As a board member of IABC/Chicago, you have the ability to develop your current skill set, or learn a new skill, in a supportive environment. You will serve as an IABC/Chicago ambassador in-person and online, attend monthly board meetings, and craft new strategies in your area of responsibility. You will also have the ability to network with a fantastic group of leaders from a variety of backgrounds.
Below you will find a summary of each board role:
Executive Committee
President
The person in this role has previously served as the president-elect and will automatically progress to the past president. Each year, the president develops and presides over a cohesive board of directors, ensuring there is enough support and direction for all directors involved. The president creates the chapter’s annual strategic plan which complies with IABC’s overall mission, goals and direction and maintains the association’s integrity. The president also chairs monthly board meetings, oversees chapter monetary resources, presides over the executive committee and serves as liaison to other association leaders. As the face of one of the oldest chapters in IABC, the president also represents members in professional, educational, and public roles and serves as its primary media spokesperson.
President-Elect
This position involves a three-year commitment, automatically succeeds to president after one year and then past president in year three. Candidates for this position must have at least two years prior experience on the board of directors. The president-elect role involves a myriad of activities vital to the success of any president. This person serves on the IABC/Chicago executive committee; reviews and updates chapter bylaws, policies and handbook, as needed; assists in training and orientation of new board members. The president-elect presides over board meetings in the president’s absence and provides back-up support to special projects. And, as the chapter’s ethics officer, promote IABC’s Code of Ethics and provide oversight of the chapter’s practices to ensure they follow the highest professional and ethical standards.
Past President
This position is seated by automatic succession after serving as chapter president. This advisory role serves as part of the IABC/Chicago executive committee (with president, president-elect and vice president, finance) and provides continuity for the board. The past president helps the president with annual chapter management awards, presides over meetings when the president and president-elect are absent, and develops the chapter annual report with input from directors. The past president also serves as the chair of the nominating committee responsible for board succession.
Director, Chapter Administration
This person serves as IABC/Chicago’s record keeper and corporate secretary. This person represents IABC/Chicago in the absence of the president, president-elect and the immediate past-president, and is responsible for organizing IABC/Chicago board meetings (i.e., create and distribute agenda and minutes, book a venue, order refreshments, etc.). The director, chapter administration serves as the official election judge on all matters requiring a formal vote of the IABC/Chicago membership. This role manages the board calendar and other cross-director knowledge-sharing tools as required.
Vice President, Finance
The vice president, finance ensures (with the assistance of bookkeeping support) that IABC/Chicago is operated in a fiscally responsible manner. S/He oversees the development and approval of IABC/Chicago’s financial budgets, with final budget approval to be completed by the end of October each year. With support by the chapter administrator, maintains IABC/Chicago bank accounts, records, credit/debit cards and check delivery; as well as monitors board member expenses and associated processes to ensure adherence to policies and ethical use of association funds. The finance director also serves as part of the executive committee (with the president, past president and president-elect) as well as monitoring financial standing of IABC/Chicago.
Board of Directors
Director, Member Services
This position serves as the key liaison for new and current members. S/He monitors new memberships and communicates welcome messages, new member events, ensures member inquiries are acknowledged and fulfilled in a timely manner and measures chapter growth. The director works to develop and promote new member and corporate member benefits. S/he also works to ensure, with help from the president-elect, that IABC is marketed to lapsed members and unsigned prospects. This individual coordinates activities of volunteers and committees to develop and implement programs to retain and recruit members, including a proactive retention program. In addition, the director, works with appropriate staff and volunteers at IABC and the Pacific Plains Region to support national and regional membership campaigns and promotions.
Director, Professional Development
This very important position creates, develops and maintains the comprehensive event schedule for the chapter. Each year, the director prepares a balanced topic and speaker line-up that meets the diverse needs of chapters members, while meeting the fiscal responsibilities of the board. This includes oversight of a variety of professional development events targets to all members, and among special interest groups like young professionals or senior communicators. The ideal candidate for this role should have highly developed organizational and managerial skills, as this position involves recruiting and coordinating volunteers to help in implementing events and programs. It is also recommended that the director serve one year as the associate director or co-director, to ensure a smooth transition and complete understanding of the programming role. This director maintains a close relationship with the marketing, communication and sponsorship directors.
Director, Member Communications
This individual collaborates with other directors to ensure members receive high-quality and timely information about the industry, programs, services and benefits of IABC/Chicago. S/he creates editorial calendars and publication timelines, measures communication efforts against goals and creates adjustments to increase effectiveness, and gains feedback through surveys, polls, committee meetings, and other media. This person also supervises the development and design teams for the chapter’s e-update content and maintains chapter distribution lists. As another means of communication, this director leverages all social media channels [IABC eXchange, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr, Libsyn (podcasts), and others as needed].
Director, Chapter Marketing
This director develops a plan to create and execute all chapter marketing and public relations activities of IABC/Chicago. S/he oversees committee(s) to implement the external PR plan, manages all IABC/Chicago web site content, and works with other IABC/Chicago directors to ensure the proper and appropriate marketing needs are met. This person also proactively establishes a regular review of IABC/Chicago branded materials, and oversees the maintenance of media lists. This position works very closely with the director, member communications. May establish a committee to support website and social media management.
Director, Sponsorship
Sponsorship works to recruit dedicated sponsors through mutually beneficial relationships. This individual actively recruits sponsors at the various sponsorship levels, helps to recruit event sponsors and other ad hoc sponsorships, as needed. The director writes and maintains the sponsorship agreements, ensuring that the sponsor(s) gain value while the chapter receives financial or in-kind support. The director also oversees all advertising, promotional and communication initiatives with the communications and marketing/public relations director and/or committee members. This individual invoices and collects fund in the accordance with the sponsor agreements and donation commitments. This person also responds to and manages ad-hoc partnership opportunities with external organizations, working in collaboration with finance, marketing and professional development.
Director, Awards
The director, awards manages an effective and fiscally sound IABC/Chicago Bronze Quill Award program that adds value to the members’ experience. This is accomplished by offering people an opportunity to gain recognition for excellence in the communications profession. The incumbent works closely with the marketing communications and sponsorship directors to market the award ceremony and encourage member participation; oversees the development of the program (call for entries, judging, etc.) as well as collaborating with other chapters to provide reciprocal judging. Due to the immense scale of this role, the director, awards will need to recruit a large team of volunteers, including associate director, committee coordinators, and members.
Director, Volunteers
The Volunteer Director oversees committees that plan, develop and implement IABC/Chicago’s volunteer recruitment, placement and recognition activities. This person ensures all IABC/Chicago directors have the appropriate number of volunteers to execute various committee strategies/activities. S/he also communicates new/open volunteer opportunities to members as needed through e-mail and on the web site. S/he works to ensure volunteers are matched appropriately to receive the best possible developmental opportunities, as well as develops and oversees implementation of initiatives to motivate, recognize and thank volunteers throughout the year. This person also plays a vital role in assisting the executive committee in identifying and grooming future chapter leaders.