Must the Chair be a Member

[Tomm]

At last years Annual Membership Meeting the General Manager of the corporation served as Chair. The GM was not a Member of the organization he was simply an employee of the corporation.

I believe this was wrong if for no other reason, he could not cast a vote!

On the other hand, I am assuming a non-member could serve as the Chair of a committee because a committee is not considered to be a form of assembly?

Please advise.

 

[Rob Elsman]

There is nothing in RONR (12th ed.) that requires that the presiding officer be a member of the assembly.

[Gary Novosielski]

On 10/26/2023 at 10:09 AM, Tomm said:

I believe this was wrong if for no other reason, he could not cast a vote!

Not so.

You are correct that as a non-member he could not cast a vote.  But that has no bearing on his ability to preside.  There is no rule in RONR requiring the presiding officer to be a member.  In fact, if you look at the rules regarding when the chair votes or does not, you will find the phrase "the chair, if a member" which suggests the possibility that this will not always be the case.

[Josh Martin]

On 10/26/2023 at 9:09 AM, Tomm said:

At last years Annual Membership Meeting the General Manager of the corporation served as Chair. The GM was not a Member of the organization he was simply an employee of the corporation.

Nothing in RONR prevents a nonmember from serving as presiding officer.

"In certain instances in an ordinary society—for example, if an adjourned meeting or a special meeting (9) must deal with a problem that has intensely divided the organization—it may be that such a meeting can accomplish more under the chairmanship of an invited nonmember who is skilled in presiding. (Sometimes this may be a professional presiding officer.) If the president and vice-president(s) do not object, the assembly, by majority vote, can adopt an incidental main motion to effect such an arrangement for all or part of a session. This motion is a question of privilege affecting the assembly (19). Alternatively, the rules may be suspended to authorize this type of temporary appointment, even over the objection of the president or a vice-president. Cf. 62:13–14." RONR (12th ed.) 47:13

On 10/26/2023 at 9:09 AM, Tomm said:

I believe this was wrong if for no other reason, he could not cast a vote!

I'm not clear on why this is a problem. Nothing in RONR requires the presiding officer to cast votes - and indeed, generally the presiding officer of a large assembly should not vote.

On 10/26/2023 at 9:09 AM, Tomm said:

On the other hand, I am assuming a non-member could serve as the Chair of a committee because a committee is not considered to be a form of assembly?

A nonmember can serve as presiding officer of a committee or an assembly.