Board succession planning checkup

Are you doing board succession planning? In the midst of a pandemic, it may be easy to put some things off, especially when boards and committees aren’t meeting in person. But it is important to plan ahead for director turnover no matter what is going on in the world.

Some things in the world might stop because of the pandemic, but here are examples of board turnover issues that have happened at credit unions that I have talked to within the last few months. These are examples of things that can happen to any credit union at any time. That’s why it’s so important to have an up-to-date board succession plan.

• A credit union recently had to ask one of its board members to resign from the board because of early dementia. Now one of their board members has cancer and will have to leave the board. These were unanticipated departures, both involving individuals under 70 years of age.
• Two credit unions merged and decided to combine the boards and over time reduce the size of the board. The newly combined board has only one female board member.

 

continue reading »