From the Board of Trustees
by Jeff Asher, Trustee
“Transforming UUCD Board Governance”
One of the UUCD “Themes” this year has been “Transformation.” What better way to draw on what we learned than to consider your Board’s “transformation” to a body without a President!
From my personal experience, most thriving organizations require a continuing leadership presence and oversight. Whether hosting a Board meeting or dealing with the unending issues requiring attention, leadership is required. This is the reason why finding those souls to be UUCD Board President is so difficult. Margaret Henderson took on these reins as President for four (long) years and she deserves our deep thanks for a job very well done! Unfortunately, when she ended her tenure, this left your UUCD Board without a President beginning July 1, 2025!
What to do?! My first source, of course, was to go to the Artificial Intelligence “Perplexity” app for an answer to the questions: “How do we solve not having a President for a Unitarian Universalist congregation.”
Perplexity answered: “In essence, UU congregations are structured to handle leadership gaps through shared governance, flexible board structures, and democratic processes, ensuring the congregation continues to function and thrive even without a current president.”
And your Board collaborated to create a Shared Leadership Model – or SLM – based on a list of duties of the Board President on our Member Portal. We worked on this at several smaller meetings and by email. It was approved unanimously at our July 2025 Board Meeting. Click here “SLM” to see this document.
As important, Jean Kannan has now joined us as our 7th Board Member, Trustee at Large, to share the many Board responsibilities.
The UUCD’s SLM fits the skill sets for each of your Board members.
From a quote by Heather Ash Amara: “Change is inevitable, but transformation is a choice.”
I think your Board has made some wise choices.