Vice President might work with the President, with the Board as a whole, or a committee of the Board.   We envision that the Vice President would manage all the local issues but that the President, Board, or Board Committee would assist with program planning and speaker recruitment.

4. Vice President for Information Services. This person would oversee both LifeRing’s internal information and internet infrastructure. Although this position requires some comfort with all the subject matter involved, a primary duty will be to find and supervise persons with the necessary expertise for particular infrastructure tasks. For example, a webmaster might focus on lifering.org and lifering.com and perhaps the on-line software hosting the forums, chat, and the e-mail groups.  (Note the On-Line Regional Representative would coordinate the subject matter and contacts on Chat, the forums, Ning, and the e-mail lists.  The Board may play a role in website content issues.)  A data manager might focus on updating and/or restructuring LifeRing’s accounting, database and other systems for use by the President, Treasurer, and Board.

And what is NOT here?

1.  Fundraising chair (at least initially). The committee concluded that fundraising is a core responsibility of the Board and should stay there.   They may choose to develop a fundraising committee and may seek a vice president for support, but the lead responsibility should not be delegated.

2. Internal development, meeting support, and public relations. These appear in the Marty's initial proposal.  The regional coordinators should be playing a
big role with internal development and meeting support.  Public relations today mostly involve fundraising, the Congress, and the "external development" activities, all of which have been parceled out to other VPs. So the committee didn't see a role here.  If LifeRing develops a get a stronger communications infrastructure (e.g., a newsletter or its internet equivalent) it may be appropriate add something there.

The group discussed the task of filling the VP positions.  Filling some may be difficult.  We did note, however, that a substantial volunteer position can be a benefit to one's resume, thus making such jobs more attractive.   The Board might also choose to create positions as position-holders are found.  There might be some iteration too: the board might define a position, seek a candidate, and then adjust the definition of the position around a candidate's skills and interests.

Some VP positions may initially be filled by Board Members.  Many Officers have simultaneously been Board Members.  However, in the long run, it may be desirable for many of these positions to be separate, thus providing another intermediate step for LifeRing leadership development.