Didn't Know That.......

[Gross]

BOF membership doesn't elect the BOF Chairman.... it's the board. Just seen the anouncement of Judith Holt as the new chair on BOF website...

Good luck

[awk]

Interesting - nor did I. But then, aside from the financial imposition, it's become increasingly apparent to me that British Orienteering is ever increasingly distant and seen as irrelevant to large numbers in the sport, many of them committed volunteers. Recent meetings and gatherings of 'real' orienteers have stood out as showing a really marked sense of alienation from and resentment towards British Orienteering, to a level I don't think I've seen before in 45 years in the sport.

[daffdy]

BOF membership doesn't elect the BOF Chairman.... it's the board. Just seen the anouncement of Judith Holt as the new chair on BOF website...

Good luck

Interesting - nor did I. But then, aside from the financial imposition, it's become increasingly apparent to me that British Orienteering is ever increasingly distant and seen as irrelevant to large numbers in the sport, many of them committed volunteers. Recent meetings and gatherings of 'real' orienteers have stood out as showing a really marked sense of alienation from and resentment towards British Orienteering, to a level I don't think I've seen before in 45 years in the sport.

Good grief awk, that escalated a bit quickly.
You won't find a more 'real' orienteer than either the outgoing or incoming chairs.
Members choose 2/3 of the Board (and the other 3 are appointed on their behalf).
The chair being chosen by the group they are required to chair is, as far as I can tell, perfectly normal:

The chairman or chairwoman, or simply the chair, sometimes known as chairperson, is the highest officer of an organized group such as a board, a committee, or a deliberative assembly. The person holding the office is typically elected or appointed by the members of the group.

[frog]

Why don't members choose all of them?

[graeme]

Why don't members choose all of them?

Independent directors...
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=13723

+ CEO sits on the board too.

[Spookster]

Why don't members choose all of them?

Because according to the Articles of Association*, the members choose the Member Elected Directors and an appointment panel appoints the Independent Directors.

* The Articles were amended at the 2013 AGM to include Independent Directors on the Board, as a result of a proposal accepted by the membership (116 for, 13 against). Having Independent Directors on an NGB board is good practice. See here.

[RJ]

Independent Directors are a good idea because they can bring specific expertise to the table.
However, for the last two years they have been expensive, with Director's emoluments listed at £46,600 per year. A significant sum of money. Hope they are all worth it.

[Snail]

Independent directors make some sense if you have identified specific areas where the elected directors lack expertise, e.g. commercial companies may have independents adding legal or accounting experience.

My guess would be that the elected directors within BO are generally of a higher quality than in some other sports, so there might be fewer areas where additional expertise is needed. It isn't clear to me whether BO have identified any such shortcomings, or if we are just appointing independents simply because the Sports Council or some similar body think it is a "good thing".

[greywolf]

Some nopebollocks around in this thread

Members elect (some of) the directors, directors select the chair from amongst their number: absolutely standard practice, nothing to get agitated about

Independent directors: personally I'm not convinced by the principle (I have no idea whether the individuals on the BOF Board are making a useful contribution) but the posts were advertised as unpaid (other than expenses). The articles of association say "no payment shall be made by way of remuneration for services reasonably expected from an elected or independent director" and the 2014 accounts show Directors remuneration as £46,600 in 2014 and 2013 as well (i.e. before the independent Directors were appointed).

The CEO is on the Board, and paid.

[Spookster]

Some nopebollocks around in this thread

I'm pleased it's not just me that thinks that!

I have no idea whether the individuals on the BOF Board are making a useful contribution

I do, and they certainly are.

For the avoidance of doubt, the Chief Exec is the only paid director, and the £46.6k is his salary. All the other directors (including the independent directors, who are not orienteers) are volunteers.

[awk]

Good grief awk, that escalated a bit quickly.
You won't find a more 'real' orienteer than either the outgoing or incoming chairs.
Members choose 2/3 of the Board (and the other 3 are appointed on their behalf).

Actually, it hasn't, its been around for some time (see the second post by Clive Coles in 2013 in the thread to which Graeme links above for one example), and it's been on a steady increase for some time. It's just that it's reached a level now that I can't recall it ever being higher - I've been quite struck by the intensity at some events/meetings I've been at.
I'm more than aware that the outgoing and ingoing chairs are 'real' orienteers, and I strongly respect the one I know (he's certainly a better competitor than I'm ever likely to be!), but that has little relevance to the point I'm making - that those feelings are at an all-time high in my experience.

The chair being chosen by the group they are required to chair is, as far as I can tell, perfectly normal:

It may well be normal, but it's still been another move away from the membership.

[greywolf]

It may well be normal, but it's still been another move away from the membership.

Any change happened a long time ago. There is a news item on the BOF website dated 21/4/2010 "New Chair appointed for British Orienteering. Lyn West was appointed Chair of the Federation at yesterday’s meeting of British Orienteering Board of Directors...."

[awk]

Any change happened a long time ago.

Yes, and I appreciate that it probably does more to show up my own personal and growing disconnection from British Orienteering and its activities than anything else, but that doesn't negate the fact that it was another step further into the distance.

[Tatty]

Wish I had the CEO's salary!

[graeme]

Wish I had the CEO's salary!

I'm sure you do.
Equally, I'm sure Mike wishes he had the... average salary for a NGB-CEO. Or the eyewatering* salaries that SportEngland senior staff pay themselves.

Moreover, the cost of hiring someone is much higher than their salary once NI and pensions come into it. If £46k really covers the cost of hiring Mike Hamilton, that's less than 10% of the total staff costs.

* Friends working in finance are welcome to chuckle at the poor career choices of the professoriat at this point.