Board Development Committee Update

At the last annual general meeting (AGM) in June, the election slate prepared by your Board Development Committee (BDC) was short two candidates needed to make up a full complement of nine Board members. While a Board of seven is enough for the Board to function properly, it is much more desirable to have nine members on the Board because MARL depends on its Board members to help out on committees and other activities. The Board after all is a working Board and we are best served by having all positions filled.

To that end, the Board Development Committee continued its recruitment efforts to find two individuals that were passionate about MARL’s mission and that were prepared to serve on the Board. I am happy to report that we succeeded and have found two such individuals. Following the BDC’s recommendations, the Board recently appointed them to the remaining vacant positions.

Kalpana Srinarayanadas (appointed Nov 4, 2008) is an Arts and Science graduate currently enrolled in Political Studies at the U of M. She has a keen interest in human rights and is an active member of MARL’s Charter Rights and Legislative Review Committee. Her history of volunteerism includes writing newspaper articles and assisting health care organizations and foundations. She has experience with fundraising and events planning and is willing to put those skills to good use at MARL. We feel very fortunate to be able to tap into her enthusiasm and experience as we move forward.

Johnathan Fahr (appointed Nov 28, 2008) brings with him a wealth of knowledge on how to plan, organize, and deliver on initiatives – skills we believe would be very beneficial to MARL. Jonathan is well versed in the theory and practice of professional project management – a discipline geared to assembling various skill sets to achieve a project objective, and working with people to make them successful as a team, on time and on budget. He has experience working on other non-profit boards and is keen to have this opportunity to give back to the community. We are excited about Johnathan joining MARL and leading some key initiatives in the near term and chairing a committee in the medium term.

We look forward to working with Kalpana and Johnathan on the Board and hope their experience will be rewarding and that they will stand for election in June.