Jump to content
The Official RONR Q & A Forums

Appointing a past president as advisor


Guest Laurence

Recommended Posts

IS it law or customary to ask the past president to sit on the board as an advisor for a full term and if so does he have voting rights.

Nothing in RONR suggests or prevents electing a former president to any office. If he becomes a member of the board, he has all the rights of membership. If not, he doesn't.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

IS it law or customary to ask the past president to sit on the board as an advisor for a full term

It is neither "law" nor customary to ask the past president to serve as an adviser for the Board. However, it is certainly not unheard of for folks posting here to tell us their bylaws make the past President an ex officio member of the Board (NOT recommended for many reasons).

and if so does he have voting rights.

Only if he is actually a Board member. Just making him an adviser does not bestow Board membership.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just had our AGM and a new president was elected. IS it law or customary to ask the past president to sit on the board as an advisor for a full term and if so does he have voting rights.

It is neither. And RONR recommends against having a special office for the immediate past president. We see plenty of problems with it showing up here.

He could, of course run for the board, if there are seats up for election. But you can't make him a member of the board by custom. If this special office is not included in the bylaws, then it does not exist. So if he's not elected to the board as a member, he has no vote.

The membership could ask him to be an adviser, but that is bound to get dicey. As a non-member he has no inherent right to be at board meetings, except with the permission of the board. Will they feel free to exclude him if that becomes necessary, say, to discuss a legal matter? Also, it steps on the toes of the board a bit to presume that they suddenly need advice.

It would probably be better if the board asked him to be an adviser, which they can do on their own. Presuming, of course, that they want him to be. That puts them in control of when, if, and how much they want his advice at any given time.

Or just forget the whole thing, buy him a nice plaque with a gavel on it, and let him go relax for a change.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...