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Your New Leadership Development Committee
We are now firmly operating under the new CLA bylaws that took effect in July of this year. Those bylaws established a brand new standing committee called the Leadership Development Committee to be chaired each year by the Immediate Past President. The committee members have staggered 3 year terms. When this committee was conceived, the idea was to have an internal CLA mechanism to identify and grow members for leadership roles in CLA so that candidates for election will be selected for skill sets rather than "popularity" and name recognition alone. This committee also serves as the nominations committee for CLA elections.
The Committee met for the first time at conference. Members to the committee are appointed by the sitting President, so I appointed this group while still President and will chair this committee for one year as Immediate Past President. I wanted the group to be representative of current leaders, up and coming leaders, and diversity in library and skills. As such, I am proud to introduce to you your very first Leadership Development Committee members:
Stacey Aldrich - State Librarian
Keri Botello - UCLA
Wayne Disher - Director, Hemet Public Library
Carey Gross - Literacy Coordinator, Butte County Library
Sandy Vella - UC Davis
Rosario Garza - CEO of SCLC
Gail McPartland - Deputy Director, Contra Costa County Library
Cheryl Gould - Consultant and trainer for Infopeople
Rivkah Sass - Director, Sacramento Public Library
Members have chosen staggered terms of 1-3 years so there will be vacancies each year for the next CLA President to fill. We all owe these talented individuals our thanks for taking on the "birth" of this committee. I feel very lucky to be working with them this year.
At our first meeting we established our overarching value as inclusiveness. We want to reach deep into the membership and identify members with the skills and interest to work in the governance of our organization. We will be looking for future CLA leaders who are ADROIT:
- Accessible
- Diverse
- Refreshed
- Open
- Inspirational
- Transparent
We established a timeline for elections next year, will be working on a message to be sent to the membership seeking those interested in working with CLA, and will be working on a "curriculum" for Board of Directors training. There has never been a formal Board training program, and speaking from experience, we very much need one.
In the future the committee may discuss and recommend campaign guidelines so everyone running for office has the opportunity to introduce themselves fully to the voting members.
Our next meetings will be virtual and start in the new year. This new committee has an important charge and we hope that as its first members we will set the stage for a very successful CLA leadership succession and election process for the future.
Submitted to California Libraries by:
Barbara Roberts
CLA Immediate Past President
Posted on November 25, 2009 9:25 AM | Permalink