[Board] President elect and limiting terms

[Arnulf Christl]

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Folks,
I just cast my ballot for the president and president elect of the IGS
and this reminded me of a task I did not conclude when still on the
board of OSGeo.

My suggestion was to have a double election and add a president elect
/ vice president to the game but we never got to actually talk this
through to the end. Having this in place would bring more continuity
to the organization and take some weight off the running president.

So far this was not too much of an issue but before the end of my
presidency I did have to commit to several activities which would take
place after I had left. Fortunately Jeff could take on some of them
(thanks for this) and others were happy to have me give talks even
although I was then just a commoner.

The second thing I had originally planned to bring to the board before
me term ended was to limit the term of the presidency to a fixed time
(after which there is no way of returning?). It appear that being
president elect for one year and then president for another is a good
idea. This would help the active presidents to end their term without
having to explain why. For me it was exceptionally painful to not run
for another presidency because there was this general sentiment that I
"step down" instead of just end a regular term. Which somehow required
me to give a reason which I sort of did but in an awkward and
unhelpful way. It felt like disappointing so many people and caused
more friction that necessary.

Having a president elect role would also allow the individual to grow
into their position and take on the responsibility gradually, likewise
allow the president to take a holiday or drop off the grid for a while
without the organization appearing to be headless.

My proposal to the board is to have a dialog about this. The more I
think about it the more of a no-brainer it seems to be and many
organizations do it that way. Nothing is permanent, everything is in a
flow and our organization should not be an exception. Having a
president and president elect allows to have smooth transition.


All the best,
Arnulf

- -- 
Arnulf Christl
http://metaspatial.net
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