our member-driven organizations," Dr. Krol said.
SIR Board of Directors The highest levels of the governance structure will change as well, as the SIR Executive Council will become the SIR Board of Directors. The board will be a more effective and skills-based governing body than its predecessor, shrinking from 26 members to six to nine. This group will be involved in allocating resources to initiatives advanced by the Steering Council. “We are excited about the proposed Board of Directors,” Dr. Tam said. “It’s a key component of making the structure run smoother and faster.”
Enhancing the volunteer experience According to Dr. Dake, the new structure was designed to place priority on member involvement. The changes will now provide more volunteer opportunities and more options to train for leadership.
“The pathway to leadership has been a bit opaque at times,” Dr. Dake said. “Members may not have known how to get involved or put themselves forward for leadership opportunities. The new structure makes that trajectory very transparent and sets up a gradual pathway to leadership.”
According to Drs. Patel and Dake, this transparency will improve the member volunteer experience in general. Volunteers operating in one division should now be able to understand the flow of information—both in how it goes upward and goes across the organization. If a member moves on to a different division to focus on other volunteer areas, they will already understand how the flow of information works.
Communication channels have now been streamlined across all divisions.
“I hope that members get as excited by this evolution as we have,” Dr. Patel said. “It’s a structure that is made to prioritize our ability to work together and maximize volunteer knowledge. Hopefully, it enables us to move forward and collaborate seamlessly— and also help welcome in a whole new group of volunteers.”
Putting it into action Some of the new structure is already in place. The clinical specialty councils have been formed, and leaders have begun filling out their rosters. The SIR and SIR Foundation Steering Council has also held several meetings and begun putting forward initiatives. However, the full vision of the re-structure won’t be realized until June 2022, when the Members’ Business Meeting will include a formal vote by membership to change the bylaws. At that point, with approval, the structure can officially change, and the Executive Council will transition into the Board of Directors.
“There are going to be uncertainties, both for membership and staff,” said
Dr. Dake. “We will all have to work through the changes together. But I am confident that SIR Foundation and SIR will be in a better place because of this evolution.” Dr. Dake encourages members to become familiar with the new organization chart (see p. 25)—not only so they can bring any questions to the Members’ Business Meeting next summer, but so they can identify areas where they would like to get involved.
“We want this to be digestible,” Dr. Patel said. “Hopefully by next year our members will understand the new structure and feel empowered to bring initiatives and questions up through it. If we’ve done our job, then this will just be a background structure that puts us on the path to success and enables members to focus on the work—not on the process.”
Michael D. Dake, MD, FSIR
Katharine L. Krol, MD, FSIR
Parag J. Patel, MD, MS, FSIR
Alda L. Tam, MD, FSIR
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