Board Composition

[Guest Mary T]

Is there anything that speaks to a board being an odd number?  I'm looking for anything that would suggest an odd number of members to be optimal.

[Edgar Guest]

Is there anything that speaks to a board being an odd number?

 

Your board can contain however many members your organization thinks is appropriate. Small organization? Small board. Large organization? Slightly larger board. And if your board is really big, you could also have a smaller "executive committee" (typically a sub-set of the board).

 

It's a popular myth that a board with an odd number of members will avoid tie votes. For one thing, even with an odd number of members, a member could be absent (leaving an even number of members), or a member could abstain (i.e. not vote). Further, there's nothing wrong with a tie vote. It simply means the motion was defeated.

 

My personal preference is for a nine-member board serving staggered three-year terms.

[Hieu H. Huynh]

RONR does not address having an odd number of board members. As previously noted, it is up to your organization to decide such a matter.

[George Mervosh]

An odd number may have an advantage when it comes to a quorum, not  a vote.  If the quorum for a board of 10 is a majority of the entire board, you'll need 6 to show up.  If your board has 11 members,  you'll need 6 to show  up.  That extra member may come in handy when there are absentees and when achieving a quorum could be dicey.