ACM Volunteer Structure

Joe Konstan

SGB Chair

Goals for this Session

• Overview of volunteer leadership structure for all of ACM– know where decisions are made– know where to go with ideas/needs– know how things work to explain to your

members

• Specific details on the SGB and SIG governance– how to get things done

Before We Start

• Congratulations!

• You are now “They”

Starting at the Top

• ACM Council (Board of Directors)– Five Executive Committee Members

• President (Stu Feldman)• vice-President (Wendy Hall)• Secretary-Treasurer (Alain Chenais)• Past-President (Dave Patterson)• SGB Chair (Joe Konstan)

– Pubs Board Chair (Ron Boisvert)– 3 SGB-elected Representative

• Bob Walker, Norm Jouppi, Alex Wolf

– 7 Representatives elected at-large by membership

Council and the EC

• Council is the final authority on all ACM policy decisions, approves all major new initiatives, approves the annual budget, etc.

• The ACM EC is charged with operational volunteer governance.

• In practice, both groups usually add other Board chairs to their meetings

ACM’s Boards

• SIG Governing Board

• Publications Board

• Membership Services Board

• Professions Board

• Education Board– and Education Council

ACM’s Committees

• Audit

• Awards

• Coalition to Diversity Computing

• Committee on Women in Computing

• Computers and Public Policy

• Constitution and Bylaws

• Computer Science Teachers Association

ACM’s Committees

• Nominating

• Elections

• Committee on Professional Ethics

• Committee on ACM History

• ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest

• USACM Committee

When Are They Involved?

• Some SIG/SGB activities go to the ACM EC or Council for approval:– some by-laws changes– annual budgets (in aggregate)– large actions (e.g., large conference budgets,

SIG dissolution)– named awards

• Plus, Council Policies apply to SIGs along with the rest of ACM

When Are They Involved?

• Some “SIG” activities are actually done by, or are best coordinated with, others:– journals and magazines– chapters– awards– public policy

• non-SGB programs value SIG participation– awards, publications, professions, …

Drilling Down to the SGB

• Who is the SGB?– The leaders of each SIG– Voting for all SIGs “not in transition”

• 1 vote plus 1 per 1000 members

• What does the SGB do?– Collective management

• setting policies (e.g., required fund balances)– policies governing ACM conferences

• creation/review/oversight of SIGs

The SGB EC• Executive Committee Members

– Chair (Joe Konstan)– Past Chair (Bob Walker)– Director of SIG Services (Donna Cappo)– Appointed Publications Liaison (Keith Marzullo)– 6 elected members at-large assigned to roles

• VC for Operations (Vicki Hanson)• VC for SIG Development (Jamie Callan)• Secretary (Diana Marculescu)• Conference Advisor (Julie Jacko)• Small SIG Advisor (Jack Davidson)• Large SIG Advisor (Scott Owen)

Role of the SGB Chair and EC

• Prepare agendas and (sometimes) recommendations for SGB meeting

• Handle SGB business between meetings (subject to SGB review)

• Handle a wide range of “routine” requests specifically delegated to Chair or EC– replacement of officers for some SIGs– by-laws change review– pre-review of issues for ACM EC

• Plus whatever else is needed

Collective Governance

• Examples– The Allocation– DL Revenue and its Distribution– The Program Review Process– Best Practices

The Allocation

• One collective obligation of the SIGs is to pay for a portion of ACM’s operations costs– debunk favorite myths here– total amount for FY 2008 is $2.52M

• Collective design (and refinement) of allocation formula (sliding scale with minimum) to pay for these costs

DL Revenue and its Distribution

• SIG content (conference proceedings) are a major component of the ACM DL– Many SIGs made substantial investments in scanning

older proceedings to help boost DL in early years

• Revenue-sharing arrangement where SGB receives a percentage of DL revenue (budgeted estimate for FY 2008 is $1.8M)

• Collective decision to divide this based on downloads, but with a minimum per SIG

Program Reviews

• Each SIG faces regular program reviews by the SGB (at least every 4 years)

• SIG prepares a 5-slide summary of activity– SGB EC performs an initial review, gives feedback to

SIG, and makes a recommendation– SIG leader presents to SGB which makes final

decision• Opportunity for collective advice and guidance

– Recent examples include: strong encouragement to move a newsletter online; concerns about volunteer development; concerns about declining student membership

Best Practices

• At each SGB meeting there is time set aside for Q&A and for sharing successful practices– Many SIG leaders find this to be the most valuable

part of the meeting!

• One recent effort led to a streamlined bylaws process– it became clear that many SIGs were finding longer

terms, different EC structures valuable– now this process makes it possible to make a range

of changes without a formal membership vote (but with member notification)

– 3 deadlines per year for these changes

Other Responsibilities to Take Seriously

• Annual Reporting

• Volunteer and Leadership Development

• Community-Building

• Sustainable Excellence

Questions?