Dear Colleagues,
It is spring in New England. Cobb Hill Farm in Maine is a riot of greens. It was a long and nasty winter here in Maine. Fortunately your Nominating Committee meets via conference call monthly so we have been able to accomplish a fair amount of work. I want to take the time to introduce the committee members who will work hard to present a well balanced slate of nominees. The committee has three voting members, a BOD, liaison and IAFN's Executive Director Carey Goryl for historical guidance and bylaws clarification. Neither of the latter two attendees have voting power. Dr. Carol Klamser of Homer, Alaska is the senior of the two members. This is her second year on the committee and she will assume the chair position in 2016. The newbie on the committee is Dr. Dan Sheridan formerly of Johns Hopkins University who resides in Neskowin, Oregon. He was elected last year and will be the chair in 2017. I am the chair for 2015. I live in Poland, Maine. The Nominating Committee members are elected by the IAFN membership. The election exception is a resignation on the committee. Because the committee's incoming chair resigned last Fall, the IAFN Board appointed me to serve a second term as chair.
Last year the committee recommended to the BOD a change in the board liaison from the Immediate Past President to the President Elect. This eliminates any conflict with the Past President seeking the nomination for a different BOD position following completion of their term as Immediate Past President. Dee Krebs is the board liaison for 2015.
The Noms Committee also reorganized the application so demographic information precedes the applicant's qualifications. Because of membership concerns expressed about the differences in lengths of applicant elections statements, there is now a "character" limit on narratives. We still recommend applicants make a word document and copy and paste that document onto the application. The application times out after 45 minutes with no warning. You data will not be saved and you will have to start over. Those of you who had this issue in the past can attest to how irritating this is because you have to do a total redo.
This year we will be electing BOD officers (President Elect, Secretary and three Directors at Large) and a Nominating Committee Member. The President Elect and Nominating Committee member serve a three year term while the Directors at Large serve a two year term. There are no CFNC Commissioner positions open this year. Running for office or for an elected committee seat is a fantastic way to be involved in your professional forensic nursing association. Last year we offered a fantastic list of candidates and we hope to do so again this year.
Please, think about running for office. If you have questions about the process feel free to contact me or any committee member.
IAFN wants you!
Hannah
Hannah M. Pressler DNP, PNP-BC, AFN-BC
Chair, IAFN Noms Committee
hpressler@roadrunner.com
207-576-5345