Does incoming President / Vice Presidents need to have held lower office first?

[Guest Sam]

Our organization has several nominees to serve on the Executive Board, but nobody wants to serve as Recording Secretary.

I could have sworn there was something stated where a President or Vice President needed to first have experience with either Treasurer or Recording Secretary before moving up to a VP or President. Can somebody advise? Thank you!

[Josh Martin]

On 4/9/2024 at 12:19 PM, Guest Sam said:

Our organization has several nominees to serve on the Executive Board, but nobody wants to serve as Recording Secretary.

I could have sworn there was something stated where a President or Vice President needed to first have experience with either Treasurer or Recording Secretary before moving up to a VP or President. Can somebody advise? Thank you!

There is no such requirement in RONR. If such a requirement exists, it would have to be in your organization's bylaws.

[Richard Brown]

On 4/9/2024 at 12:31 PM, Josh Martin said:

I could have sworn there was something stated where a President or Vice President needed to first have experience with either Treasurer or Recording Secretary before moving up to a VP or President. Can somebody advise?

As Mr. Martin stated above, there is no such requirement in RONR.  Perhaps you read it somewhere else, but it is not a requirement in ANY of the parliamentary authorities that I am familiar with.  Your bylaws could make it a requirement, but it is most definitely not in RONR.

[Gary Novosielski]

On 4/9/2024 at 12:19 PM, Guest Sam said:

Our organization has several nominees to serve on the Executive Board, but nobody wants to serve as Recording Secretary.

I could have sworn there was something stated where a President or Vice President needed to first have experience with either Treasurer or Recording Secretary before moving up to a VP or President. Can somebody advise? Thank you!

The most common reason that people don't want to serve as Recording Secretary is because they think it's too much work.  This is often because the minutes customarily include all sorts of extraneous material that does not belong there.  The minutes are a record of what was done, not what was said.  Look up 48:1-8 in RONR 12th ed., and show it to whomever you're considering for the office, and make it known that keeping the minutes is not the major job people think it is.

[Rob Elsman]

If no one wants to serve as recording secretary on a volunteer basis, one alternative is to hire one for compensation.