President's Corner
Nominations Committee Is Forming...Interested?
by John Shenot
Fort Collins Audubon has no paid staff. We rely on an all-volunteer Board of Directors to manage every aspect of the organization. In keeping with our bylaws, the Board consists of five officers and six directors-at-large, who are elected by the members, along with nine committee chairs who are appointed by the chapter president. Every year, in January at our annual meeting, we elect and appoint a new Board of Directors (except that we only elect a new president every other year).
As we do each October, we are forming a Nominations Committee to identify candidates for serving on the Board of Directors in 2025. I want to encourage any FCAS member who might entertain the idea of serving on the Nominations Committee to contact me immediately. We have to announce the members of the committee at our chapter meeting on October 10.
Perhaps even more importantly, if you have any interest in serving as a Board member in 2025, or are even just curious about it, or know someone you think would be a good candidate, please contact me at your earliest convenience. I'm always happy to bring new faces to the leadership of FCAS and will gladly answer your questions about the roles we need to fill and what it takes to serve. The most important things for any potential Board candidate to know are that FCAS is financially strong, has stable membership numbers, and has a superb Board of Directors sharing the load of running the organization. Also, rest assured that you don't have to be an expert birder or have experience leading any type of organization. New board members will get a lot of coaching and help in whatever role they assume.
One more thing: I am nearing the end of 10 consecutive years as president of FCAS. I still enjoy serving in this role, but it would probably be healthy for the organization if someone else with energy and fresh ideas took the helm for a couple of years. So, to be clear, if we can find a good leader who is willing to serve as president, I will gladly step down and serve the organization in some other way!