GRAND COUNCIL NOMINATING COMMITTEE REPORT TO THE BOARD OF THE SCA, Inc.
Final Version
Author: Mark Spetter Schuldenfrei
April 19, 1995
Greetings from the Grand Council Nominating Committee:
Carol L. Smith, Chair (Lady Caroline Forbes of Oxfordshire)
Martin Costa (Baron Corwyn Da Costa)
Mark Spetter Schuldenfrei (Lord Tibor of Rock Valley)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
We, as the nominating committee, are pleased to present to you the
following nominees as our unanimous recommendation for the balance of the
Grand Council:
Phil Anderson (Edward the Discalceate) Caid/Southron Gaard
Michael Andrews (Michael Fenwick of Fotheringay) Ansteorra
Guy Cox (Brian O'Seabac) West
Edward L. Eisenstein (Alban St. Albans) Calontir
Colette Goodyear (Alienor Llanfaes) East
Nigel Haslock (Fiacha Mac Neill) An Tir
Joseph Heck (Terras) Calontir
Kristofer L. Hellstrom (Edric Aaron Hartwood) Caid
Frederick Hollander (Frederick of Holland) West
Scott Keys (Arthur the Dented) East
Eric Langhans (Modius Monsdraconis) Ansteorra
James McManus (Magnus Maguire) Middle
Steven Muhlberger (Finnvarr de Taahe) Middle
Sven Noren (Frithiof Skagge) Drachenwald
Gerald O'Leary (Gyrth Oldcastle) Atlantia
Brian Price (Brion Thornbird) West
Carole C. Roos (Alyson de Ros) Middle
Greg Rose (Hossein Ali Qomi) East
P. David Schroeder (Bertram of Bearington) East
Janna Spanne (Caitlin Gwynstlum) Drachenwald
The nominating committee originally consisted of three members appointed by
the Board: Sandra Dodd (Mistress AElflaed of Duckford), Carol and Mark.
Sandra resigned part way through the process, and after much searching,
Martin agreed to fill out the third seat. The Board was informed of his
appointment at the January meeting and called it an "internal decision".
Each of us independently reviewed the applicant list and made
recommendations for the Council. Our criteria were modern professional
backgrounds appropriate to the topic, variety of experience, geographic
distribution, and to introduce no obvious bias.
We received 99 applications, and many comments on the applicants, before
we finished the process. Individuals with unanimous independent approval
were added to our list. Those with two positive votes were added with the
approval of the remaining member. One candidate was added to additionally
represent Canada (with unanimous approval). Finally, each of us chose two
persons to fill the remaining seats, pending approval from the other two
members.
Below are details on each step, information on the candidates, data on the
demographics of the applicants and current Grand Council members, and a
brief discussion of the selection process. We recommend that you accept
the candidates as written. We are available to answer questions, and all
of our deliberations are public record, and can be sent to you upon request.
INFORMATION ON THE NOMINATING COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Carol L. Smith (Lady Caroline Forbes of Oxfordshire) is a 30 year old
resident of St. Louis, Missouri (Barony of Three Rivers, Calontir). She
has a Masters in Business Administration from the MIT Sloan School of
Management, and a B.A. in Economics from Duke University. Her current
job is as a Process Improvement Manager for Monsanto. She is a former
Seneschal for the Kingdom of Atlantia. She was selected by the Board to
be the Chair of the Grand Council and head of the nominating committee.
Mark S. Schuldenfrei (Lord Tibor of Rock Valley) is a 33 year old software
engineer, specializing in Quality Assurance for database systems,
transaction management and symbolic processing computer systems. He
attended Brandeis University, and lives in Boston MA (Barony of
Carolingia, East) He has a baronial and kingdom service award, is a
member of CSOS and a petitioner in the Mandamus action. He was selected
by the Board to the Grand Council and the nominating committee.
Sandra Dodd (Mistress AElflaed of Duckford) is a resident of Albuquerque,
New Mexico and a mother of 3. She is a former Steward and Executive
Director of the Society, Former Society Chronicler, and former Seneschal
of the Outlands. She had been appointed to the Grand Council and the
nominating committee by the Board, but resigned without prior notice early
in January 1995. She forwarded a set of applications she had collected to
Carol.
