About:
The AFSA Governing Board is elected by the membership every two years and is composed of representatives from each AFSA constituency. The entire membership elects three officers - President, Treasurer, and Secretary. Each constituency then casts votes for its agency or retiree Vice President and representative positions. Currently, the board has 27 members - five Vice Presidents (State, USAID, FAS, FCS, and Retiree), ten State representatives, two USAID representatives, one representative each for FAS/FCS/IBB, and four retiree representatives. Click here for more information about AFSA elections. The board's constitution is governed by the AFSA bylaws. Over the last twenty years the AFSA board has grown from 21 to 27 members. It has been the policy of AFSA boards to seek to be as diverse and representative as possible.
The basic responsibilities of a governing board are to set the mission and purpose of the organization, ensure effective planning, select/support and evaluate the chief executive, monitor and strengthen programs and services, ensure adequate financial resources, protect assets and provide financial oversight, build a competent board, ensure legal and ethical integrity and to enhance the organization’s public standing. AFSA Governing Board position descriptions can be found linked on this page to the right.
Strategic Planning:
The previous board, 2009-2011, identified four major goals for its term: Securing resources, improving operations and protecting benefits for the Foreign Service; increasing cooperation with management and broadening presence in policy development; improving the image and expanding the outreach of the Foreign Service; and streamlining internal AFSA operations.
The current 2011-2013 Governing Board identified the following five strategic priority areas at the September 2011 retreat: Membership & Development, Strengthening Governance, Image & Outreach, Professionalism & Effectiveness, and Core Advocacy. The strategic planning process and results are described in the President's FSJ columns of November and December 2011. Some of the retreat materials can be found in the links to the right.
Contact:
The Board represents the entire AFSA membership and encourages comments and suggestions from people in the field. If you are a member of AFSA, we hope you will also consider serving on a future AFSA Governing Board, working on behalf of your colleagues for a two-year term.