Transitional Board and Steering Committee elections in 2023
Support establishing the best Transitional Board to implement the governance overhaul in 2024
The voting period of the Autumn General Meeting started at 16.13 PM UTC on Nov 15th and will close at 17:00 UTC on Nov 18th.
Note: all members in good standing have been sent a voting code to the email. If you have trouble finding it, check your spam folder and search your email with “Your INDIVIDUAL VOTING CODE” or “Your ORGANATIONAL MEMBER VOTING CODE“.
If you can’t find the voting code or have any questions regarding voting, please contact the teller Teemu Ropponen at teemu@mydata.org
Background information
MyData Global is levelling-up to succeed in its mission. This entails professionalising the organisation, simplifying our structures and processes, and empowering both elected leadership as well as membership. To prepare ourselves for this change, we need to take a few but important steps:
- Electing a Transitional board for 6 months to implement the Governance reform
- Introduce a new process to nominate Board members who have the right expertises & networks
For more information about the planned governance reform, please explore this document and join the townhall meeting on Oct 16.
Elections in 2023
The Autumn General Meeting (AGM) 2023 will elect a Transitional Board to serve from January through June 2023, and be mandated exclusively to implement the proposed governance reform. Specifically, the Transitional Board will be responsible for identifying, vetting, and recruiting candidates for the new Board that will begin its term in July 2024.
To succeed in this mission, members of the Transitional Board will need to be highly networked and committed to using their personal connections and social capital to recruit for the new Board.
We expect to have four to eight open positions to join the Transitional Board and join the continuing board members Jean F. Queralt (Malaysia) and Paul Theyskens (Belgium).
All members have the opportunity to nominate themselves for the Transitional Board and to participate in the election through which the Transitional Board will be appointed the Autumn General Meeting taking place on 15 November 2023.
Membership will also be asked in the AGM to extend the term of the current Steering Committee by 6 months, in order to support and ensure the accountability of the Transitional Board, and ensure implementation of the Governance reforms.
Timeline
Oct 2
The elections process starts with instructions shared with the membership. All members are invited to nominate themselves or others through this form.
Oct 16
Two townhall meetings (at 7am and 1pm UTC+0) with membership to discuss the strategy and governance overhaul, including 2023 elections.
Oct 27
Deadline to nominate candidates for the Transitional Board (end of day 23:59:00 HST (UTC -10h)
Nov 8
(7 days before the AGM and elections)
Final candidate list and candidate profiles will be sent to members.
Nov 15 – Nov 20
Autumn General Meeting (online), during which elections take place (72-hour online voting period).
Nov 20
The autumn general meeting resumes and the election results are announced.
CRITERIA FOR JOINING THE TRANSITIONAL BOARD
Members of the transitional board should
- have strong networks and credibility in communities and fora relevant to MyData’s mission,
- believe in MyData’s strategy and mission and be willing to use their personal connections and social capital to identify and recruit board members,
- be ready to dedicate time and energy to the work of the Transitional Board, and
- be a member of the MyData association by the AGM on Nov 15.
We are looking for candidates with a diversity of backgrounds and expertise. We rely on you, MyData members, to recommend exceptional people to join the Transition Board.
TIME COMMITMENT AND COMPENSATION
The Transitional Board is expected to meet monthly (primarily online) from January through June 2023. Transitional Board members are also expected to actively conduct scoping research and outreach to identify and vet potential members of the new Board. This work is expected to be executed with MyData Global staff’s active support and to be most intensive between January and May 2023.
The Steering Committee is expected to participate actively in the monthly meetings of the Transitional Board and to meet independently and with the MyData Global staff as necessary to ensure accountability and mission alignment of the Transitional Board’s work.
There is no direct monetary compensation for Transitional Board or Steering Committee members. A policy on compensation for board members will be proposed as part of the larger governance reforms in the Spring General Meeting 2023.
ROLE OF THE TRANSITIONAL BOARD AND STEERING COMMITTEE
The roles of the Board and the Steering Committee are currently defined in the association bylaws, but will be altered by the governance reforms that will be proposed to the membership in detail in the 2024 Spring General Meeting.
In the interim period of January through June 2024:
- The Transitional Board is mandated to recruit members of the new Board to be established on July 1, 2024, while ensuring that the Association executes essential administrative functions. This is described in detail in this Terms of Reference.
- The Steering Committee is mandated to oversee, support, and hold the Transitional Board accountable in alignment with MyData’s mission. This is described in detail in this draft Terms of Reference.
- The role of the new Board expected to be installed in July 2024 is described in this Terms of Reference.
Any questions? Please don’t hesitate to contact the Executive Director Christopher Wilson (christopher[at]mydata.org) or Director of operations Sille Sepp (sille[at]mydata.org). More discussions on the agenda take place in our Slack (join here), at the #leadership-elections channel. Welcome!