4 minute read
Meet Warren Hamilton
from the Board
Meet Board Member Warren Hamilton
by Carol Ostrow
In his outgoing emails, Warren Hamilton quotes Martin Luther King Jr. and Kobe Bryant, respectively: “True peace is not merely the absence of tension, but the presence of justice” and “Life goes fast, and if you don’t give it your all, you’re gonna regret it.”
Born in Niagara Falls, Warren first came to the Capital Region in fall 1991 to start his first job after college and grad school at SUNY Buffalo, majoring in urban studies and public affairs.
As an Albany resident, Warren began to shop at HWFC regularly and joined in May 2008. He started investing time in Grocery at the Central Ave. store; he continued at our Watervliet location until becoming active in governance and joining our Board in July 2018.
Typically, Honest Weight MOs join committees as a starting point to learn about our organization, getting their feet wet and growing into governance gradually. Thus, Warren served on the ENC for a year, delaying the jump to seek a Board seat until it became clear that his service would be of utility.
That, and “people kept asking me,” he explained. “They figured I was competent and personable enough.” Finally, when the Board found itself shorthanded, Warren felt that it left little wiggle room to keep a conservative pace. The Board had recently experienced a number of quick departures of elected candidates who discovered the commitment untenable. For Warren, the decision was based on seeing that things had gotten better and that it was the right time. Describing himself as an analytical problem solver, he related that there is much work, detail, and complexity to Board service. In addition to fulfilling basic duties, each Board member also liaises between the Board and a committee. With recent growth in our number and variety of committees, Warren currently serves as liaison to three—Finance, Honest Arts, and most recently as co-liaison to the Anti-Racism Committee (ARC). He envisions ARC’s role as a conduit to improving community culture.
Like all committees, ARC is open to MO participation. However, due to the need to forge strong relationships among the nascent group, “it is not as fruitful to have people coming and going,” Warren advised. “Continuity and relationships are sensitive topics, so there is an important difference between ARC and our other, typical committees.
“It’s so important that we as a group trust each other, share, and be honest,” he continued. “Now’s not the time to sit on the porch and sip lemonade. We’ve fought and struggled [to be] here. We have to be engaged.”
To those considering deeper involvement, “Use our committees as grooming places for governance participation and attend Board meetings,” he recommended. Noting that we have processes designed specifically to be receptive to MO input, he added, “When people complain, we ask them: ‘did you attend [and] participate?’”
What do you want to accomplish?
“To improve process and procedure.” Other Board members have also picked this up, initiating enhancements. It’s not a simple
task to make changes; Warren shared, for example, that the Board’s time-saving consent agenda alone took a year to manifest properly.
What’s so complicated about Board work?
A candid disclosure on our interviewee’s part revealed some reservations about continuing on the Board when his term expires in 2022, “only because it’s so hard, but I’m still inclined to do it. Somebody’s got to do it.” The challenge, Warren said, lies not only in time commitment but also in the intricacy of working on multiple levels: legal, financial, personal, HR, and operational.
Warren identified
· Personal and professional growth · Helping to better our community
as top benefits of serving on our Board.
Before Staff or MOs propose any new entity, it’s recommended that they closely examine the processes already in place—including recent upgrades. [Readers can find policy changes in our Board decision documents, printed monthly in Honest Slate; see page 6.]
Community involvement is second nature to Warren, who serves as a trustee on the board of his church and sits on the Albany YMCA advisory council. He also previousboard but withdrew when dynamics became overly political. continued on page 4
ly served on a community police review
What Is a Consent Agenda? The relatively new consent agenda works as follows: Items previously discussed by the Board which the Board feels are unlikely to generate a great need for conversation— instead likely to require only a vote—are placed on the Consent Agenda. That way time is saved if discussion proves unnecessary. Otherwise, it goes to the regular agenda and opens up the floor for input and discussion. It functions like a list of affirmations and is decided upon with one overall “omnibus” vote, grouping single items into one vote instead of several.
