Wanted to get a temperature check on the possibility of write-ins for the board election. Let’s discuss.
I had someone ask me this morning if they could write-in ‘Free Amy Baker’
I already deleted my ballot as spam. The CSI explanation email arrived after the ballott. I did not recognize the url name in the ballot, and the link address did not match the url name in the message. Result: automatic spam report and permanent deletion.
As much as I want to trust the non-partisanship of the nominated candidates, I note that three of the four on my ballot are current board members moving up. Hard to see any of them bringing any change to the status quo ante bellum, but they should all be given a chance to state their views on the pressing issues with CSI now: the TCS/CIN rollout fiasco, the erosion of membership satisfaction, and the conduct of the current board and CEO.
I’m waiting to send in my ballot until I see statements of plans and policies from the nominated candidates, and see if any other candidates with better plans step forward.
David,
Yeah that is weird that the ballot came from the address “announcement@associationvoting.com”. I wonder why it did not come from the CSI website?
I voted. Jake LaManna (Director, NW Region) is a no-nonsense, get-down-to-business, speaks-his-mind type of guy who won’t be pushed around. I have tremendous respect for him. He will be a great addition to the Board.
I replied to Jarrod Mann’s post about the CSI nominating committee on the CSI forum with the following. It may or may not be released by the moderator.
Please tell us who or at least how many people the nominating committee considered for each position. If only one person was considered, this ballot is essentially a hand selected Board of Directors, not an election at all.
I received this from CSI after reporting that I deleted the ballot. The link goes to an online voting login page. I must enter my member number and password. Did CSI share this information with this other organization?
Thank you for sharing your feedback. We truly appreciate you taking the time to provide it, and we will keep it in mind as we work to improve future communications.
If you still need to cast your vote or obtain voting credentials, you can visit https://vote.associationvoting.com/csi/ to request the information.
Anyone notice three of the nominees are already on the board? Only new one is Kazim Kanani and he lives in Toronto. He may be a member but not sure how he participates at chapter level,
According to the membership directory, Kazim Kanani is a member of CSINext.
Jake LaManna is not on the National Board.
The slate of write-in candidates for the Board of Directors is being finalized today, and we hope to be able to make an announcement sometime this evening. Hold your votes. Stay tuned.
I am looking forward to hearing what write-in candidates are brought forward from membership. But I did want to put in my ‘nomination’ to keep one of the candidates proposed on the current ballot - Michael Young for Chair Elect.
Michael Young presents information in his write-up that I believe may put him in a good position to lead the Board in the future. I don’t know him personally, and so I am only going off of his write-up, but…
He calls out the “strategic mindset” that is a requirement of any non-profit Board. This “strategic mindset” is so desperately needed on the CSI Board if they are to have any chance of turning around CSI’s decline.
He also calls out some of CSI’s actual strengths and where CSI provides actual value to the industry.
-Education.
-College educational resources.
-Training and internship/onboarding programs to make design/construction professionals more job-ready.
-Association partnerships.
His regular job is essentially an Owner-Rep which puts him in a unique position to understand the need for an organization like CSI in the industry, and in turn, where CSI adds value within the industry.
And finally, he also has attended ASAE training - which, in my mind, is a necessity for any person stepping into a non-profit Board leadership position. https://www.asaecenter.org/
I am also concerned with trying to replace Michael Young with a different candidate - especially a candidate that would step into the Chair role so quickly.
My three most recent attempts to post on the CSI forums have been censored. The offensive content seems to be discussing the upcoming CSI elections.
The first post was the sample letter from members to candidates asking for their positions on several issues of importance to membership. You can find that letter posted elsewhere on this forum.
The second post was an announcement on the Fellows Forum that a group of CSI members would shortly be proposing a slate of write-in candidates. I urged the Fellows, regardless of whether they agreed with my opinions are not, to get involved with this upcoming election.
The third post was in reply to a statement on the forum by Jarrod Mann where he explained the process that was used for the nomination of the official slate of candidates. I requested that the two previous posts be released to the public so that members could consider them in deciding their votes. I told Jarrod that allowing the posts to be made public would be in the spirit of a free and open election and consistent with his message.
In writing these posts, I took great care to observe the stated guidelines and standards for tone and content.
Amy Baker and I have been working with others throughout the country to identify a slate of alternate write-in candidates. We anticipate being able to release the names of those candidates and the positions they seek to fill later this evening. That announcement will appear on LinkedIn and 4specs. We believe it appropriate that it also appear on CSI Forum, but given the recent history with being censored, someone other than Amy or I may need to post it there.