Every year half of our board of 12 come up for
election. This year with six of our current board members seeking re-election
and several aspiring board nominees we now have ten candidates for
the six available positions.
As CEO I find that most satisfying. We have a robust
democrat process in place, which involves a highly contested process. Why
is this so important? Well there are organisations, like ours, around the country
who either “pick” their Boards, or have to go cap in hand to their members to
encourage them to stand. Our governance is of the highest quality and that is partly
because positions on the board are highly sought after.
I am also pleased with the fact that we have had in place an
internet based voting system through Electionz .com that we have been using for the past eight years.
The voting process is evolving and easy to use, and is now starting to be used by membership-based organisations across New Zealand. Who knows? Maybe
someday soon we will see electronic voting for our
Local and National Government elections!