From The Blog

Board Diversity and Background on the 2021 Election

An Overview from the BOEC Chair  

By Sue Schaffer, Board Director and Board Outreach and Education Committee Chair

This year, the Board Outreach and Education Committee (BOEC) replaced KICA’s Nominating Committee and eliminated board candidate interviews and endorsements. The committee focused on informing community members about board service, encouraging people to run for the board, guiding candidates through the board application and election process, and presenting candidates to the community in a fair and consistent way. I would like to thank former Directors Kelly Bragg, Paul Hilstad and Will Lehder, and community member Cynthea Riesenberg, for their participation on the committee, and KICA staff for administrative support. 

The current board and the BOEC identified two primary needs of the incoming directors in order to maintain a diverse and skilled board. First, the two seats you are voting to fill in this election will be vacated in March 2021 by the board’s only female directors. Second, the board is also in need of directors with a professional background in finance to thoroughly uphold the board’s fiduciary responsibility. 

Thirteen community members have applied for the 2021 board. These candidates represent the spectrum of our membership including regime and single-family home owners; full time and part time members; residences before and after the second security gate; and Kiawah Island and/or Governors Club members or no club membership. 12 candidates list finance as a key skill, 7 have project management experience and a record number of women (4) are running. 

Candidate information will be shared in three ways: a written statement, a video interview, and a modified “Meet The Candidates” event. The candidates’ written statements are presented in a consistent structure designed by the committee so that candidates can be easily compared. This year, due to COVID-19 complexities, some video interviews were conducted virtually, and some at The Sandcastle, but all candidates were asked the same five questions.

The board expresses gratitude to the members of the BOEC for their dedication to their community. The fact that we have 13 impressive and diverse candidates running for board service during a pandemic reinforces the success of the committee’s primary responsibility: outreach.