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What’s happening at our AGM
last updated on May 09, 2008 17:36
The British Dressage AGM will be held at the National Motorcycle Museum, just off the M42 near Birmingham, at 3pm on Saturday 7 June. At the AGM, the Finance Director will discuss the 2007 accounts, retiring Board Directors will step down and new Directors are elected.
In addition to this ‘ordinary business’, the Board of Directors will be asking the members to consider a ‘special resolution’. The special resolution proposes that the Chairman of BD should be appointed from within the elected Board members. (Full details of the resolution are in the April / May issue of BD magazine, page 63).
When BD came into existence, the team who put in place the structure of the new company looked at the best practice that was occurring in other disciplines and sports etc. A Board was created which was competency based i.e. each person on the Board had a specific responsibility and area for which they were accountable. This system has worked well and has enabled BD to grow into the sophisticated and developing organisation that it is today.
However, when the inaugural Chair retired it became clear that the process for replacing them was not necessarily as suitable as that for the Board members. The role of the BD Chair is one which involves the relevant person having a strong overview of the entire sport and the processes/systems that constitute it. In order to be able to do this effectively the Board have identified that the Chair must be someone who has had previous experience and knowledge of the sport and its current structure. They must understand how the sport operates, where it has come from and where it is going. The Strategic Plan for British Dressage is constantly evolving and developing and the Chair needs to have a good working knowledge of this.
Our lawyers first raised these issues last year when we were approaching the election process for a new Chair. They found it unusual that we should have such a system in place. In order to improve our governance within the sport it was suggested that we should look at adopting a similar system that is used with British Show Jumping Assocation, British Eventing and within the FEI (international equestrian federation). Having considered all of the above, the board felt that this would be a positive step forward, enabling us to become a better national governing body.
When Jennie took over as Chair, we were lucky to have someone who, although they had not already sat on the Board, had a great deal of experience of the way that BD works. Jennie has been on the Judges Committee, International Teams Committee and BYRDS Committee for many years. She is also involved in delivering regional training and so has a thorough understanding of the regional structure and systems.
Throughout the past year it has become apparent that in order to act in a responsible way as the governing body, BD should look to find a way of maintaining continuity while finding the right volunteers to get involved in guiding BD at the highest level.
It is for these reasons that the Board of BD are recommending to the members that they pass a resolution to select future Chairmen (or women) from the existing Board, so that the person who takes up the challenge has a good background knowledge and has been previously elected as a director by BD members.
However, when the inaugural Chair retired it became clear that the process for replacing them was not necessarily as suitable as that for the Board members. The role of the BD Chair is one which involves the relevant person having a strong overview of the entire sport and the processes/systems that constitute it. In order to be able to do this effectively the Board have identified that the Chair must be someone who has had previous experience and knowledge of the sport and its current structure. They must understand how the sport operates, where it has come from and where it is going. The Strategic Plan for British Dressage is constantly evolving and developing and the Chair needs to have a good working knowledge of this.
Our lawyers first raised these issues last year when we were approaching the election process for a new Chair. They found it unusual that we should have such a system in place. In order to improve our governance within the sport it was suggested that we should look at adopting a similar system that is used with British Show Jumping Assocation, British Eventing and within the FEI (international equestrian federation). Having considered all of the above, the board felt that this would be a positive step forward, enabling us to become a better national governing body.
When Jennie took over as Chair, we were lucky to have someone who, although they had not already sat on the Board, had a great deal of experience of the way that BD works. Jennie has been on the Judges Committee, International Teams Committee and BYRDS Committee for many years. She is also involved in delivering regional training and so has a thorough understanding of the regional structure and systems.
Throughout the past year it has become apparent that in order to act in a responsible way as the governing body, BD should look to find a way of maintaining continuity while finding the right volunteers to get involved in guiding BD at the highest level.
It is for these reasons that the Board of BD are recommending to the members that they pass a resolution to select future Chairmen (or women) from the existing Board, so that the person who takes up the challenge has a good background knowledge and has been previously elected as a director by BD members.
Any member can attend the AGM and vote on the resolutions. Furthermore, any BD member can appoint a proxy (someone to attend and vote on their behalf). To appoint a proxy, please send a SAE to British Dressage for a proxy form, which should be filled in and returned to BD no later than Thursday 5 June.
