Committee meetings with the chair attending

[Guest Mike E]

When the President of a non profit is attending a committee meeting does he preside over the meeting and become the committee chairman and take charge or does the elected chairman of the committee have control of the meeting. Our new president comes to committee meetings now with the it’s my way or the highway attitude. 

[Atul Kapur]

Unless your bylaws say otherwise, the committee chair is the chair of the committee, whether or not your president is in attendance.

By the way, do your bylaws say that the president is automatically (or ex officio) a member of all committees? Unless they do, or the president is separately elected/appointed to a particular committee, they don't have the status of a member of the committee.

Edited August 19, 2020 at 09:23 AM by Atul Kapur

[rayan08]

Chair of the Meeting

Usually the President/Chairperson will chair the meeting. If not present, the Constitution will state who will be the chair of the meeting (vice chair) or how to appoint the chair of the meeting.

 

 

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Edited September 3, 2020 at 04:00 AM by rayan08

[Atul Kapur]

For membership meetings, RONR (12th ed.) 47:11 states what to do in the absence of the president, so most organizations don't need to clutter their constitutions with that material.

Guest Mike E asked specifically about committees. Committees are different from membership meetings. RONR (12th ed.) 13:17-18 explain how the chairman of a committee is designated.

Please note, @rayan08, that "The Question and Answer Forum is provided to allow an open exchange of views relevant to specific questions of parliamentary procedure under Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised." (emphasis added)

[Josh Martin]

12 hours ago, rayan08 said:

Usually the President/Chairperson will chair the meeting.

The question specifically asked "When the President of a non profit is attending a committee meeting does he preside over the meeting and become the committee chairman and take charge or does the elected chairman of the committee have control of the meeting." As a result, I think an answer that "Usually the President/Chairperson will chair the meeting," although technically correct as a general answer, is a bit confusing as an answer to this particular question, since the question specifically was whether it is the President or the chairperson who should preside in the circumstances described.

It is correct that the President is generally the chair of meetings of the society and of the society's board. A committee, however, is chaired by the committee's chairman, even if the President of the organization also happens to be present.

12 hours ago, rayan08 said:

If not present, the Constitution will state who will be the chair of the meeting (vice chair) or how to appoint the chair of the meeting.

In my experience, it is actually quite unusual for an organization's constitution to describe such details, especially for committees. As Dr. Kapur has noted, RONR already has rules on this matter. The question also did not involve a situation in which the regular chairman was absent, so I don't know that this is relevant.

Edited September 3, 2020 at 02:42 PM by Josh Martin