Show Notes
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Guests
Courtney Davis Curtis, CPCU, ARM, ARM-E- Assistant Vice President for Risk Management and Resilience Planning, University of Chicago
Chauncey Fagler, ARM-P- Executive Director & CRO, FCSRMC (Florida College System Risk Management Consortium)
Host
Jenny A. Whittington, CAE, Executive Director, URMIA
Transcript
[00:00:00] Jenny: Hi there, URMIA. This is Jenny Whittington, your executive director, and the host of the podcast today. The subject today is the URMIA election and I have two of the URMIA presidential team with me today. We have Courtney Davis Curtis from the University of Chicago, our current president. Courtney, say hello. Well done.
And we also have Chauncey Fagler with us. He's the immediate past president of URMIA. He got to serve a two-year stint as president. So, Chauncey, why don't you say hello?
[00:00:35] Chauncey: Good morning, everyone/
[00:00:35] Jenny: So, these two, um, have been on the podcast, many a time, I'd say in the past, as they have served URMIA for many a year at this. As the subject today is the election, I want Chauncey to talk about a little bit about the election process and the makeup of the leadership development committee. So, take it away, Chauncey.
[00:00:56] Chauncey: All right. Thanks, Jenny. And, uh, good morning. Good morning, everyone. Just, uh, give you a, a little bit of a heads up, leadership development committee, or the LDC committee, is, also, one of the main responsibilities is to do and work with the nomination process for our elections. And one of the key parts is that we have a committee of six, including myself.
We have one affiliate member, Amy Daley, uh, from FM global. We have two board members, Keesha Trim and Matt Tuttle. Keesha is from the University of Richmond. Matt Tuttle is from the University of Utah. And then we also have two, at large members, if you will, the first being Sam Florio from Santa Clara University. Then Sue Liden from Pacific Lutheran University.
[00:01:37] Jenny: They're wonderful, wonderful committee members. And I love the makeup of this committee. It's small, but mighty.
[00:01:42] Chauncey: Yes, small, but mighty and very, very efficient too. We were able to meet, twice during the collection of the nominations. And then also this committee verifies that all the nominees that are currently posted for the election on the URMIA website, have met all the qualifications for the positions that they're running for. And we just would hope at this point that everyone gets out to the website and goes vote.
[00:02:02] Jenny: Yeah, this is kind of an interesting year. There have been a few times in my tenure with URMIA where, we have, only had one president elect candidate like we do this year. Most years we do have two candidates, or sometimes we've even had three candidates for president, but this year we just have one, and proud to say that it's Craig McAllister from University of Miami. I've worked with Craig for a couple of decades almost.
So, um, Courtney, I wanted to ask you about your, um, thoughts about the election process. Why don't you just tell us a little bit about your own URMIA experience to refresh our memories and then talk about what you're looking for from the membership.
[00:02:42] Courtney: As we all know, URMIA is made of individuals who volunteer to help support the organization and advance the discipline of risk management. And that's exactly how I got my start and, and made my way up to president of the organization is with micro-volunteer opportunities. And no opportunity is really too small, whether it's moderating at a conference, or sitting at a registration booth, speaking at sessions at our in-person event or, or picking up and volunteering in a host of other opportunities, or task force or standing committees. That's really how you get involved in the organization. You give back and create a platform for others to know yourself. And in your support of this organization, I would also add that it's equally important to, to write responses on the ListServ, cause that's really a great way to get your name out there.
And just as voting is important anywhere, it's really important for us to identify our next leaders that will continue to push our mission forward, so that we can continue to sustain, propel into the future, and, and really bring about new opportunities for our current and future members.
[00:03:53] Jenny: Yeah. And can you tell us, like, how did you first get involved with URMIA? Were you involved, in a committee? I actually can't remember.
[00:04:00] Courtney: I, I was part of the professional development committee. At one point when I was on the brokerage side, I was on the affiliates committee at one point. Um, but I still think one of my claims to fame came from choreographing a flash mob routine for us at our Portland conference and just really meeting and connecting with people. So, sometimes it's just through social opportunities like that as well, to do things in a real holistic fashion, just meeting people and talking and helping to solve people's challenges and issues and provide information and be a resource in any way that you can.
[00:04:37] Jenny: That's awesome. Yeah. I'd like to think that there's something for everyone with URMIA, whether you only wanna volunteer for a registration shift at the conference or to do something virtually, we all have amount of time and energy to spend on, extracurricular things. And I know I've heard over the years, the amount of time people put into URMIA, they get back tenfold because that networking and the sharing of ideas comes back big time for our membership.
[00:05:05] Courtney: I would even add that I've given a lot to the organization but gotten a lot out of it. I think that most of the opportunities I've had professionally have come from relationships that I've built in within URMIA. And even when I've had opportunities to advance at my current organization, to be able to reach out and to get insights from others has been supremely helpful.
[00:05:27] Jenny: That's so true. So, I, I'm really excited because we have nine candidates that are currently running for three board positions. This is a great opportunity to get the membership involved in the voting process. And I'll, turn it to Chauncey to talk a little bit about our candidates, but I, I wanna go back after that and just talk about the nomination process, although it's closed for this year. I think this is definitely a call to action to all members to think about maybe putting their name out there next year, but Chauncey, let's look at the slate for this year. Thanks.
[00:06:00] Chauncey: As Jenny's mentioned, uh, Craig McAllister, from the University of Miami is our president elect on our slate this year. And then for our institutional directors, we have three open seats and, Jennifer Anderson, uh, from the University of Kansas, her name is on the ballot. We also have Juan Azcarate, Texas Wesleyan University. And I believe Juan is serving a one year term on the board at this point. Paul Fox from Baylor University is also one of our board candidates. Pamela Jeffries is running again. She served on the board previously and Pam is from the University of Tennessee system. Susanne Johnson from Iowa State. And she's been on several committees throughout her, uh, career. And we appreciate her running.
