Back to the Table of Contents

Call for Citizen Diplomats to Serve on the NCIV Board of Directors

by Jason Yarashes, NCIV Staff

This month the nomination process for the NCIV Board of Directors will begin. Current board members Quincy Carter, Freeport Area International Visitors Council, Jerrold Keilson, International Youth Foundation, and Sandy Sterrett, Foley & Lardner LLP, will be completing six years of dedicated service in February 2009. Fifteen members currently serve on the board. The Nominating and Leadership Development Committee, chaired by Quincy Carter, will be accepting nominations until September 26. The Nominating Committee includes Jim Stockton, Arkansas Council for International Visitors, Nancy Gilboy, International Visitors Council of Philadelphia, Eurica Huggins-Axum, Institute of International Education, and Nancy Treichler, Akron International Fellowship. They will review all applications and make recommendations to the full board at its November meeting.

The board continues to be an incredible asset to the NCIV Network. Its responsibilities include overseeing the relationship between the U.S. Department of State and the network, having fiduciary responsibility for NCIV including approval of the annual NCIV budget, evaluating the executive, and providing policy guidance to the NCIV national office. The board meets three times each year, twice in Washington, DC and once in a different locale around the country. Meeting at various locations allows the board to have site visits and interact with the Councils for International Visitors on a more direct level.

Those who would like to nominate a colleague for the board should take into account the same criteria and preferences used by the Nominating Committee:

* A clear commitment to NCIV’s mission of promoting excellence in citizen diplomacy;
* A demonstrated understanding of the organizational and programmatic activities of NCIV member organizations;
* Service on an NCIV Committee at the national level can be helpful;
* Experience as a member of a board of directors of a nonprofit or for-profit organization, and/or a thorough understanding of the responsibilities of serving on a nonprofit association board;
* A willingness to make an annual financial contribution to NCIV and to help raise additional funds.

In keeping with NCIV Standards, the Nominating Committee encourages a candidate pool that is ethnically, culturally, and geographically diverse to represent and support the diversity of our network. For the 2009 class of incoming Board members, NCIV is particularly interested in nominees who are actively engaged with a CIV on a day-to-day basis (especially those from all-volunteer organizations), as well as individuals from the corporate, legal or public/media relations community.

Each nomination form must be submitted by an NCIV member organization and signed by an officer of the nominator's organization. Nominations must be accompanied by a candidate biography (resumé) including relevant employment, board, and volunteer experience. (U.S. government employees are not eligible for nomination.)

The nomination forms and guidelines are on the NCIV website here. If you have any questions, please contact Jason Yarashes at the NCIV office in Washington (jyarashes@nciv.org; 202-842-1414). All completed nomination packets should be sent to Jason at 1420 K Street NW, Suite 800, Washington, DC 20005 by September 26.

PHOTO: (L-R) Kyle Moyer, World Affairs Council of Arizona (Board Member elected 2008) and Chris Ajemian, World Affairs Council of Seattle (Board Member elected 2007) in San Francisco, CA

Back to the Table of Contents