SEG Council Note Achieving the Council’s potential By Gustavo Carstens SEG Council Chair
Not all of our members understand properly what
ically, the Council was meeting only once a year dur-
the SEG Council is and why we have it. The SEG By-
ing the Annual Meeting, when most of the members
laws describe the purpose of the Council in this way:
were present. Today, we have many more communication resources and can hold virtual Council meetings
Article VII
at any time we (or the Board of Directors) consider it
The Council
necessary. As always in our profession, we need to
Section 1. Purpose. The pur pose of the Council shall be: a.
To approve the Annual Report, changes dues to rate structure or dues beyond cumulative inflation, and Bylaws revisions at the Annual Council Meeting or other Council Meeting called by the President.
b.
To provide the Board of Directors with suggestions and recommendations in the form of motions from the floor on any topic considered to be of interest to the membership of the Society.
c.
To serve in an advisory capacity to the Board of Directors on topics requested for review by the Board of Directors.
d.
To represent the members of the Society regarding Society matters; serve the needs of the Sections, Associated Societies, Technical Sections, and Districts; channel information between the Society and the Sections, Associated Societies, Technical Sections, and Districts; promote cooperation, and provide a forum for Members of the Society. Since this purpose was established at the time of
Society governance reform in 2012, the Council has spent most of its time serving mainly item a. Probably the main reason for this limited activity is that, histor-
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apply technological advances in our favor. At the Council is where SEG demonstrates that it is truly a global Society. Through the Sections and Associated Societies and the Districts, we have representation from all the countries in the world in which we have members. The proposed objectives have not yet been achieved and we continue working to achieve it. It is time now to start working hard on items b, c, and d. We need to use this powerful tool to help SEG grow. Since SEG’s new governance system was established, the Chair of the Council has been a member of the Board of Directors. This is an unbeatable situation — direct communication between the two most important ruling bodies of SEG at any time. SEG is a society of committees, and at the Council, we can benefit from some of them. We currently have the Global Advisory Committee and the Regional Advisory Committees that are a substantial part of the Society’s global-growth strategy. It should be natural for the Council to work with them to facilitate communication with members through out the world. Probably the most problematic part of Council organization currently is related to the Districts. In some cases, the Districts are too large geographically. Some of them include a large number of countries with several different primary languages.
