Executive Committee

[Guest Karen]

We have elected and appointed officers and numerous committee chairs and directors currently serving on our Executive Committee.  It's much too large to manage for our Executive purpose.  We do not have an Executive Board and I think this is set up wrong.  The Executive Committee should be the smaller body of members taken from the larger Executive Board.  Which members generally make up the Executive Committee?  Is there a method of choosing?  Where can I find supporting information in RONR?

[Rev Ed]

Usually a small group that live close enough that they can meet on a regular basis.  But the actually composition is up to the organization to decide.  But I would start with the Officers (President, Vice President(s), Secretary, Treasurer, etc.) and perhaps the Chairmen of important committees and/or a small number of directors.

[Guest Karen]

I suppose one would not want to lose the important committee input of some chairs and directors.  So they may need to be included.  How about including the Parliamentarian? 

[Guest Who's Coming to Dinner]

See "Executive Committee," RONR (11th ed.), p. 485.

[Josh Martin]

1 hour ago, Guest Karen said:

I suppose one would not want to lose the important committee input of some chairs and directors.  So they may need to be included.  How about including the Parliamentarian? 

The society is free to include whichever positions it wishes on the Executive Committee.

[Guest Nancy N.]

Karen, I don't think those guys told you what you wanted to know.  Do you?

(If so, then never mind; if not, please let me know, and I'll try to fill in.)

-- Nancy N.

[Richard Brown]

2 hours ago, Guest Nancy N. said:

Karen, I don't think those guys told you what you wanted to know.  Do you?

(If so, then never mind; if not, please let me know, and I'll try to fill in.)

-- Nancy N.

I agree. RONR really doesn't provide much guidance as to who should be on an executive committee. In my experience, executive committees are usually very small, usually a half dozen or fewer members, often just the officers. I think having committee chairs on executive committees is rather unusual. 

I wonder if guest Karen is confusing an executive committee with an executive board (aka board of directors). Committee chairs are quite frequently found on executive boards.

[Joshua Katz]

50 minutes ago, Richard Brown said:

I wonder if guest Karen is confusing an executive committee with an executive board (aka board of directors). Committee chairs are quite frequently found on executive boards.

I don't think so, she writes that the executive committee should be a small group selected from the executive board.  Her organization might be, though.  Or it might just be using the term 'executive committee' to name its 'executive board,' since I don't see how you can have a "board within a board" without a board.

[Richard Brown]

Guest Karen, you say at one point that you don't have an executive board, but later you ssy your executive committee should be made up of members from the larger executive board.  We are understandably confused. Do you or do you not have an executive board (or board of directors)?

Edited to add: if you don't have an executive board , then I suspect that is what you are wanting to create, not an executive committee. What do your bylaws currently say about an executive bosrd (or board   directors) and executive committee? 

Edited October 7, 2017 at 03:10 PM by Richard Brown
Added last paragraph

[Joshua Katz]

1 minute ago, Richard Brown said:

Guest Karen, you say at one point that you don't have an executive board, but later you ssy your executive committee should be made up of members from the larger executive board.  We are understandably confused. Do you or do you not have an executive board (or board of directors)?

I'm about 70% confident I understand the facts.  The organization has a large board, which they call their executive committee.  It is too large to do the things the organization needs its board to do.  (I think this often happens when organizations need their boards to do mistaken things, but it also happens when boards are too large.)  Guest Karen wants to propose that the current EC be renamed the executive board, and a real EC - a "board within a board" - be implemented.  If the duties of the board are not going to change, I think she has a good idea.  She wants to know who is typically on the EC.

I don't think there's any rules that can guide that answer, but I have some opinions.  I think the officers are generally included.  Committee chairs would generally not be included, at least in my experience.  The parliamentarian should, ideally (in many circumstances, anyway) not be a member of the board, or the EC, or the organization.  The parliamentarian may or may not be expected to attend EC meetings, though.  The remainder would then be selected board members.  I serve on the board of one organizations whose EC is the officers plus "any number of directors."  It tends to elect 3 directors, though, with the officers maintaining a slim majority.  I serve on the EC of another organization whose EC is not a subset of the board, but that's because the organization is small, its board composition is dictated by law, and it can't fill much of its board, so it established in its bylaws an EC that in practice runs the show and whose composition is less restricted.  

[Richard Brown]

Joshua, that is my theory , too. I think what the organization might consider is re-naming their executive committee the board of directors (or executive board) and then create a smaller executive committee. if guest Karen has access to a copy of RONR, it is all explained there. 

[Gary Novosielski]

On 10/7/2017 at 7:27 AM, Joshua Katz said:

Or it might just be using the term 'executive committee' to name its 'executive board,' since I don't see how you can have a "board within a board" without a board.

Indeed.  I don't even see how you can have a board without a board, let alone a board within a board.

Life goes on within you and without you.