Board of Trustees

The NAIS board of trustees consists of 19-22 trustees. The board as a whole addresses its fiduciary, strategic, and generative duties, led by the officers and the Executive Committee. NAIS currently has six standing committees, frequently also engaging tasks forces and subcommittees as items of import arise. The full board meets three times a year, in Washington, DC (June and November), and at the organization's Annual Meeting (in late February or early March). Committees also meet by teleconference, using digital means in lieu of paper at both virtual and actual meetings to model sustainability.  The NAIS board of trustees is committed to diversity and actively seeks those belonging to underrepresented populations.

View the current NAIS Board of Trustees.

Call for Nominatons

To nominate a candidate or to self-nominate, please go to the Board of Trustees Call for Nominations.

The NAIS board of trustees issues an annual Call for Nominations in July for a class of trustees for a three-year term commencing at the following year’s Annual Meeting (at the NAIS Annual Conference). (Nominations are accepted throughout the year.) The deadline for submitting an application is October 15 of each year. Candidates may self-nominate or be nominated by someone else. In either case, potential board nominees must indicate a willingness to serve by going to the About NAIS/Our Organization/Board of Trustees section of the NAIS website (www.nais.org) and filling out a Candidate Information form.  The form asks for the following:

• Vital data of the nominee (name, current school affiliation and role, e-mail address, telephone number). 
• Commentary on one’s interest and reaction to the criteria specified by the NAIS board for the next cycle of elections.
• A breakdown of resume by key skills, work history, education, and professional affiliations.

The NAIS board administrator, Kim Schwartz (Schwartz@nais.org), manages the online nominee process. The process begins by the nominator and/or candidate completing the online submission indicated above followed by an automated thank you/acknowledgement and an automated request for an online endorsement from the reference listed by the candidate. Once all documents have been received, a confirmation will be sent to the candidate and his/her reference to acknowledge a completed dossier. Dossiers are then forwarded to the Governance Committee which reviews them and makes recommendations to the full board at its November meeting. The slate is then approved by the membership at the NAIS Annual Meeting at the Annual Conference.

Timetable for the NAIS Board Nomination and Election Process:

June: The NAIS Governance Committee reviews strategic priorities for the next three years and factors them into criteria articulated for nominees. Committee chair announces Call for Nominations to be disseminated in July. After soliciting comments from the board at large and in consultation with the NAIS president, the NAIS board chair makes a recommendation to the Governance Committee on the next slate of officers. While anyone on the board can serve as an officer, typically officers come from the ranks of current committee and task force chairs who have already demonstrated effective leadership.

Proposed Criteria for the Current Cycle (the Class of 2013 to be elected in March of 2010) include the following:

• Vision of how a national organization should function.
• Interest and expertise in the challenges facing independent schools, commitment to the strategic priorities identified by the board, and a proclivity towards helping NAIS identify creative solutions to those challenges, especially in the arenas of trusteeship, law, higher ed, global education, technology, sustainability; curricular research and design, and finance.
• Commitment to championing the values of NAIS: independence, interdependence, inclusivity, innovation.

October:  October 15th deadline for this year’s nominations. (Past nominees must indicate continuing interest to remain in the pool.) Confidential Governance Committee teleconference vetting of the nominations and creation of a grid comparing nominees’ skills with expertise sought by the board (the criteria). NAIS Governance Committee creates a short list and reports it out to the board. A Governance Committee sub-group of three conducts conference call interviews with candidates on the short list to ascertain level of interest in serving and availability to attend all of the next year’s meetings.

November: NAIS Governance Committee determines slate of the new class of board members and reports out to full board.  Board votes approval of the slate. Governance Committee chair calls candidates to confirm their willingness to serve. Board administrator informs other nominees that they will not be on this year’s slate and encourages them to remain in the pool for up to three years.

January: Executive Committee assigns mentors to the next class of new trustees and makes committee assignments for the coming year for all board members, attempting to balance individual trustee preference and expertise with the board's needs.

March: At the NAIS Annual Meeting of the Membership (roughly March 1 of each year, during the Annual Conference), the NAIS membership elect the coming year’s class of trustees and officers. New trustees attend their board orientation and their first board meeting.

To nominate a candidate or to self-nominate, please go to the Board of Trustees Call for Nominations.