Succession Planning
Identify a nominations chair and committee by Year 5. Keep the committee small; you want officers who are NOT staying on in an executive role to take on the role of nominations chair, as to avoid a conflict of interest.
Meet with current officers to determine who wants to stay on in the same role, move to a new role, or roll off. Review your class constitution for term limits.
Once you know the vacant positions, your class staff contact can provide you with a list of current officers, as well as the historical list of past officer, and a list of ‘active classmates’.
Quick Tips
- Start early – by CALC you should have a draft slate.
- Establish a conference call schedule.
- Think about class officer structure that works for your class and gives people ownership within their role.
- Message all classmates about open positions.
- Track nominations in CU Volunteer.
- Establish clear criteria for selecting officers from the pool of nominations.
Recruiting New Volunteers
As a class officer, you are a great resource for finding and recruiting new alumni to join the class leadership. While Alumni Affairs has data and tools to assist with outreach, nothing beats the peer-to-peer connections you have.
Year 5 is not the only time to think about bringing unengaged classmates on board. Class council is a perfect beginner role for newcomers to get a taste of being a class leader, and developing their strengths. Let your class staff contact know that you’ve added a classmate to your class council so the Alumni Affairs office can properly code their involvement.
Quick Tips
- Leverage your connections to the affinities and involvements you had on campus.
- Use social media to reach a wider audience.
- Send a recruitment email to all classmates.
- Ask fellow officers to talk about their roles and experience volunteering for their class and share with classmates through a written or video series.
Engaging your Class Officers
Every 5 years there will be new officers on-boarded. While the Class Programs staff provides new officer leadership training, there is enormous benefit from peer-to-peer training on the history of the class, past projects or initiatives, and goals for the next 5 years.
Quick Tips
- Establish regular conference calls/Zoom meetings with officers and/or council members, and have the class secretary record the minutes for posterity.
- Work with your engagement officer to set up a class Zoom license through Cornell.
- Ensure that your immediate past president passes along all pertinent information to the new president, and remains available for questions.
Class Officer Roles and Structure
As each class is unique, so should be the roles and structure they use to govern class business.
Check in with officers regarding any additional support needed – class council members can assist with class projects or initiatives based on their individual skill set. Reunion committees are a great example of this.
Class leadership issues or conflict should involve the assistance of the class staff contact so that university resources are utilized and a level of professionalism is maintained.
Quick Tips
- Ensure that all executive officer positions are filled prior to the start of Year 1.
- Call on your class council members for projects or tasks.
- Assigning officers to be co-chairs can help spread out the work. Roles such as membership chair, affinity outreach chair, Reunion chair, and class correspondent are good examples of roles that are typically held by more than one officer per class.