Stopping an Elected Board Nomination due to Conflict of Interest

[powdercoater]

Dear RONR Forum:

We have a terrible situation.  We have an appointed Board member that has shown interest in becoming president of our 501©3 next year.  The issue is that he is already the president of a competing organization that does exactly the same thing.  While as a minor Board member this conflict has been manageable, his recent intention to run for the presidency would be untenable.  There are already signs that even in the current appointed Board position things are not smooth.  We do not have a conflict of interest Bylaw in place yet, this will be brought up as well but can;'t be changed this year.

Here is the question:

   How can the current Board stop his nomination for President due to this conflict of interest?  We have a 15 member Board; someone is likely to second his nomination so we can't rely on a silent second to allow his nomination to stall.  We need to have proper parliamentary procedure and wording to use and recite to cause the nomination to not be accepted.  Do any of you have any suggestions?  This is a large non-profit and this could have serious consequences if this member is allowed to ascend.  By the way this person is a past president but has since started his competing venture after leaving office.   

[Guest Edgar]

Do any of you have any suggestions?  

 

Campaign for, and elect, someone else.

 

See also this recent post. (By the way, nominations don't require a second.)

[George Mervosh]

Dear RONR Forum:

We have a terrible situation.  We have an appointed Board member that has shown interest in becoming president of our 501©3 next year.  The issue is that he is already the president of a competing organization that does exactly the same thing.  While as a minor Board member this conflict has been manageable, his recent intention to run for the presidency would be untenable.  There are already signs that even in the current appointed Board position things are not smooth.  We do not have a conflict of interest Bylaw in place yet, this will be brought up as well but can;'t be changed this year.

Here is the question:

   How can the current Board stop his nomination for President due to this conflict of interest?  We have a 15 member Board; someone is likely to second his nomination so we can't rely on a silent second to allow his nomination to stall.  We need to have proper parliamentary procedure and wording to use and recite to cause the nomination to not be accepted.  Do any of you have any suggestions?  This is a large non-profit and this could have serious consequences if this member is allowed to ascend.  By the way this person is a past president but has since started his competing venture after leaving office.   

 

Under the rules in RONR nominations do not require a second, and unless there is some rule in your organization that would cause this member to be ineligible to hold office, the only thing you can do is nominate someone else to run against him.

[powdercoater]

George and Edgar:

Thanks for the information.  

I am the other person that will be nominated and I currently hold the Presidency and am eligible for one more year if reelected.  There is some bias here simply based on that fact. The organization needs to get a proper conflict of interest Bylaw policy passed and that is what the Board will work towards.  If the Board gets that presented to the members in time for the year end elections (it needs to be part of the General election vote) then the issue will resolve itself.  

Thank you both.

S 

[Edgar Guest]

The organization needs to get a proper conflict of interest Bylaw policy passed and that is what the Board will work towards.

 

Be careful what you wish for.

[Josh Martin]

I am the other person that will be nominated and I currently hold the Presidency and am eligible for one more year if reelected.  There is some bias here simply based on that fact. The organization needs to get a proper conflict of interest Bylaw policy passed and that is what the Board will work towards.  If the Board gets that presented to the members in time for the year end elections (it needs to be part of the General election vote) then the issue will resolve itself.  

 

Or you could just campaign and vote for someone other than this candidate, which seems a lot easier to me than amending the bylaws.