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Have you ever attended the International Education Forum and Annual Meeting (IEFAM) of IAAP? (formerly International Convention).  During the business session the International Nominations Committee presents candidates for election to two International Boards – the International Board of Directors of IAAP, and the International Board of Trustees of the Retirement Trust Foundation.  If you’re like a lot of IAAP members, the Retirement Trust Foundation Board is something that almost seems like an afterthought… some people are elected, but somehow, more than one person is elected, and everyone votes for two people… and how does that work, anyway?  An election of plurality means that two of the candidates running for the office of Trustee are elected.

If you have read any of my previous blogs, you will have read that the Trust is a separate entity from IAAP.  There are commonalities however, two of them are that the Board of Trustees is elected by member delegates at IEFAM, and Trustees themselves are members of IAAP.  Every year there will be a plurality election for the Trust, as the four elected Trustees are elected for staggered, two-year terms.  The third commonality is that the IAAP International President and International Treasurer, are Trustees by virtue of their International office – that rounds out the six Trustees.

At the post-IEFAM meeting of the Trust, an internal election takes place for the four elected Trustees.  The International President and Treasurer have all voting privilege as Trustees; however do not run for the positions of RTF Chairman, Vice Chairman, Secretary, and RTFC Liaison.  These internal positions are for a one-year term only.  Trustees implemented succession planning in 2008-09; you should be seeing a new Chairman of the Trust in 2010-11.

The position accountabilities are very detailed, however in a nutshell:

The Chairman is the spokesperson of the Trust and Chair’s all meetings of the Board of Trustees along with specific duties.  The Vice-Chairman has specific duties throughout the term, but with succession planning in full play, works very closely with the Chairman as s/he fulfills their duties.  The Secretary is an integral position of the Trust as the Minutes of the Board of Trustees become a legal document and their accuracy is paramount.  As well, there are always Action Items with due dates – of which the Secretary ensures the individual assigned follows-up to meet that due date.  The RTFC Liaison is instrumental in ensuring the message from Trustees to members is consistent through each district’s RTFC representative, and has the opportunity to mentor and develop representatives for potential service as a Trustee.

The Board of Trustee’s has been very active since 2009-10 on strategic planning.  They have asked themselves the tough questions, surveyed IAAP members, and are developing a Road Map to share with members.  At IEFAM 2010 in Boston the road will be half built and by IEFAM 2011, Trustees plan to lay out the completed Road Map and share the planned journey that will see the Trust flourish through to 2015.

Stay tuned to the blog site for more scintillating information about the Retirement Trust Foundation.  Trustees welcome any questions you may have; they may be contacted via their information shown here: http://www.iaap-rtf.org/contact/directory.html.