First, happy birthday to the Sierra Club — 117 years old, 117 years strong!

(The Club was founded on May 28, 1892 in San Francisco, California.)

May Board Retreat and Meeting

Two weeks ago, the Board of Directors convened a marathon meeting, which included a changing of the guard to seat new Directors and elect officers. I am grateful to Board members (and staff) who were unwilling to compromise the agenda and committed five days to tackle Club work.

First, I want to congratulate and welcome newly elected Board members Lane Boldman, Dave Scott, and Chris Warshaw. (Incumbent directors Robin Mann and Rafael Reyes were elected for a second three-year term.)

Some highlights:

• The Board started its May meeting with a day and a half retreat — an offsite working session that facilitates the transition between outgoing and incoming boards. The outgoing executive committee members describe and reflect on their performance over the past year and Board members discuss and decide on officers for the new term. We also spent several hours with Carl discussing emerging issues for the Club. (FYI: Since we all are very conscientious about expenses, the cost for the retreat was comparable to what it would have cost for us to stay in the city.)
  

  Here's a photo from Lane from the retreat. From left, that's Sanjay Ranchod, Bernie Zaleha, Michael Dorsey, Robin Mann, Dave Scott, and Robbie Cox.

  

• We devoted the first day to a facilitated learning session on diversity, inclusion, and cultural competency. One key objective was to increase our shared understanding of how these factors impact organizational productivity, performance and achievement of the Club’s mission. Many of the learning modules we walked through will form the basis of a Diversity 101 Training that the Club’s Diversity Council hopes to launch later this year.
• We paid tribute to outgoing directors Marilyn Wall and Bernie Zaleha, who were at this meeting, for their great service to the Club as board members. Director Ellen Pillard had been toasted at the February meeting and we still look forward to catching up with past president Lisa Renstrom.
• Four members of the Board Executive Committee were re-elected to their positions (Robin Mann as vice president, Joni Bosh as treasurer, Dave Karpf as fifth officer, and me as president). Rafael Reyes was elected board secretary.
  
• The Board took action on recommendations from three of its Task Forces. We adopted new policies on Landfill Gas to Energy (pdf) and Business Partnerships Policies. The report from the Chapter Funding Allocation Task Force was accepted and spawned the establishment of two new task forces — one to work with chapter leaders on the next phase of chapter funding allocation and a second to make specific recommendations on augmenting chapter fundraising efforts.Huge thanks to the members of these three task forces for their diligent and thoughtful work.
• The Board of Directors and Council of Club Leaders Executive Committee shared a productive working lunch and agreed to: (1) take measures to reduce expenses for the annual meeting; and (2) task Tina Schulstad, Council Chair, and myself to collaborate in planning the joint session, with an eye to ensuring the right leaders are present for the scope of discussions that will be undertaken.  Much more on this in the weeks and months ahead.
• Sunday morning was focused on the executive search process. Board members began a discussion with Carl on the chairman role. The Board also spent time with the recruiters to further define the executive director role. These position profiles will be refined over the next few weeks.

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My latest forays have included invitations to provide key note addresses during the month of May, which is also Asian Pacific Heritage month, to EPA Region 9 in San Francisco and to SEIU in Washington, D.C. I am looking forward to meeting up with Sierra Club California leaders this weekend at their Convention and celebrating with Santa Lucia Chapter leaders at their Annual Banquet.

Reminders:

• Survey for input on the executive director search closes on May 31.
• Deadline to nominate someone deserving for National Honors and Awards is June 1.
• Council of Club Leaders Chair Tina Schulstad and I will co-host an Open House Call on Tuesday, June 16.

Here are some more photos from the retreat by Michael Dorsey -- more of the beautiful Marin Headlands than the meeting. Enjoy.