Sandra's resignation left the nominating committee under-strength. Carol
and Mark attempted to find a replacement among the previously appointed
members to the Grand Council. We looked for someone who would not only be
prepared for the hard work, but who could also represent a more
conservative point view. After after asking two candidates, and receiving
two rejections, we found a volunteer.
Martin Costa (Baron Corwyn Da Costa) is a 30 year old recent graduate
(1994) with a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Southern
California, and has a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley.
He also has sales and management experience. Within the Society, he is
an experienced autocrat and group officer. Martin is the West Kingdom's
appointee to the Grand Council.
THE PLANNED PROCESS FOR SELECTING GRAND COUNCIL NOMINEES
Sandra was originally asked by the Board to form the Grand Council. She
began assembling candidates through an informal process of word-of-mouth
and electronic solicitation of candidates. At the October 1994 Meeting,
the Board re-opened the process, appointed the nominating committee, and
appointed Carol chair of both groups. Sandra claims to have sent all the
applications and comments to Carol. They were received in December.
When Carol became Chair of the Grand Council, she advertised for
applications in the December 1994 issue of every Kingdom newsletter, plus
Lochac's. Carol also advertised electronically for applicants.
Carol's advertisement:
THE GRAND COUNCIL WANTS YOU! The Grand Council has been formed
to study the corporate and organizational structure of the SCA,
Inc. and to make recommendations for changes necessary to carry out
the Society's mission given a global organization. Potential
topics include the relationship between the Corporation and
Society branches, services provided by the Corporation, and the
Corporate governing documents.
WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR: Gentles with a variety of Society and
modern backgrounds and experiences will make up the Grand
Council. You need to be able to communicate with the Grand
Council frequently by email or on paper for about the next 2
years. You'll also be expected to discuss Grand Council issues
with gentles in your area. Please contact Lady Caroline (info
below) for more information on the Grand Council and its work.
To apply, please send a letter or resume by 31 DECEMBER 1994
with your modern and SCA experiences to:
All applicants were to nominate themselves and there were no specific
applicant requirements other than a Society and modern resume. The
deadline for consideration was December 31, 1994. We intended, however,
to accept late applicants until the selection process was completed.
We received 99 written and electronic applications before the end of the
selection process (some duplicates, some lost in the transfer, and some
new).
In early January, Carol and Mark asked for comments on the applicants. We
all received dozens of comments. All comments received are public record.
The nominating committee discussed the process by which we would consider
and select candidates. We concluded that all commentary and discussions
by the nominating committee would become public record. We were concerned
that potential candidates ought to be able to answer questions about their
backgrounds if any were raised during the process. Commentary received
electronically and our deliberations are all available on line to anyone
whose has computer access. These can be found at ftp.gc.sca.org
/pub/sca_gc. Arrangements can be made for people without electronic access
to receive copies. It is, however, quite long.
We agreed that our basic mechanism would be as described here by Carol in
one of her messages (dated January 26, 1995):
"Read the background documents and the applications. For each
applicant, decide yes, no, or maybe. Then we'll compare lists. The
people who are yes's on all three lists are in. The unanimous no's are
out. The rest we discuss.
At any time you may take yourself out of the discussion for any
candidate. You don't have to tell us why, but you should agree to
abide by the decision of the other 2 people on that candidate."
The plan was for each of us to produce independent lists, and combine them.
We would accept each candidate with 3 independent yes votes, discuss those
with 2 yes votes, analyze where we were, and continue from that point. We
did not have a specific plan for how to continue past that point.
Given that the Grand Council is to be an advisory committee, not an action
group, we felt it best if the nominees be the most qualified candidates.
While modern qualifications were strongly considered, we also intended to
avoid skewing in favor of any one Kingdom, keep a good geographic and
international balance, find diversity of experience, and keep the
selections proportional to the level of nominations from each Kingdom. We
were prepared to rebalance the nominations list if it became skewed.
International members were encouraged to have electronic mail, since the
inevitable delays of conventional mail would handicap their participation.
WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED DURING THE SELECTION PROCESS
After the deadline for applications had passed, Carol asked Sandra and Mark
if they were ready to go. After some discussions, Sandra decided to drop
off both the nominating committee and the Grand Council. Carol and Mark
agreed that we should find a replacement for Sandra, specifically one that
could represent a more conservative point of view.
