USGBC – CHICAGO CHAPTER LEADERSHIP DESCRIPTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

September 29, 2009

(updated September 26, 2009)

BOARD MEMBER RESPONSIBILITIES

REGIONAL BOARD MEMBER:

 

  1. Is a member in good standing of the Chapter and the Board
  2. Lives or works in the region in which they are running
  3. Is engaged with the branches within their regions they represent by attending at least one Branch Steering Committee meeting per quarter for each branch within their region either in person or by conference call.
  4. Assist the branches in creating formal board proposals as required that affect either policy or fiscal direction of the organization.
  5. Provide awareness to the branches of forthcoming policy or fiscal decisions made by the board.
  6. Provide awareness of key organizational decision making opportunities such as elections and strategic planning sessions as well as the results thereof.

  ALL Board Members:

 Remain a Chapter and Board member in good standing as well as with National USGBC if applicable;

  1. Attend at least three of the four in person Board meetings each year and 5 of the 7 conference calls.
  2. Sign and abide by the USGBC’s conflict of interest policy;
  3. Actively participate in at least one committee, advisory group, or special project of their choosing;
  4. Help determine the organization’s mission and purposes;
  5. Hire staff (if applicable);
  6. Ensure effective organizational planning;
  7. Ensure adequate resources;
  8. Manage resources effectively;
  9. Determine, monitor, and strengthen the organization’s programs and services;
  10. Enhance the organization’s public standing;
  11. Ensure legal and ethical integrity and maintain accountability;
  12. Recruit and orient new board members and assess board performance;
  13. Attend Chapter events regularly;
  14. Stay informed about board matters, prepare well for meetings, and review and comment on minutes and reports;
  15. Contribute knowledge and experience to help assure success of priority programs and needs of the Chapter;
  16. Help influence key players and sectors in the industry including high priority sectors of real estate, corporate, energy/utility, finance, residential and product manufacturers;
  17. Help recruit new members for the Chapter;
  18. Serve on committees as needed including leadership positions and make a serious commitment to actively participate in committee work;
  19. Help secure funding for the Chapter’s programs through sponsorships, corporate and charitable sources, and other significant sources of funding;
  20. Volunteers for and willingly accepts assignments and completes them thoroughly and on time
  21. Gets to know other board members and builds a collegial working relationship that contributes to consensus;
  22. Is an active participant in the chapter’s annual evaluation and strategic planning efforts.

Board Executive Committee (Elected by Board of Directors)

Board Chair:

  1. Is a member in good standing of the Chapter, National USGBC and the Board
  2. Serves as the Chief Volunteer of the organization.
  3. Is a partner with the Executive Director in achieving the organization’s mission
  4. Provides leadership to the Board of Directors, who sets policy and to whom the Executive Director is accountable.
  5. Chairs meetings of the Board after developing the agenda with the Executive Director.   Agenda and Packet Contents are collected by the Secretary and distributed to the board.
  6. Encourages Board’s role in strategic planning and plans a strategic planning session with the board and committee chairs every other year on years ending in odd numbers.
  7. Serves a one year term as past chair, a non-voting ex officio member of the Board of Directors.
  8. Discusses issues confronting the organization with the Executive Director, Secretary, Vice Chair and Treasurer on a bi weekly basis as needed in person or via conference call.
  9. Helps guide and mediate Board actions with respect to organizational priorities and governance concerns.
  10. Reviews with the Executive Director any issues of concern to the Board.
  11. Monitors financial planning and financial reports.
  12. Plays a role in fundraising activities.
  13. Formally evaluates the performance of the Executive Director with the Secretary, Vice Chair and Treasurer and informally evaluates the effectiveness of the Board members.
  14. Evaluates annually the performance of the organization in achieving its mission.
  15. Performs other responsibilities assigned by the Board.
  16. Plan and facilitate regular board meetings
  17. Serve as Chapter contact to National and Region
  18. Serve as a public representative for the Chapter to the Region

Board Vice Chair:

