The Presbyterian Mission Agency Board has begun to put in place more details of the revised governance structure it approved at its board meeting in September.
On Sept. 21, the board voted to reduce by attrition the size of the board from 40 voting members to 20, and to give the advocacy and advisory committees in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) voting seats on the board. Acting on recommendations from its Governance Task Force, the board also voted to revise its committee structure and make other changes, including a reduction the length of terms from six years to four.
During a conference call meeting Oct. 25, the board voted to approve more elements for its transitional leadership structure – primarily making decisions regarding the board’s committee structure.
Under the plan the board approved during that call:
- The current committee structure will remain in effect through Dec. 31; the new one takes effect Jan. 1, 2018 (except for the Legal/Property Committee).
- The board’s Personnel and Nominating Committee will begin work to assign the board’s 40 current voting members to the six committees – with each member generally serving both on one program committee (Nurture the Body; Outreach to the World; and Resource Allocation) and one administrative committee (Audit, Personnel and Nominating, and Legal/Property).
- Representatives from the advocacy and advisory committees will also be assigned to the administrative and program committees with voice but not vote until the 2018 General Assembly acts on the proposed board restructure.
- The Personnel and Nominating Committee will try to honor board members’ requests for their committee assignments, “but will insure the necessary diversity, parity and balance for each committee.”
- The Personnel and Nominating Committee will present nominations for committee chairs-elect for the board’s meeting in February, with those committees to make those elections at that meeting and for those chairs-elect to begin their service at the end of the 2018 General Assembly.
- The current executive committee will remain in place until the end of the 2018 General Assembly, with the new chair of the Legal/Property committee – Melinda Sanders, a lawyer from Tennessee who also leads the Governance Task Force – added as of Jan. 1.
The committee chairs who will serve through the 2018 General Assembly are:
- Molly Baskin, Resource Allocation and Stewardship;
- David Shinn, Nurture the Body;
- Joe Morrow, Outreach to the World;
- Tom Fleming Audit Committee; and
- Marsha Anson, Personnel and Nominating.