Changes to AMCA’s bylaws intended to support the Board of Directors’ reorganization initiative were approved unanimously by membership and will take effect on April 1.
“With AMCA’s growth and increased activity in all areas, the AMCA Board of Directors concluded the organization of AMCA’s committees, particularly how they relate to AMCA’s regions and divisions, needed a reorganization to facilitate and energize member engagement,” AMCA Executive Director Mark Stevens explained. “The board … looked at every facet of AMCA’s existing structure and determined if it made sense or needed improvement. … The board’s work resulted in changes to AMCA’s committee org chart and in changes to AMCA’s bylaws.”
The changes to the bylaws include:
- The expansion of eligibility for associate status to include “a company that designs and sells a product under AMCA’s scope, but subcontracts assembly and fabrication” (Article III, Section 7). This change has the potential to grow AMCA’s base, augment AMCA’s technical expertise, and increase non-dues, non-assessment revenue.
- The chair of each region becoming the region’s steering-committee chair (Article VII, Section 5) and each region steering-committee chair (or his or her designee) serving on the Nominating Committee (Article IX, Section 2C). This is expected to strengthen the connection between the Board of Directors, the steering committees, and the regions; improve communication; increase opportunities for coordinated leadership; and simplify the nominating process.
- Limiting committee chairs to terms of two years and not more than two consecutive terms (Article IX, Section H [new]). This will increase churn at the chair level, increasing leadership opportunities, and prevent staidness from a committee working under the same leadership for an extended period.
- The replacement of an association-wide engineering committee with product-section engineering committees (Article 9, Section 2B). This will formalize the role of committees responsible for product sections and eliminate a “speed bump” in the standards-approval process.
- The mandate that each region have a marketing committee (Article IX, Section 2D) and an advocacy committee (Article IX, Section 2E [new]). This will place responsibility for marketing and advocacy strategies with the regions, where the outcomes are most keenly felt.
Over the next month, AMCA staff will update the AMCAConnect database, starting with the rolling of the Acoustic Attenuation and Airflow Measurement divisions into the Air Control Division, ensuring that committee hierarchies and scopes are consistent with the reorganization and checking to see if any committee chairs are over or near the two-year term limit.
A redline version of the bylaws with the changes as proposed is available in the members area of the AMCA website.
