Dear FSC Board Officers,

I have a quick question, I hope you don’t find my inquiry impertinent.Early in December outgoing Executive Director, Michelle Freridge, called me to tell me that I had been nominated for a position on the Board of Directors. She sent me an in depth questionnaire to complete. Presumably, the questionnaire was to establish my credibility and suitability for this important position.

I took a lot of time to answer the questions to the best of my ability. Actually, I took the entire nomination quite seriously. I’ve served on several nonprofit boards in the past, so I know how crucial a board member can be to the wellbeing of the organization served.

Today I received my ballot for the board vote itself. I noticed my name, of course, but there’s no information about me or any of the other prospective board members. I looked on your website for some information about the election and/or a biography for the prospective board members. I found nothing. That lengthily questionnaire I completed must have been for in-house purposes only. But that seems to have defeated the purpose. Because it is the membership who does the voting, right?

My question is this, how are FSC members, myself included, supposed to make an informed decision about these important leadership positions if we don’t know Shinola about any of the nominees? Maybe I’m missing something, maybe that’s actually the point. Maybe this is just a pro forma sort of thing. Lots of nonprofit boards are merely window dressing. I understand from chatting with other people at the FSC that very few ballots are ever returned. I certainly can see why. If I, or any other member, was serious about strengthening the FSC, particularly in terms of fiscal planning and oversight so as to avoid additional staff cuts at this critical time our industry’s history, how would we know how to make an informed decision?

Anyhow, just thought it was important for me to share my views on this with you. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

All the best,