As a non-profit membership association, IFT’s strength and vitality are directly linked to the expertise, experience, and unique points of view of its volunteer leadership. Each brings different perspectives to help inform and inspire the association’s strategic goals and to advance IFT’s mission and vision. To this end, IFT is committed to attracting, developing, and supporting strong volunteer leaders to drive IFT’s strategic vision.

To support IFT’s commitment to attract, develop, and support strong volunteer leaders, IFT embarked on a research project in 2017 which explored the impact of diversity and inclusion on the association as well as looked at IFT’s volunteer structures, systems, and approaches to assess their strengths and vulnerabilities. Through this research and subsequent supportive task force recommendations, it became clear that IFT needed to evolve its current nominations and elections processes. As a result, a Governance Task Force was formed to further examine board candidate development, nominations, and elections processes to more equitably attract, develop, and strengthen its leadership pipeline as well as provide more balanced expertise to support strategic responsibilities.

To meet the current and future challenges of our association and members, the governance process for selecting our Board of Directors (BOD) and President-elect must reflect a selection process whereby individuals with  diverse experiences, perspectives, and competencies are identified and considered. The charge of the Leadership Development Committee has a critical responsibility in defining the skills and experiences needed to produce a strategic and balanced Board in relationship to the organization’s strategic goals and objectives. 

The Task Force examined how other associations facing similar challenges evolved their selection processes through ‘Recruit the Right Board: Proven Processes for Selecting Critical Competencies.’ Leading practices in association governance structures call for changes to the current process to attract, develop and select board leaders to meet the current and future challenges.

Transitioning from a Nominations & Elections Committee composition to a Leadership Development Committee model will broaden the scope of the Committee beyond selection and provide input to inform ongoing training and leadership succession planning efforts, rooted in IFT’s commitment to support an equitable, diverse, and inclusive volunteer leadership and leadership pipeline.

The Office of the President (Immediate Past President, President, and President-elect) selects the Leadership Development Committee members. Current Nominations & Elections committee members, composed of ten (10) members including the committee chair, will transition to become Leadership Development Committee members to complete their entire elected term (3 years). The Committee shall elect from among its membership the Chair-designate who will succeed to the office of Chair. The terms of the Chair and Chair-designate shall be one year. The Immediate Past Chair shall serve for one year as a voting member of the Committee.

The nominations process will remain the same and will follow the current process. There will be an open call for nominations. Members will receive communications about the open call via e-newsletters, ift.org website, IFT Connect, and other IFT channels. An application form must be completed and submitted by the specified deadline. The Leadership Development Committee will review, interview, and select candidates and present the final slate to the membership.

Membership will receive the slate via email and information will be posted to ift.org with details that outline the process to challenge the slate through a petition process.

The petition process allows membership to submit additional nominations for either the President-Elect or Board member vacancies. In order to be recognized as an additional candidate for election, each candidate must provide a petition, together with biographical information and a statement by the candidate. The petition must be supported by 5% of the Association’s voting members in order to initiate a contested election.

The current methodology and process for selecting leadership through a popular election process has made it difficult to achieve a more diverse, experience balanced, and inclusive Board. While the Nominations & Elections Committee pays special attention to the possible combinations of candidates that would be elected by membership, ultimately the process may not produce an adequate cross section of the skills and diversity needed to support IFT’s current and future strategic objectives, challenges, and opportunities.

A popular election requires eligible members to vote on the nominees with the top vote getters being selected to serve on the Board or as President-Elect.

A non-competitive slate allows the Leadership Development Committee to select one candidate for each position based on rigorous competency requirements, current board makeup, perspectives needed to address IFT’s strategic priorities. A single slate is presented to the Board and membership.

To ensure an inclusive, diverse and representational Board, additional competencies and multi-representational factors were added to be considered in the slate development process. An updated evaluation matrix was developed and will be updated annually to maintain and ensure the Board continues to have the necessary skill sets and experience balance needed to represent the current and anticipated needs of IFT.

The Governance Task Force reviewed and discussed key, desired board competencies and multi-representational factors to ensure a diverse and representational board, positioned to advance the mission and strategic goals of IFT. The Task Force proposed the following additional competencies (noted in bold underline) and multi-representational factors to be considered in the slate development process:

CURRENT COMPETENCIES	PROPOSED COMPETENCIES
Minimum Requirements	Minimum Requirements
Premier Membership required	Premier Membership required
Hard Skills	Hard Skills
Experience in reviewing and evaluating financial reporting and budgeting	Experience in reviewing and evaluating financial reporting and budgeting
CFS credential a plus	CFS credential a plus
Relevant expertise in the disciplines of organizational management	Relevant expertise in the disciplines of organizational management
Soft Skills	Soft Skills
Innovative: track-record of ideas that have been implemented and have affected change	Innovative: track-record of ideas that have been implemented and have affected change
Accountability: understands personal role in success/failure, is self-reflective and responds to feedback	Accountability: understands personal role in success/failure, is self-reflective and responds to feedback
	Team Orientation: Participates fully and works towards consensus
	Communication Style: Speak confidently when expected or invited
Strategic Skills	Strategic Skills
Skilled in multi-dimensional thinking and problem analysis	Visionary: Demonstrates both future-thinking, as well as the ability to foster continuous improvement and influence collaboration
Capacity to utilize knowledge for decision making that benefits the overall organization	Strategist: Ability to consider the big picture while being goal/future oriented and mission focused; able to make informed decisions efficiently and take action when needed
Other Experiences	Other Experiences
Diverse IFT participation and IFT leadership background	Diverse IFT participation and IFT leadership background is a plus
Strong investment in food science and technology; experience in the field at a senior level	Strong investment in food science and technology
Demonstrated leadership commitment, effort, and involvement with IFT (committee, task force, section, division involvement)	Demonstrated leadership commitment, effort, and involvement with IFT (committee, task force, section, division involvement)
Leadership experience with allied industry/academic organizations a plus	Leadership experience with allied industry/academic organizations a plus
Experience on other boards and board positions held	Experience on other boards and board positions held
	Experience in the field at a senior level a plus

These recommendations will change the Bylaws with respect to:

• Transition of the Nominations & Elections Committee to a Leadership Development Committee
• Transition selection process from a popular election to a non-competitive slate

Prior to the vote, IFT will share a redlined version of the proposed Bylaws changes.

The majority of IFT Sections and Divisions do not hold contested elections. In the last several years, on average, three Divisions and less than five Sections have held popular elections. For the Spring 2021, IFT staff will again provide a voting platform for Division and Section leadership teams interested in a holding an election.

The Board and the Office of the President will work in partnership with the Leadership Development Committee to provide input on needed competencies and multi-representational factors, aligning the needs, vision, mission, and strategies of the organization on an annual basis.

If a petition candidate has been identified and the 5% minimum of voting member signature requirement fulfilled, a membership popular election will be initiated to determine the successful candidate(s).

External candidates can be considered to meet identified needs, however the external candidate would need to become a Premier member to be officially considered for LDC review.

The slate is finalized by the Leadership Development Committee (LDC) following the application, review, and selection process. The LDC will present a single slate, identifying one candidate for the President-Elect and one candidate for each Board position to the Board (as information only) and the IFT membership.

Similar to the current process, the LDC issues a call for nominations through targeted member communications and e-newsletters. Members can self-nominate and/or nominate candidates for consideration. Interested candidates would be asked to submit an application form for the LDC to review and eventually determine the final slate of candidates. In addition, the LDC would leverage its role of leadership development to identify qualified candidates for consideration. All would be considered through the lens of identified board competency and experience needs.