|
Section Roles and Responsibilities
Sections have common leadership roles that are filled by members of the council or "friends of the council."
Individuals can serve multiple roles. Some sections may choose not to fill certain roles. Some sections have roles unique to their organization.
Chairperson–Elected by the council as specified in the Section By Laws. Handles most of the Foundational Activities. Leads the section council and is the primary contact with the section for the SOA. Creates council meeting agendas. Leads the council to develop an annual plan of work. Attends bi-annual Council of Section Chairpersons. Expected to know/follow section governance as set down by SOA By Laws, Policies, and Guidelines. Responsible for representation of section on monthly section webcasts.
Vice Chairperson–Elected by the council as specified in the Section By Laws. Also responsible for Foundational Activities. Leads in the absence of the Chair. May attend one or two Council of Section Chairs meetings. Often, but not always becomes the next chair. (The Vice Chair is more like a prince than a vice president in this regard). May have co-vice chairs.
Secretary/Treasurer–Elected by the council as specified in the Section By Laws. OK to split the positions into two roles. OK to leave the role vacant (i.e. secretary) but the council is still responsible for documenting decisions and actions of the council ("notes."). The treasurer may be involved in approving payment of invoices, reviews financial statements prepared by SOA staff, and is encouraged to develop and monitor a section budget. In a few sections, the Secretary/Treasurer is the first step towards becoming Section Chair.
All other roles of a section may be appointed. They may be filled by a council member or "friend of the council." They may be filled by a member of the SOA or an affiliate member. They may be filled by one person or several. Terms are established by the volunteers and the council.
The roles are listed in the order of most prevalent to least.
Newsletter Editors - Each section has at least one editor. Some people are editors for years, some for a few issues. Editors write and recruit articles from other volunteers and guest contributors. Some editors may in fact edit, but most develop the entire content of the newsletter with their article selection. The editor usually has an article. The editor works directly with an SOA Staff editor who is responsible for editing and project management of the issue. The editor works with Communication Coordinator (when there is one). Design, final editing, and production lies with the SOA staff.
Meeting Representatives–develop, describe, schedule, recruit talent, and deliver content for large events. They may serve under a committee or form the committee. When a section has a large meeting commitment, there may be multiple persons reporting to the meeting representative. Reps may also delegate detailed coordination of a session to the moderator they have recruited. Meeting reps are responsible for following the guidelines and procedures for that meeting's development, which can include attending webcasts, face-to-face meetings, and using specific technology such as the presenters database or wikis. Meeting Reps my work under an overall Meeting Coordinator for the Section.
Web Liaison–Works with SOA Staff to develop appropriate content for the section web pages on soa.org. Most changes are likely under Upcoming Events and Resources. The section Web Liaison does not need to have a technical background. All formatting, editing, and promoting to the web is the responsibility of SOA Staff. The web liaison works with Communication Coordinator (when there is one).
Basic Education Liaison–Material for the SOA exams and syllabi are determined by the Education Committees which are separate from the sections. However, all practice area and some special interest sections have an education liaison for the SOA Staff to contact with specific issues or confirmation of information.
Research Team Coordinator or Chair–personally or leads a team (or Project Oversight Groups) to coordinate research activities for the section. Research may be performed by the section itself or is funded in part or in full by the section to be coordinated by SOA Research Department staff. Pension and Health oversee the research of their practice areas. Funding comes from both the SOA annual budget and the section. Product Development, Financial Reporting, Reinsurance, Smaller Insurance Company, and the Taxation Section have reps on CLIR (Committee for Life Insurance Research). The E&R Section has a coordinator for CKER (Committee for Knowledge Extension Research).
Special Liaisons–some sections have strong and long standing relationships with organizations external to the SOA. The Health Section and their counterpart at the Academy is such an example. The council may have a council member assigned to the relationship or an individual from the partnering organization as part of the "friends of the council." There may also be section-to-section liaisons.
Communication Coordinator–personally or leads a team to develop a communication plan that coordinates all communications to the section members and externally to the section.
Meeting Coordinator–personally or leads a team to coordinate the efforts of the section in providing content for meetings, seminars, webcasts and other educational events of the section. This person will work with the council, especially the treasurer, and the SOA Staff Partner to assess the content needs for a particular venue. The Meeting Coordinator may be responsible for developing a CE schedule for the section (working with the Staff Partner).
|