2022 - Important Notice for Vice-Presidents and Presidents of Divisional Councils
Currently, Vice-Presidents and Presidents of Divisional Councils are also appointed to the OLA Board of Directors. These are two separate responsibilities. When attending board meetings, Vice-Presidents and Presidents are governing the association as a whole, but the divisional perspective is helpful to this work.
The current OLA Board is proposing changes to the governance model that will change the composition of the board over time. OLA members will have an opportunity to review and vote on new By-Laws at the Annual General Meeting in 2023. It will take 3 years (2023 – 2026) to fully transition to a new governance model because OLA will engage the membership on the change, must make changes to its’ by-laws, and ensure adherence to government regulations.
The new model will move from having a divisional vice-president and president who currently also serve on the OLA board, to a model where only the divisional past-president will serve on the OLA Board (in addition to members-at-large and other positions on the board).
Candidates considering a nomination for the 2023 Divisional Vice-president role.
It is anticipated that candidates who are elected as a vice-president of a division will also serve on the OLA Board as follows:
2023: Vice-President of a Council and on the OLA Board.
2024: President of a Council, but not on the OLA Board.
2025: Past-President of a Council and serving on the OLA Board.
The new proposed governance model will be fully transitioned by 2026, when a person who is elected as a divisional vice-president for 2024, will not serve on the OLA Board of Directors until they are past president, which will be in 2026.
Reason for the Change
In 2021, the OLA Board of Directors began a governance review process to ensure members’ diverse voices are heard and that we continue to be a nimble organization. OLA’s Strategic Plan 2021 – 24 identifies “Re-think and re-design governance to strengthen OLA” as a priority for the association.
The OLA Board is proposing that OLA transitions to a new board composition that will include:
- Vice-President (two-year term as VP)
- President (one-year term preceded by two-years as VP)
- Treasurer (two-year term)
- 3 Members-at-Large (three-year term, staggered)
- 5 – 7 Divisional Representatives who are the past-president of their divisional council (one-year term on the board)
The result of this change to the OLA Board structure will:
- Expand expertise and perspective by including members-at-large positions on the board.
- Reduce the workload of divisional vice-presidents and presidents, who will now only serve one year on the board, when they become past presidents of their division.
- Deepen association experience on the OLA Board by including divisional representatives (the divisional past-president) who will have served for two years on a council.
- Reduce the size of the board (from 18 members to 13)
For more information about roles and responsibilities, please visit:
OLA’s Policies and Procedures website: https://accessola.com/policies-and-procedures/
OLA Orientation: https://accessola.com/ola-orientation/
