URMIA Matters
URMIA Matters
URMIA Leadership - Board Nominations and Applications
Rise to the top of the URMIA Leadership with a run for the Board of Directors or President-Elect. Hear these three past presidents share insight on the process, rewards of the role, the charge of all board members, the importance of diverse representation, the time commitment, financial responsibilities, as well as perks of the position. Whether you're passionate about making a difference in the URMIA community or looking to enhance your leadership skills, this podcast is your ultimate guide to understanding and successfully navigating the path to volunteering on the board. Nominations and applications open mid-June.
Join Courtney Davis Curtis, University of Chicago; Chauncey Fagler, Florida College System Risk Management Consortium, and Marje Lemmon, Yale University as they share their own experiences, and hear about the journey to the presidency. For additional tips, check out Season 1, Episode 6: The Leadership Pathway. After listening, you may feel empowered to step up and embrace the experience that lies ahead.
Not quite ready for that but want to volunteer? Check these options out that may be the start of the path.
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Show Notes [log-in required for some content]
URMIA Leadership
URMIA Matters Podcast S1E6, The Leadership Pathway
Preparing for Success in an URMIA Leadership Role Webinar
URMIA Strategic Plan (Under Guiding Documents)
URMIA Annual Conference Volunteer Opportunities
URMIA Task Force Volunteer Opportunities
URMIA Scholarships (Note: Some applications close on June 12, 2023)
Guests
+Courtney Davis Curtis, Immediate Past President and Chair of the Leadership Development Committee
+Chauncey Fagler, Past President and Leader for Strategic Goal 5
+Marje Lemmon, Past President and Chair of the Honors & Awards Committee
Guest Host - Jenny Whittington, Executive Director- URMIA
Transcript
Jenny Whittington: Hello URMIA. This is Jenny Whittington, your executive director and welcome to URMIA Matters. Today we are talking about the URMIA nomination and election process, and like I say to all of my former presidents of URMIA. I have three of my favorite presidents with me. So first up, our immediate past president is Courtney Davis Curtis from the University of Chicago. And then we also have Chauncey Fagler from the Florida Consortium. And then last, but certainly not least, is Marje Lemmon of Yale University. And I'm gonna turn it over to Courtney first to tell us a little bit about your roles with URMIA. You've been on many a podcast. Welcome back to the podcast and tell us your favorite summer activity while you're at it.
Courtney Davis Curtis: Thanks, Jenny. So as Jenny shared, I'm URMIA’s immediate past president and AVP for Risk Management and Resilience Planning at the University of Chicago. I also serve as the chair of the leadership Development Committee and had a lot of work to do with our strategic goal. Four related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. One of my favorite summer activities is golfing. I have not done it yet, but really look forward to the opportunities in my spare time to get out and hit the links.
Jenny Whittington: That is awesome. I had the opportunity to see Courtney's golf swing while we were at the NACUBO conference last summer. She did it in high heels, and I'm telling you people, she was rocking it. So, I hope you get to play soon. Next up I'd like to ask Chauncey to introduce himself, and Chauncey was just the leader of the leadership development Committee last year and the year before that because of Covid. So welcome back to the podcast, Chauncey. Tell us a little bit about you and your role at the consortium and your role at URMIA and favorite summer activity.
Chauncey Fagler: All right, thanks, Jenny. Hello everyone. Chauncey Fagler, Executive Director and Chief Risk Officer for the Florida College System Risk Management Consortium. Also known just as the consortium. I have actually got the opportunity and privilege to serve as president during Covid for two years of URMIA, so that was a great experience. And we did manage through that, and we did have some challenges along the way, but we got through it and, you know, we're all in a much better place today. And I have actually been at the consortium a little over 20 years at this point. And my favorite thing to do during the summer is body surf and swim.
Jenny Whittington: Oh, wow. Well, stay away from the sharks. I've heard that's a real problem in Florida.
Chauncey Fagler: Well, we can actually buy something that's called Sharkbanz. Sharkbanz and it's a radioactive thing you wear on your ankle, and it keeps the sharks away. So-
Jenny Whittington: Good. Good risk management. And a tip for all of our listeners out there.
Marje Lemmon: Can you put those on if you wanna keep just certain people away too? Just curious.
Chauncey Fagler: I guess if there's sharks.
Jenny Whittington: Baby sharks. So last but certainly not least is Marje Lemmon. So, she was URMIA president, was it 2014, Marje?
Marje Lemmon: Correct. I was the president in 2014. 2015. Served two terms on the board of directors, served as variety of chairs of committees. I'm currently the chair of the honors committee. I think this is my seventh or eighth year doing that. It's actually really fun, but my day job is the director of insurance and risk man- risk management and insurance at Yale University and June 30th will be 20 years at Yale.
