I Do Not Choose To Run

In just a few weeks’ time I will travel to Vancouver to attend a PASS Board of Directors meeting. During that meeting the Board will hold our biennial officer elections. I wanted to take a brief moment of your time today to discuss these elections.

I will spare you the details of the PASS bylaws with regard to the officer elections. You can read all about them here if you want. The bylaws lack certain context, and that context is what I want you to understand today.

Years ago the process for officer election was simple. A person would serve two years as VP of Marketing, two years as VP of Finance, two years as President, and finally two years as Immediate Past President (IPP). That’s eight total years just as an officer. Folks were on the Board for ten years (or longer). The burnout rate towards the end of their service was noticeable.

During my early years on the Board we modified the bylaws to allow for a “shorter cycle”. We allowed for a candidate to be eligible to serve as President after just one term in either finance or marketing. By shortening the officer cycle to six years we wanted to avoid the burnout that comes in the last few years.

That bylaw change was not done to allow for one person to serve four years as President, even if eligible. That was not the intent then, and it is not my intent today.

I will not seek election for another term as President of PASS.

It has been my honor to serve you these past seven years on the Board. I’ve put a lot of energy and passion into service for PASS ever since I met Wayne Snyder in Orlando in 2004, and it’s been worth the extra effort.

I thank everyone for their support throughout the years. We’ve shared a lot of ups and downs together, and I would like to think I helped to make things better than how I found them.

I will move into the role of IPP where I expect to remain engaged for the next two years. There I will continue my efforts to help as many people connect, share, and learn from one another.

We’ve got a lot of work to get done still in 2015 and beyond.

Let’s go get it done, together.