Next candidate is Tristan Tafolla, and he is the International Committee Chair currently. And he is from Columbia University. Elliot Young from Kansas State University is also candidate this year. David Parker from Pima County Community College district. And then finally we have board member, Matt Tuttle, who's running for reelection from the University of Utah. And again, as Jenny mentioned, uh, this is a wonderful slate.
We, again, we encourage everyone to take the opportunity to vote. I would also encourage folks that are thinking about this to make sure that you meet the qualify. You can work with your regional committees. You can volunteer at the annual conference certainly can, uh, work on the annual conference committee itself and eventually become a committee or annual conference chair. We'd appreciate all that effort to, uh, make sure that you have the qualifications to run for the board and eventually, uh, president elect.
[00:07:35] Jenny: Thank you Chauncey. So, um, yeah, let's go back and talk about the nomination process and what people should think about maybe for next year, our qualifications for office are pretty basic. You have to be a member in good standing and you have to have served in some capacity for three years. So, I think, you know, this is definitely a call out to the membership for people to think about maybe putting their name up for next year and you can nominate yourself or you can nominate other folks. Do either of you have a comment about that?
[00:08:08] Courtney: Sure. I think it's important to, to keep in mind, we really want the leadership for the organization to reflect our membership. And so, I don't want anyone to think that you have to be 30 years in the industry in order to add value. If you've given three years to the organization and you have three years of experience, we'd love to have your voice at the table.
If you're at a bigger school, smaller school, two-year four-year, private, religious, community, HBC. It doesn't matter. We really want the diversity of the board to reflect the diversity of the membership, based on institution size, based on the individual, because the voice around the table should reflect those, cuz it brings out new ideas and suggestions and new and creative approaches.
And also, while you certainly have to spend some time and, and volunteer a little bit more through your board commitment. There's a host of people who are on the board serving in different capacities. We've got different committees and task force, but importantly we have an amazing national office that really supports.
All of what we do, and we wouldn't be successful without them. So, whether you're thinking about a board role in the future, or even president elect, just know there's, there's a lot of support around you and people who are always willing to help, and we don't go anything alone.
[00:09:25] Jenny: Yeah, I appreciate you saying that, Courtney. I mean, we are paid staff, so we are here to back up our, board members and help get the work done. While we like to be behind the scenes for a lot of that, you know, it's a team, it's an effort. And URMIA has gotten really pretty good at that, over the years, I think. So, Chauncey, I wanted to have you explain to the podcast listeners, just a bit about how the election works. I know it's obvious to me cuz I'm very familiar with our bylaws. You know that each of our organizations has one voting member. So, can you just speak to that a little?
[00:09:59] Chauncey: Um, it's important that everyone realized that as Jenny just mentioned that each organization has one voting member. And, so if you are not designated as the voting member for that organization, make sure you get in contact. With that person that is designated and, uh, certainly make your opinions be known, as who they might, should vote for. We would appreciate that. We want to encourage everyone to get out there and vote. And our largest voting percentage was back in 2017. We had 38.4% vote. And that is our record. So, the goal this year obviously is to beat that record. So again, please go vote everyone and talk to your designated, representative to and just make sure that they also vote. We certainly would appreciate those efforts.
[00:10:39] Jenny: Yeah. And over, you know, the last several years we've really expanded our system schools like, like your school, Chauncey. You represent whole slew of URMIA members, but you're making one vote for all of those people. So, I can't emphasize that enough to cuz sometimes the voting member might not be the person who's the most familiar with, the other candidates. I really do encourage a communication, a direct communication with your, the other people at your school. So, if you only have one vote and you're a large system, you know, maybe you have a discussion, like who would you guys like to see elected to the ballot?
Just another thing about the voting percentage. I mean, I know 38.4% might sound like a low number to a lot of people. Like when you think of the presidential election or something of that, um, magnitude, but, into peer associations, our participation is very high, but I would love to break 40%. So, this could be our year to do that. The impetus of this podcast was really to inform the members about the election. If you have any questions about who your voting member is, or if you had any trouble getting the ballot itself, it came from a, a software that we use called Election Buddy.
And each voting member has received a couple messages, one saying that you're going to get it, and then everybody should have gotten it last Thursday. But if you are having any trouble with that, I'm happy to troubleshoot and make sure that you get your ballot cast. So, reach out to jenny@urmia.org or give me a call. I would love to encourage anybody to get their voting done. Um, any closing comments from you, Courtney?
[00:12:23] Courtney: Sure. This is certainly a, a way to give back by your vote. Please vote and take advantage of that. Also consider other opportunities to volunteer as you think to elections next year. So, find those ways that you can get engaged. We really do hope to see many of you in Indianapolis for our upcoming conference as well. We'll have a bunch of volunteer opportunities through there networking chances and an opportunity to meet your leadership.
[00:12:49] Jenny: Awesome. How about you, Chauncey? Any closing comments?
[00:12:52] Chauncey: I would just add that if you are interested, especially for next year’s election, seek out one of the current board members or Courtney, myself, or Julie Gross, who is president elect for this term this year. And, uh, just ask us, we've all been involved with this for a number of years and certainly happy to you. So, search us out at Indy.
[00:13:09] Jenny: That sounds awesome. Well, thank you, you two, for being my guests today. And we do, we hope we see everybody in Indianapolis, September 10th through the 14th. We're counting the days, so that'll be a wrap for URMIA Matters.
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