Jenny Whittington: Wow. Congratulations to you and Chauncey both. That's quite a milestone. You guys are both celebrating.
Marje Lemmon: Yeah, it's never a dull moment for sure and my favorite summer activity is to lie on the beach without wearing sunscreen and killing some skin cells and getting a tan.
Jenny Whittington: Well, you always have a great tan and a fun fact about Marje, when she was president of URMIA back in the day, we used to send the president to down under to Australia to AURIMS. But Marje took one for the team and she sent me to Australia during her presidency.
Marje Lemmon: So that's right.
Jenny Whittington: I'm eternally grateful for Marje to her generosity. So, these three wonderful leaders of URMIA, been around for a minute. and today we're here to talk to the membership at large and all of our URMIA Matters listeners, just about how to get more involved in the nomination process.
The election process. So, I'll turn it over to Courtney to tell us a little bit more about the process in general. And really this is really a call to action to anybody out there to just get more involved. We need you. We're a membership organization, so Courtney, take it away.
Courtney Davis Curtis: Thanks, Jenny. Well, first and foremost, anyone who's interested in applying or nominating someone, I'd like to invite you to watch a webinar that we just recorded that provides a significant amount of information and details, including links to information on the website that helps to round this process out. You also familiarize yourself with the actual roles and responsibilities for what if that is for a president-elect versus member of the boards. because it is a commitment that you're making to the organization. Each nominee will be expected to complete a nomination form, and we've actually made some changes to it this year. Looking to really highlight the individual based on their biography, the institution they're representing, the years of experience, ethnicity, and background as well as any designation, and gender if they still choose to identify that as well.
In addition to this nomination form, anyone who seeks to be nominated or apply for either role is also expected to make a commitment to the organization and seek approval from their organization and support of the commitment that you'll make. The terms are for three years each. In the case of the president, you'll serve as president-elect, president, and then the immediate past president as well. So, that gives you a little bit background about the nomination process itself, but keep in mind that the members are who votes for any member of the board, as well as the president-elect. So, the best way to really create an opportunity for yourself is to be involved, be present, to give to the organization. Familiarize yourself with URMIA’s strategic plan because that's where you'll have an opportunity to influence, but also help to move it to the next stages forward as well.
Jenny Whittington: Thanks, Courtney. As you were talking about, the approval from supervisor in the actual first nomination form that people, you know, other members can nominate other members, if you want to honor another member, and nominate them, be sure to, you know, make sure that they do have approval from their supervisor. Cause you have to say yes on that form because we definitely wanna be transparent. I mean, we wanna make everybody aware that they're running for a spot on the board. Thanks for that. So now I'd like to ask Marje to share about the members of the leadership Development Committee, who you are a part of, and thoughts about what the board needs and the commitment you're making.
Marje Lemmon: Sure. So besides all of us that are on this podcast other members of the leadership development committee are Sandy Mitchell from MIT, Sam Florio from Santa Clara University, and Matt Tuttle from the University of Utah. So, we are a small but mighty group.
Courtney Davis Curtis: Keesha Trim too.
Marje Lemmon: Oh, sorry. Yep, you're right. I'm sorry. Keesha Trim from the University of Richmond. So, we are very small but mighty group that really works hard to make sure we've got a broad array of candidates for leadership positions. So, we URMIA as well as obviously the leadership development committee really wanna make sure that our board represents and reflects the membership of URMIA. And that means a lot of different things. We have our absolute diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging initiative. So wanna be very diverse, equitable, inclusive of everyone. You know, there's ethnicity and, and sexual orientation and gender. Obviously, we wanna be diverse and all of that, and equitable and inclusive in that, but we also really wanna be inclusive of all of the different types of institutions and members that we have. So big and small schools, religious schools, community colleges. Really wanna make sure that the people that are representing the organization are true representatives of the membership.
From a commitment perspective you know, Courtney just mentioned there are in-person meetings and virtual meetings. It's important for members to be prepared to read the board packets, or sorry, for board members to be prepared to read the board packets ahead of time to make sure they come with questions, and they actively engage in all of the meetings and conversations and email conversations that go on.
Jenny Whittington: Thanks, Marje. And just a little note, Chauncey and I had the benefit of going to the CHEMA meeting last summer, and they spent a lot of time talking about kind of leadership development or nomination committee initiatives that we're kind of trending right now. So, we took a lot of time over the past year to really kind of examine our processes and really think about the future. So, some of the changes that Courtney talked about, like in the form and the new questions we're asking, we're really trying to be very thoughtful about this process and make sure that we're meeting the goals of the association and we do, we want the board to look like the, like the, like the membership at large.
