Partial resignation by President

[Guest Puzzling]

Reading the  tread

I was puzzling about another option:

If a member is elected president can he stay president (of the membership meeting) but because of is. own good reasons offer  resignation  as president of the board? (And stay boardmember)

[Richard Brown]

53 minutes ago, Guest Puzzling said:

Reading the  tread

I was puzzling about another option:

If a member is elected president can he stay president (of the membership meeting) but because of is. own good reasons offer  resignation  as president of the board? (And stay boardmember)

The final answer depends on the precise termanology used in the organization’s  bylaws, but normally the president is elected as the president of the organization. He may preside over both general membership meetings and board meetings, but he is not president of the general membership or president of the board. He is the president of the organization. For him to refuse to preside over either general membership meetings or board meetings if those are part of his duties could well be considered dereliction of duty or failure to perform the duties of the office. On the other hand, if the organization is fine with it, they might well decide to have the vice president or someone else preside at those meetings where the president does not want to preside. 

[Guest Jackie Guest]

The president of our Board of Governors of a nonprofit organization just sent written notice that he was going to resign as president.  We elect board members for three year terms.  He has 1 and a half years left on his board term.  Is he still considered a member of the Board of Governors if he resigns as president?  According to our bylaws the 1st VP automatically becomes president, and he has accepted that position.  But I have read the 12th edition of Roberts Rules and I cannot find the answer to this question anywhere in the book.  Thanks.

[Richard Brown]

Guest Jackie, the answer depends upon the exact wording of your bylaws. For example, how do you elect the president? Is he elected by the membership at large as president? Is he selected by the board from among the directors to serve as president? Do your bylaws require that he be a member of the board in order to be elected president or does he become a member of the board by virtue of being president?

If he is elected by the membership as president and thereby becomes a member of the board by virtue of being president, then if he resigns as president he will almost certainly no longer be a member of the board. 

Edited to add: if your president was initially elected to the board as a director and then the board selected him to serve as president from among the board members, then he might well be able to resign as president but retain his position on the board  

The answer really depends upon your bylaws.

P.S. For future reference, please keep in mind that even though your question may seem similar to one previously asked, in this forum we prefer that a new question be posted by starting a new thread (topic) rather than adding it to an old thread.

Edited July 18, 2021 at 07:32 PM by Richard Brown
Added last three paragraphs

[Guest Jackie]

Thanks so much for your response.  Our bylaws state that 5 new board members will be elected each year by the membership for a three year term that rotates, so there are 15 board members.  The president is elected by the Board, not the membership.  Sorry about not starting a new thread.  So I guess unfortunately this means he has the right to complete his board term?  This is the first time I have used the site.

[Guest Jackie]

And, yes, the president must be member of the board to serve as president or on the Executive Committee (4 officers).  Thanks.

[Joshua Katz]

It seems to me that the President may resign from his officer position without resigning his board seat, under the circumstances described.

[Guest Jackie]

Thank your for your reply.

[Richard Brown]

I agree with Mr. Katz.   Based on this new information, it appears the president can resign as president but retain his board seat.

[Guest Jackie]

Thanks so much to both of you for your responses.