Being a big fan of basic management skills myself, I appreciate Doug’s point of view.  I understand that requiring a license and active status narrows the pool of candidates considerably.  I also agree that our board and volunteer officer ranks are blessed with some articulate and effective representatives for the League and Amateur Radio now and likely into the future.  That said, serving the needs of members is at the core of what we do, and decisions concerning programs, strategy and even how to recognize, interpret and respond to trends in Amateur Radio would be difficult for a non-Ham to do effectively.  If a non-Ham is to hold the CEO position, I think we’d have to remove some of the items on the proposed list of responsibilities and get more granular on others (which we need to do anyway).  If the CEO is a non-Ham, we’d better figure out who will make the radio-related decisions.  I’ve heard plenty of admonitions against “micro-management” in the Board room and on this reflector, so if it’s not the Board and not the CEO, then who will it be?

73,

Marty N6VI

Allow me to present an alternate possibility for the future—the CEO functions as an Executive Director, running the business end of the ARRL, and the President is the visible front end of the League. The pool of prospects for the “Executive Director” is radically deeper than the pool for someone that is both an experienced amateur and an experienced Executive Director.

The management of the business end of the ARRL is critical and we need a person that concentrates on that monumental job. We have a President and several Vice Presidents that can well represent the League to both our constituents and the non-amateur world. In our second century, we have reached the point where the organization will not necessarily be best served by the current model.

73,

Doug

K4AC