Task Force to Review NAVTA Nomination & Election Process

As the NAVTA Board of Directors prepares to welcome its newly-elected members, we also are making a major commitment to evaluate our processes and improve our communications.

We heard your questions and concerns about how the nomination and election process took place last year and we take those seriously. The Board embraces the opportunity to improve and to better serve our valued membership. As a result, the Board has created an ad hoc task force charged with:

1. Reviewing NAVTA’s bylaws regarding nominations and elections and recommending to the Board any suggested amendments;
2. Reviewing NAVTA’s current policies related to nominations and elections and recommending to the Board any suggested changes;
3. Evaluating recommended “best practices” on nominations and elections processes from the American Society of Association Executives and determining what, if any, enhancements can be made to NAVTA’s practices;
4. Developing an equitable set of criteria by which all candidates can be equally and objectively assessed as a first step in the candidate screening process;
5. Establishing a proposed communications plan and timeline to ensure that information is shared openly and efficiently, to improve member awareness of and faith in the nomination and election process;
6. Collecting and considering member input on the nomination and election processes.

The task force will be comprised of Mandy Zachgo, who served on NAVTA’s former Legal Task Force, who will serve as chair; Scott Steele, the Chair of NAVTA’s Membership Committee; Ashli Selke, the Chair of the 2023 Nominating Committee; and two “at-large” NAVTA Credentialed Veterinary Technician members. The task force Chair will select the two at-large members from those who apply by January 31, 2023. If you would like to be considered for one of these at-large seats, please submit a “letter of consideration” explaining why you would like to serve on this task force: [link to form]. You must be a NAVTA Credentialed Veterinary Technician member to apply.

The task force must complete its work and provide its recommendations to the NAVTA Board of Directors no later than May 1, 2023, if changes are to apply to the next nomination and election cycle, which must begin by early August 2023.