So, last, I will ask Chauncey a question here on thoughts on candidate, what candidates can do to set themselves apart. What do you think about that, Chauncey?
Chauncey Fagler: First Jenny, I just wanna thank you for that recap about what we've done for leadership development committee and the nomination process with the new questionnaires and forums. There was a lot of work that went into that and a lot of discussions, so I think it will make our processes that much better for the future. But I’ve been thinking about this, you know, and how does one get ready to become a board member and or president-elect. You know, first of all, don't forget you have your regional conferences out there. That's one of the easiest ways to get involved early. And actually, that's what I did, many, many years ago. I signed up for, you know, the regional conference, and next thing you know, I was on the programming committee and the next thing you know, I'm presenting, and you just get involved that way and you meet wonderful people along the way.
So, I think that's an easy way to do it. Also, there's an opportunity at the annual conferences to sign up for numerous volunteer roles. And again, that's a great way to get some exposure. You'll have a wonderful opportunity meeting people as they walk up and ask questions. And you know, as you complete those volunteer responsibilities. And then also think that, you know, as you talk about you know, and then there may be an opportunity sometimes as Jenny just mentioned, like CHEMA and some other of our sister organizations that are out there where Jenny or someone from the home office might need you to help present if they're in your local area.
So that's another way to say, yes, I'm available and I can help present too. So, I think those are sort of the, you know, initiatives that, and, and ways to get involved very early. And then of course, you know, as it, you know, mentioned, if you listen to the webinar that we just did you can serve on the board, and then after two years of service on the board, you can certainly be nominated for President-Elect. So, that's the quick and short story of it, but I think there's numerous opportunities out there for the membership to get involved. And also, if you see a good question on the online chat communities go ahead and answer those. That's also a great way to get some recognition along the way here.
Jenny Whittington: Oh, that's so, that's such a good idea. Chauncey, I mean the URMIA network, the online community is really the heart of URMIA, and that, you know, we all check that out numerous times through the day or through the week. So, that is definitely a great way, and it furthers our mission, you know, to advance the discipline of higher education risk management.
I mean, the more connectivity we have with each other, which I know is one of our strategic goals, you know, the more connected you are to URMIA members, the better. and I just wanted to add one thought while you were, while you were speaking about our affiliate members. You know, we welcome them to nominate as many institutional members as they like, you know, they might have customers or clients that they know are doing like really, really good work on their own campus and they might bring, you know, a really strategic asset to the board. So, just a shout-out to all of the affiliate members out there to think about that. And now I'll give the group any chances for last-minute thoughts. Courtney, do you have any last-minute thoughts?
Courtney Davis Curtis: Yeah, I would just definitely recommend that anyone lean in, whether it's to get involved on the board or simply figure out if there's micro volunteer opportunities with a specific task force or with the conference itself. And then I'd also just like to do a plug for a number of scholarship opportunities that are out there right now. We’ve got our Be the Change scholarships supporting our diversity efforts. And then we also have the annual conference scholarships that are open. So, please be mindful and take advantage of all those opportunities that are out there.
Jenny Whittington: How about you, Marje? Any closing thoughts, any shoutouts about award submissions?
Marje Lemmon: Obviously, we've got our, we're going to, we, we are open till July 15th, at least for Awards and recognitions for the honors committee. So, look for more information on that, but absolutely please consider nominating people or running yourself for the board. It is a great opportunity. You get so much experience professionally, personally. You help the organization, you help people, you help yourself. You help your own institution.
Jenny Whittington: Thank you, Marje. And how about you, Chauncey? Any closing comments?
Chauncey Fagler: Well, the only thing I would add, you know, is even if you don't know all the answers to the questions, don't forget about the Ask Lou button that's out there. You know, Lou could always dive deeper and help you find some answers to some of your tougher questions. And I think that's just a way to also be involved, cuz once Lou posts back to you maybe it will help generate some other thoughts and comments to your questions. So, that would be my closing thought, Jenny.
Jenny Whittington: Thanks so much. Well, thanks to the three of you for making time, being part of URMIA Matters today, and just general comments. We plan to open up the nomination process next week, the week of June 12th. and we will keep those nominations open until the end of June. The election will take place after the July 4th holiday, because we found that people take that as a real holiday, go figure. So, we will extend that voting time through the, probably the several weeks in July. So, you'll be seeing much more information about that. We will have a board orientation a live orientation in Baltimore before the conference. That is mandatory. We'll probably do some virtual training too because quite honestly, we've just gotten a lot better at that in the last couple years for some unknown reason. Who knows? Who knows why? But thank you, everybody, for tuning in to this episode of URMIA Matters, and that'll be a wrap.
