2019 Election Process for the Board of Directors

Members of the 2019 Nominating Committee:
Darlene Kluka (outgoing BOC Program representative)
Gil Fried, University of New Haven (outgoing BOD representative)
Isabell Mills, University of Indianapolis (Program member)
Ahleasha McNeal, Lincoln Memorial University (Individual member)
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Criteria for 2019 Elections
Board of Commissioners: Four (4) open positions

• One program or individual member representative
• Two program members (incumbents are running for a second term)*
• One sport practitioner/industry representative

*The Board of Commissioners will forward the current program members' names to their own slate, to be voted up/down by the membership.

​Board of Directors: Two (2) open positions

• One Finance Director
• One Secretary Director* (the incumbent is running for a second term)

*The Board of Directors will forward the current Secretary Director’s name on her own slate, to be voted up/down by the membership.

The Nominating Committee will review ALL interested candidates for the final slate. However, when considering member representation and demographics of the current Boards, the Committee will focus on candidates (in no particular order):

• Outside of North America
• R1 – large, public research-focused institutions
• Institutions designated as HBCUs (historically black colleges and universities)
• Hispanic designated institutions
• Tribal College or University

Director nominees must be able to attend one in-person meeting held prior to the COSMA Conference (scheduled for February 6, 2020).

Nomination Requirements:
*    Members of COSMA may nominate themselves
*    A nominator must secure prior consent of the nominee(s)
*    Both the nominator and the nominee must be COSMA members in good standing (individual or program member)
*    The nominee must submit a Statement of Interest (see below for details)

Statement of Interest:
Nominees will provide the following information:
1)    The individual’s complete contact information (Name, Institution/Organization/
Affiliation, address, email address)
2)    A narrative that includes:
a.     history as a Board member in this or other organizations
b.     interest in becoming a leader in the sport management academic community while serving the individual and program members of the organization
3)    A current resume or CV
4)    Statements of Interest are due no later than 5pm EDT, March 31/April 7 for Student Director applicants.

Nomination Process and Timeline:

March 1 - Open call for candidates interested in serving on the Board of Commissioners
March 31 - Deadline for interested individuals to submit a Statement of Interest (by 5:00 PM (EDT) March 31.
April 15 - The final candidates are submitted to membership for a vote.
May 1 - Election results compiled and new Board members notified; changeover occurs at that time.

Interested candidates may contact Heather Alderman (cosma@cosmaweb.org) with questions.

Duties of the Board of Directors:
The BOD shall elect its own chair at the beginning of each year.  The Chair will run the meetings and be a spokesperson for the BOD and COSMA. The BOD shall have such authority as is necessary and appropriate for the general oversight of the affairs of COSMA.  Included among its authority and responsibilities are:

1. Establishing the policies and procedures essential to accomplishing the mission and goals of COSMA and its proper functioning;
2. Establishing committees and task forces, as necessary, and appointing members to these committees and task forces;
3. Approving the annual budget and strategic plan of COSMA; Approving all contracts and other legal documents of COSMA;
4. Monitoring the effectiveness of the policies, procedures, and activities of COSMA and approving changes and improvements where appropriate;
5. Monitoring membership recruitment, public relations, and recognition of COSMA by appropriate agencies or groups.
6. Monitoring any misuse or misrepresentation of the COSMA name and the COSMA accreditation process;
7. Adopting such rules and regulations for the conduct of its business as it shall deem advisable and may, in the execution of the powers granted, delegate certain of its authority and responsibility to the Executive Director.

Nominating Committee:
In accordance with the bylaws, the Nominating Committee is comprised of four program or individual members of the COSMA, who are recommended by the Board of Commissioners and approved of by the Board of Directors. One committee member will be from the current BOC to act as a representative of the BOC; the other three members will come from the program and individual membership at large. The Nominating Committee is charged with the task of collecting and evaluating nominations for all open positions on the Board of Commissioners, or those positions scheduled to be open in the year. The Committee proposes candidates to the BOC in accordance with the procedures specified by the bylaws, following a formal and rigorous review process, to be voted on electronically by the membership during the month of April.

The Nominating Committee will consider the experience and skills of qualified and interested individuals while assessing the overall balance and performance of the organization’s Board of Commissioners and individual members within that Board. In this respect, the Nominating Committee also focuses on fostering and creating a long-term leadership culture and succession plan within the Board structure. Specifically, the Committee will express its commitment to continuity of leadership between the generations of leaders within the total Board as it chooses nominees. As a result, if specific representatives of the membership are needed while others are not (e.g., nominees from public institutions or nominees from small institutions), the call for nominations will state these specifications. Individuals must be members in good standing with COSMA to be considered for any position (individual or program).

​Commitment:
All Board members are encouraged to attend related sport management conferences and meetings where possible and act as “goodwill ambassadors” for the organization by interacting in a positive way with supporters, members and other sport management professionals. All Board members are encouraged to actively support the goals of academic accreditation as well as the goals of the COSMA and to foster an environment of increasing professionalism on the Board.

Board members are expected to support COSMA by maintaining their membership (individual or program) throughout their service as a Board Member. This does not apply to any Public Board Members. Board Members must be able to attend and participate in the routinely scheduled conference calls as well as in-person meeting(s) per year, held in February (both Boards) and September (only the BOC). All costs are covered by COSMA, including travel, hotel, food and miscellaneous expenses. Board members are covered by an Operating Guide (see pages 4-6 of this document). Board members must disclose any conflicts of interest upon installation and annually.