The Samvera Steering Group announces its 2020 annual election and a special election to cover the remainder of the late Julie Allinson's term as a member of the Group. Candidates may not run in both elections.

Annual election

This election will bring to completion the aim of the Samvera Community to have a wholly elected Steering Group. Chris Awre, Jon Dunn and Robin Ruggaber are the three remaining 'unelected' members of the Group and they are stepping down at the end of July. Under the terms of the Governance Working Group Recommendations, which the Samvera Partners have adopted, they are free to stand for election to a further three year term.

The list of current Steering Group members and their terms of office can be found here.

The elected parties will serve for a three year period until summer 2023. If a successful candidate is not already a member of the Steering Group the seat is eligible for re-election for a subsequent three year term, should the seat-holder choose to run again in 2023. Steering Group members may not serve more than two contiguous terms.

Membership of the Samvera Steering Group provides a unique opportunity for community leadership and to provide direction to a key effort in the future of memory institutions.

Special Election

Under the terms of the Steering Group by-laws, Samvera needs to appoint someone to cover the remainder of the late Julie Allinson's term on the Group - to summer 2021. If the person elected is not already a member of Steering, in other words not one of the three members stepping down this summer, they will be eligible to stand for a further term from 2021-2024 should they so wish.

The period for receiving nominations has been extended by one week to Sunday 7th June in order to give people time to consider this extra seat. All other dates in the election cycle remain unchanged.

Following the nomination period, the candidates for the 2020 elections can be found here.

Responsibilities of Steering

Current work includes:

Continuing to oversee the implementation of the Recommendations provided by the Governance Working Group
Hiring of Centralized Staff
Reviewing the Samvera Community and Steering bylaws
Working to implement a Contributions model in support of the resources requested in the Governance Recommendations
Periodically re-assessing Governance
Managing elections

Those considering running for Steering should review, and have the support of their institution for, fiscal and time commitments related to the role. Fuller details of the responsibilities of Steering can be found on the Samvera Wiki.

Requirements for Nomination:

Nominees must be employed with a Samvera Partner Institution in good standing.
Nominees must provide a Statement of Purpose describing:

Relevant Experience
Reason they wish to serve on Steering

Institutions may not have more than one representative on Steering so nominations will not be accepted for individuals at institutions which will already have a Steering member for the period 2020/21 (Cornell, Emory, Michigan, Northwestern, Stanford). If more than one candidate is nominated from a 'new' institution, the Steering Group will contact the nominees; the nominees will then need to decide which candidate will run.

To Nominate yourself or another qualified candidate, please visit:

Nominations are now closed.

Timeline:

Nominations will be accepted between Monday 11 May and Sunday ~~31 May~~ 7th June (extended to accommodate the extra election). The Steering Group will contact those nominated by a third party to confirm that the nominee will run as a candidate.
Candidates to submit biographies and Statements of Purpose during the period Monday 1st - Sunday 14th June
Tuesday 16th June announce names of candidates and open voting until Sunday 5th July
Result announced July 6th or 7th
The successful candidate for the one-year post will take up their duties immediately.
New Steering members appointed to the three-year positions will be welcomed to the July Steering call (24th July) prior to taking up their seats on August 1st and will serve August 1, 2020 - July 31, 2023

Questions or Comments?
Please contact the Election Team
Jon Dunn - Steering Group Chair
Rosalyn Metz - Steering Group Chair-elect
Richard Green Samvera Operations Adviser

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