page130In an unprecedented format in the history of the Combustion Institute, the Board of Directors convened electronically on Feb. 19, 2013. Using electronic conference services, Board members around the globe met for about a 90-minute discussion, dialing in from 6 a.m. in California to midnight in Australia. With almost all directors in attendance, including three honorary members, as well as office staff, the conference call was devoted to discussion of the By-Laws revisions developed by the By-Law Revision Committee chaired by Phil Westmoreland.

The revised By-Laws were approved with the necessary 2/3 majority after thoughtful discussion. You can access them in the “Documents” section of our internet pages, where you will also find – again a first – the approved minutes of the Board of Directors meetings held at the 34th Symposium in Warsaw.

Important features in the revised By-Laws are a more systematic structure and adaptations of processes to current practice. Key items regard the term limit for Board members, now shortened to one 6-year term; a format for accepting affiliate organizations; improved checks and balances; and greater transparency of the governance processes. With these significant changes, it is expected that the Board of Directors can adapt more rapidly to the growing international nature of our organization.

In the revision process, many suggestions had been reviewed and integrated, including those from the Sections, Executive Committee, Board members, and from a newly established Nomination Policy Committee chaired by Stephen Pope. Also, legal advice had been sought. We are grateful to all who have been involved in this important process, especially to the By-Laws Revision Committee (Frank Behrendt, Med Colket, Mara de Joannon, Peter Lindstedt, Reggie Mitchell, Steven Shy, Mitch Smooke, and Phil Westmoreland), to its chair Phil Westmoreland for his excellent guidance and tireless interaction with all sides, and to Barb Waronek in the CI office who had to handle multiple document versions and successfully explored the new conferencing format.

Additional improvements are being looked into for future Board meetings. In particular for details of nomination procedures, the Nomination Policy Committee will discuss strategies that can be presented to the Board in one of the next electronic Board meetings, before the nomination process for the 2014 Board elections.

We have thus now started into the transformation from applying “old” to working with “new” By-Laws, and we hope for your continued interest in these CI matters during this important period.

Katharina Kohse-Höinghaus
President

Reginald E. Mitchell
Secretary