editorial dr. mar y jennings
Let’s talk about governance
Dr. Mary Jennings Editor, WSDA News
“Governance is the establishment, implementation and continuous monitoring of policies by members of the governing body of an organization. There is accountability in the process. The ultimate goal is enhancing the prosperity and viability of the organization and the people the organization serves.”
Dr. Mary Jennings, WSDA News editor, welcomes comments and letters from readers. Contact her at her email address: mjenningsdds@gmail.com. The views expressed in Dr. Jennings’ editorials are hers, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or official policy of the WSDA.
Running an organization of more than 4,100 doctors is… challenging. Everyone has an opinion and rightly so. You are a member, you have earned the right to be here and voice that opinion. Differences of opinion are inherent in any organization. Trust me, I have been through enough ADA House of Delegates debates to personally testify to this. Disagreement is not necessarily a bad thing. Times, situations, and expectations change. Our board of directors (BOD) and staff are listening and have been working hard to be more responsive and transparent in their deliberations. Sitting on our board is hard work. We have so many programs going and a moveable feast of issues that pop up unexpectedly. We have had a rough legislative climate for years. Combine all that with a tough economy and a change of executive directors and you see how difficult it is. It is hard to get things just right for everyone. Your leadership knows it owes you just that, to get it right. To that end, your BOD has implemented several reforms and recommended governance changes to the House of Delegates (HOD) this year. Governance is the establishment, implementation and continuous monitoring of policies by members of the governing body of an organization. There is accountability in the process. The ultimate goal is enhancing the prosperity and viability of the people the organization serves. As you recall, the WSDA operates at the will of our HOD. The HOD sets policy. The BOD interprets policy through its work and that of committees and task forces. The executive director (ED) implements policy. Our stellar staff makes it so. In June, the BOD adopted several reforms including the creation of a new “governance section” on The Source, WSDA’s members-only website. This section of the website is now live and includes minutes from BOD and HOD meetings, quarterly financial statements on WSDA and all of its subsidiaries, and our most current tax returns (wsdasource.org/membership/governance/). Previously, much of this information was available upon request or if you were a member of the BOD or HOD. In September, our House worked through several resolutions from the BOD and the Thurston Mason Counties Dental Society (TMCDS) and adopted the following governance resolutions. The full text is available here: http://tinyurl.com/ngqgnpo. Here is my take on these resolutions. The BOD submitted adopted resolution HD-12-2015 which concerns the creation of a formal executive director compensation committee. The ED conducts the affairs of the Association and implements policy determined by the HOD and BOD. Approving this resolution adds the following rules into the bylaws and our standing rules: oversight of the ED by the board is detailed, and the method of determining the ED’s compensation package is explained (compensation will be determined by an ED Compensation Committee which reports to the full BOD). It is based on performance, compensation comparison data from external organizations, and any other means deemed important. Details of the ED’s compensation will be reported to the HOD as a standing rule. The ED’s compensation will also be called out in a separate line from other staff in financial reports shared with general membership. Heretofore, details of the ED’s compensation were not separated from staff salaries outside of WSDA’s Form 990 tax document. ED Killpack believes releasing this information is an important step in providing transparency to our members. I find that laudable. HD-14-2015 (submitted by the BOD) provides an external consultant to review the governance, strategic planning processes, and risk management of the Association. The BOD will select the consultant. The consultant will report results and recommendations to the HOD, BOD and Committee on Budget and Finance no later than May 2016. Socrates said a wise man knows what he does not know. The result of this resolution will show us what we are doing right and what we can do better. HD-18-2015 (submitted by TMCDS) states that we will develop and implement an antinepotism policy when hiring new employees. It will be approved by the BOD and reported to the 2016 HOD. editorial, continued on page 41
4 · th e wsda ne w s · issue 2, december · 2015 · www.wsda.org