  1. Is a member in good standing of the Chapter, National USGBC and the Board
  2. Check & balance for liaison follow-up with their committees:
    1. Verifies that board meeting minutes with committee specific directives are being communicated via the board liaison
    2. Verifies that committee meeting minutes are being generated and forwarded to the VC.
  3. Strategic Planning – information gathering and bi-annual follow-up with the committee alongside the ED.
  4. Takes PR / Media training – as the next chair and face of the chapter so as to work alongside the executive director doing presentations or other major
  5. Running Board meetings in the absence of the Chair
  6. Ad-hoc member of governance only in the advisory capacity of board member development and board policy development
  7. Go / No Go clearing house – assist committees in generating GNG – distribute to EC for initial review – then board…..follow-up with committee liaison to make sure GNG directives communicated.
  8. Apprentice to Chair first year, Successor to Chair second year

Board Treasurer:

  1. Is a member in good standing of the Chapter and the Board
  2. Serve as Chair of Finance Committee
  3. Keep and handle all financial business of the Chapter
  4. Budget Planning with the ED and committees
  5. Provides monthly budget/treasurer’s report to Board Secretary for inclusion into the board packet.


Board Secretary:

  1. Is a member in good standing of the Chapter and the Board
  2. Maintains records of the board and ensures effective management of organization’s records
  3. Manages minutes of board meetings.  Submits them to the webmaster for posting after board approval.
  4. Ensures minutes are distributed to board members shortly 1 week prior to the next board meeting.
  5. Is sufficiently familiar with legal documents (articles, by-laws, IRS letters, etc.) to note applicability during meetings
  6. Helps plan and run the Strategic Planning Session with the Chair, Vice Chair and Executive Director on alternating years ending in odd numbers.  When a Strategic Planning session is in order for that year, it will be held during the first quarter of the year.
  7. Create Monthly Board meeting schedule for the year by the end of January
    1. 4 Face to face meetings required – the balance can be conference calls.
    2. Issue reminders one week prior to meeting and keep track of those attending.
  8. Gather the following reports for distribution in the Monthly Board Packet:  the Exec Dir (report), Treasurer (report/budget), and Chair (agenda)
  9. Incorporation paper and bank signature card update in January or as needed with board officers positions changing.
  10. Manage / appoint scribe for meeting minutes

 Ex-Officio Chair:

  1. Is a member in good standing of the Chapter and the Board
  2. Was the previous year’s Board Chair
  3. Serve as an advisor to the Board Chair and Executive Committee

 

  Other Chapter Leadership Positions (elected by respective group; ratified by Board of Directors)

Committee Chair/Branch Steering Committee Chair

  1. Is a member of the Chapter.
  2. Sets tone for the committee work.
  3. Is the committee’s representative to the Chapter’s Operations Forum which meets quarterly.
  4. Ensures that members have the information needed to do their jobs.
  5. Oversees the logistics of committee’s operations and sets monthly meeting dates and location which are posted on the Chapter’s web site.
  6. Reports to their Board’s assigned Liaison who in turn reports to the Board at the monthly meetings.
  7. Reports to the Board Liaison on committee’s decisions/recommendations.
  8. Works closely with the Executive Director and other staff and committees as agreed to by the Board Chairperson.
  9. Assigns work to the committee members, sets the agenda and runs the meetings, and ensures distribution and posting of meeting minutes on a monthly basis.  Also sends a copy of the meeting minutes to the Vice-Chair as a part of the VC committee responsibility as well as GO / No Go’s.
  10. Initiates and leads the committee’s annual evaluation in November.
  11. Submits Postings of upcoming events 3 months in advance (or more) on the chapters web site.
  12. Signs a copy of the Conflict of Interest Policy yearly and submits it to the Board Secretary.
  13. Has a copy of the Conflict of Interest Policy on the table (available) at each committee meeting for committee members to review.
  14. Submits a budget for the following year to the Finance Committee by October of the current year.  Also the chair is responsible for notifying the ED of all committee-related expenses and to assist the ED in managing committee-related expenses.
  15. Holds elections for Chair position concurrent with the Board Member elections which are usually in November.  The newly elected chair would assume their responsibilities the following January through the balance of the year.
  16. The chair or chairs participate in a strategic planning session each year (board / chair retreat) sometime in March or April as well as provide strategic planning info during the month of February.

Special Event Chair or Co-Chair

 See Committee Chair responsibilities above.

  1. Attend each special event committee meeting or designate an alternate in case of a scheduling conflict.
  2. Prepare a short paragraph as to the activities of the committee for the meeting minutes record.
  3. Convey any board directives or Go/No Go results to the committee.
  4. Convey committee resource needs or recommendations to the board.
  5. Assist with fundraising for the event.

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