Board of Governors Nominations 2022
July 7, 2022
To all members of the SMUS Society,
On behalf of the Board of Governors of St. Michaels University School, I am writing to advise you about the Slate of Governors for open positions in 2022, as recommended by the Nominations Committee.
The Recommended Slate of Candidates for 2022 Open Governor Positions
The Nominations Committee is charged each year with the critical task of assessing the composition of the Board in view of vacancies caused by departing Governors, and then selecting suitable candidates for nomination. This is an ongoing task that continuously occupies the Nominations Committee and is undertaken with great diligence and deliberation to ensure that qualified candidates are nominated to fill vacancies on the Board.
This year, there will be four (4) potential Board seats becoming available. Kyman Chan and David Longridge are each reaching the conclusion of their respective three-year terms, but have not yet reached the nine-year maximum, thus are eligible to return. Douglas Freeman will be completing his one-year term. Since Katherine Tweedie has decided not to run for an additional three-year term, the Nominations Committee has been tasked to identify and recommend a suitable successor. On behalf of the Board of Governors, I would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude and appreciation to Katherine for her service, hard work, dedication and commitment over the past three years.
In its deliberations, the Nominations Committee endeavours to establish and maintain four characteristics of the Board as a whole: Competency, Stability, Diversity, and a Commitment to Philanthropy.
Board Competency
The Nominations Committee seeks to find volunteers who bring specific skills and experience to the Board table. Currently, there are representatives from the fields of law, medicine, business, education, consulting and finance, each with considerable expertise in their respective fields. As new positions come open, we seek to find a similar level of skills, experience and wisdom from new nominees, coupled with enthusiasm and the ability to donate significant amounts of time to Board activities.
Board Stability
The SMUS Board of Governors is a volunteer, unpaid Board, run on a cabinet-style of decision making, whereby although differing perspectives of individual board members are brought to the table for discussion for any given issue, final conclusions are regarded as the conclusions of the Board as a whole, and are supported unanimously by the whole Board. As such, experience has shown that it is important that any given board member can expect some level of constancy in their position, so that they may focus on the issues for the good of the school. In that regard, ensuring change comes at a measured pace is important to the efficacy of the Board as a whole.
Board Diversity
Equally important is that the Society’s membership be represented as fully as possible on the Board, in terms of gender, age, race, profession, geography, and association with the school (be it as a Parent, Past Parent or Alumni). The Nominations Committee continues to actively work toward achieving this balance, as much as is possible with a volunteer Board, so that different constituents of the Society have a voice on the Board and in the Board’s decisions.
A Commitment to Philanthropy
It is critical that Governors understand and embrace the need to foster a culture of philanthropy across all the stakeholders in SMUS’s future in order to realize the medium- and long-term goals of our strategic plan, Floreat. Tuition fees alone do not cover all the operating costs of the school, nor the financial needs arising from the vision of Floreat. Governors and governor candidates understand this, and work hard to advance the school’s needs in this regard.
Nominations Committee’s Recommended Slate for the Upcoming Four (4) Board Seat Openings
The Nominations Committee recommends to the Society that the Board seats of Kyman Chan ‘85, Douglas Freeman ‘88 and David Longridge ‘88 are continued for a subsequent three-year term. We also recommend that the fourth seat be filled by Chris Talbot '87.
The Committee is pleased to bring these four candidates before the Society and believes that this slate of candidates offers a great path forward for the Board and, by extension, the school.
We encourage you to get to know these candidates by reading this overview of their qualifications.
Please read the SMUS Society Nomination Papers (below). In this document, you will find abbreviated biographies and the answers to several questions that we hope give you, a Society Member, a view of why these four individuals represent good choices for the Board. Please note that we have listed the candidates alphabetically by last name.
Election Process for 2022
If the Society accepts the recommended slate, these four candidates will begin their respective three-year terms immediately following the conclusion of our Society’s Annual General Meeting on October 20, 2022. However, society members may also self-nominate for board member positions by completing and submitting a Nominations Form by July 28, 2022.
If an election is required, all voting will be electronic via the third-party OpaVote System. We anticipate the next message regarding this subject to be released in mid-September.
Annual General Meeting 2022
The AGM of the SMUS Society will be held on October 20, 2022. This meeting will be conducted as it was in 2021, virtually via Zoom, to allow for greater participation across the SMUS Society population. There will be a registration process for each Society member who wishes to attend the meeting. Please remember that if a household contains several members, each member will need to register separately if they wish to record separate votes. This process, along with the agenda for the AGM, will be sent to you via email in September 2022.
Our thanks for your time and consideration in this important matter,
Yours truly,
Peter Finamore ‘73
Chair, Nominations Committee