CFA Society Minnesota’s Immediate Past President, Kim Brustuen, and I hosted a call last week for all Midwestern U.S. Society leaders to discuss best practices in building and running an effective Board. This is something our society has been focused on for a few years now, and we have made tremendous strides in moving from an operational board to a strategic board. During the call we shared our growing pains, struggles and accomplishments with over 20 other regional Society leaders and Institute employees.
One of the reasons we have such a respected Board is our ability to source volunteers. We have a large board (currently 24 members) and over 100 active volunteers that serve on our committees and help with individual events. This allows us to be innovative and try new things while still maintaining our popular events and programs. One of our main points on the call to Society leaders was that it is never too early to start planning for the next round of new volunteers. Although we currently have an abundance of energetic, thoughtful people on our Board and our committees, we must continually replenish our volunteer base. Every year we have 3-5 Board spots open up as long-time volunteers roll off the board, and committees frequently have volunteers who join or leave throughout the year.
When we prepare for Board transition we look for new Board members and committee volunteers from a variety of industries – some even outside of finance, such as people with experience in human resources, accounting or law. We look for a diversity of ages, experience and viewpoints. We strive to represent the interests of the entire body of local members and of all occupations either directly or indirectly related to investment management. Many people do not realize that you do not have to be a charterholder to be on our Board or to volunteer with one of our committees. Event and committee volunteers technically do not even need to be local society members, though most choose to join once they start volunteering.
Our Nominating Committee for the upcoming fiscal year will begin their work in May, but it is not too early to put out the call for new volunteers. If you have an interest in joining our Board, assisting with a single event, or helping one of our committees please let me know and I will get you in touch with our staff or a committee chair. If you want to learn more about volunteering in general please send Kris Kautzman or me an email and we can discuss the current opportunities. I guarantee we have a spot for any level of time commitment. If you know of someone who might be a good fit we also accept referrals.
To all our past, current and future volunteers, thank you so much for your contributions to the CFA Society of Minnesota.
Joshua M. Howard, CFA
President, CFA Society Minnesota