Board Approves Recommendations of the Task Force on Associate Rights
TORONTO, On.—At its September 13-14, 2010 meeting, the Board received the report of the Task Force on Associate Rights. The Task Force was established in response to issues identified through the 2008 Quinquennial Membership Survey and charged with evaluating how best to ensure fair representation of Associates within the CAS, with consideration to voting rights and opportunities for involvement.
Two of the recommendations made by the Task Force and approved by the Board will require changes to the CAS Constitution and Bylaws. In order to be adopted, these proposed changes require an affirmative vote of 10% of the Fellows or two-thirds of the Fellows voting, whichever is greater.
Specifically, the Board charged the Executive Council with preparing proposed changes to the CAS Constitution and Bylaws that would:
- Give Associates the right to vote either upon attainment of Fellowship or five years after they are recognized as Associates, whichever occurs first.
- Allow all voting members to be eligible to be elected members of the Board.
In addition, the Board took action on recommendations related to membership on committees and the right to hold officer positions. In particular:
- The Board approved the motion to expand the Nominating Committee from seven to nine members, allowing either Associates or Fellows to fill the positions currently filled by at-large Fellows. At least one of the six at-large members must be an Associate. This change is effective immediately.
- The Board approved the recommendation of the Executive Council that only Fellows and the Executive Director may be officers of the CAS, thereby expressing that Associates should not be eligible to serve on the Executive Council.
In making its recommendations, the Task Force on Associate Rights and the Executive Council considered a number of issues that guided their decision that the rights of Associates should be expanded. These include:
- Current and historical sizes of the Associate population, including the number of Associates who have stopped taking exams and are not expected to achieve Fellowship (i.e., Career Associates);
- History of significant contributions by Associates to the CAS and the actuarial profession;
- Lack of representation within the CAS for Associates, while they pay full dues; and
- Need to assure that participation in CAS governance does not jeopardize the highest professional standards in the eyes of the external public.
The changes requiring revisions to the CAS Constitution and Bylaws were presented to the Fellows for approval in 2006, however, the changes were not approved as they failed to achieve the required majority. The Task Force on Associates Rights believes that this vote was clouded at the time by concerns by the membership over the possible elimination of the ACAS designation, which was being contemplated by the Board as it considered moving to one class of membership. The CAS Board has since confirmed its commitment to the ACAS designation. Given the time since the last vote and the elimination of the uncertainty about the continued existence of the ACAS designation, the Task Force recommended, and the Board of Directors agreed, that it is appropriate for the CAS to revisit this issue.
The complete report of the Task Force on Associate Rights is available for member review on the CAS Web Site.