Team charged with overseeing AVMA governance reforms
A team of veterinarians was recently empaneled to begin the next phase of exploring the transformation of the AVMA into a leaner, more democratic Association better able to facilitate member input, participation, and recruitment.
The AVMA Executive Board received the report of its Task Force on Governance and Member Participation on June 7. In the report is a proposal for reforming the Association’s governance structure. It includes establishing a board of directors as the sole body with management responsibility and policy authority and creating a Veterinary Issues Forum of veterinary stakeholder organizations that would identify strategic issues for the AVMA to act on (see JAVMA, July 15, 2013).
Having fulfilled its charge, the task force was dissolved, and the board approved a recommendation to form the Governance Engagement Team. The team is responsible for communicating and explaining the AVMA governance proposal to all audiences, soliciting and reconciling feedback received, and submitting a final governance proposal to the Executive Board.
The Governance Engagement Team plans to solicit feedback from members on the AVMA website until Sept. 2 on several key concepts outlined in the report. It will use this information to refine the proposal and develop additional detail.
The 2012-2013 AVMA Board of Governors, which consisted of the AVMA president (Dr. Douglas G. Aspros), Executive Board chair (Dr. Jan Krehbiel), and president-elect (Dr. Clark K. Fobian), appointed the seven veterinarians to the Governance Engagement Team, including its chair: House Advisory Committee Chair Karen Bradley. Ralph Johnson, who chaired the task force, will serve as technical support to the team.
The full report of the AVMA Task Force on Governance and Member Participation and online survey are posted here.