We approached two people, Michael Potter (Sir Myrdinn the Just, the East's
nominee) and Nathan Clarenburg (Sir Nathan Adelaar, Calontir's nominee):
each declined for personal reasons. A few other people were informally
polled by Carol, and they also declined. Finally, Martin Costa (Baron
Corwyn Da Costa) agreed to serve. We sent word on this to the January
1995 Board meeting and were instructed to continue, as this was an
"internal decision".
Carol set a deadline of February 4th for us to produce lists. We each
worked independently, reviewing all the resumes and dozens of letters of
comment. We finished shortly after the deadline. Carol's and Mark's lists
were sent February 5th, and Martin's was completed February 7th.
Carol released a combined list on February 14, 1995. It listed all
candidates that had received either 2 or 3 independent votes. After a
small amount of discussion, we each accepted the entire set. The original
12 nominees (in alphabetical order) were:
Guy Cox (Brian O'Seabac) West (3 Yes)
Dorian Davis (Matsuyama Yoshitoshi) Southern Gaard (2 Yes)
Colette Goodyear (Alienor Llanfaes) East (3 Yes)
Frederick Hollander (Frederick of Holland) West (3 Yes)
Scott Keys (Arthur the Dented) East (3 Yes)
Eric Langhans (Modius Monsdraconis) Ansteorra (2 Yes)
James McManus (Magnus Maguire) Middle (2 Yes)
Sven Noren (Frithiof Skagge) Drachenwald (3 Yes)
Brian Price (Brion Thornbird) West (2 Yes)
Carole C. Roos (Alyson de Ros) Middle (3 Yes)
P. David Schroeder (Bertram of Bearington) East (3 Yes)
Janna Spanne (Caitlin Gwynstlum) Drachenwald (2 Yes)
This left us with 8 seats to fill. We began to discuss the necessity of
filling all the seats. Our opinions varied, and we solicited opinions from
a number of other people. The discussion waved back and forth.
As this was happening, we received one late resume, and one application
that seemed to have been misplaced: Greg Rose (Hossein Ali Qomi) East. We
discussed him quite a bit, and Carol and Martin solicited comments from
various Kingdoms. Eventually, after some correspondence between Carol
and Greg, we agreed unanimously to recommend him for the Grand Council.
This left 7 vacancies. (The other late resume was considered and left
out to balance Kingdom representation, as this candidate was also from the
East.)
In the meantime, we had done some analysis on the composition of the
nominees and the entire Council and concluded that mainland Canada was
under-represented. We eventually chose to recommend Steven Muhlberger
(Finnvarr de Taahe) Middle.
Finally, we chose to fill the remaining 6 places on the committee. We had
discussed a number of schemes that could be used (such as a lottery,
building a smaller candidates list, and so forth). Eventually, we simply
chose two candidates each and allowed the other two nominating committee
members to veto if they chose. No vetos were exercised.
The additional six candidates, alphabetically:
Michael Andrews (Michael Fenwick of Fotheringay) Ansteorra (by Mark)
Edward L. Eisenstein (Alban St. Albans) Calontir (by Martin)
Nigel Haslock (Fiacha Mac Neill) An Tir (by Mark)
Joseph Heck (Terras) Calontir (by Carol)
Kristofer L. Hellstrom (Edric Aaron Hartwood) Caid (by Martin)
Gerald O'Leary (Gyrth Oldcastle) Atlantia (by Carol)
Finally, when we contacted each of the nominees, one (Dorian Davis), felt
that he had to withdraw. He recommended as his replacement the only
other New Zealander who applied:
Phil Anderson (Edward the Discalceate) Caid/Southern Gaard
We all agreed, and our task was completed on March 21, 1995. It took
approximately 3 months to complete the entire selection process, including
a several week delay while we found a third nominating committee member.
The time roughly divided as on month to replace AElflaed, plus ancillary
discussion before and after, one month to choose the first candidates, and
one month discussing how to fill the remaining seats, choosing them, and
confirming that each was still willing to serve.
SHORT BIOGRAPHIES OF THE NOMINEES
(Complete copies of the applications are available on request.)
Phil Anderson. New Zealand resident, previous nonprofit experience with
managerial and administrative responsibilities. Chronicling experience.
Employed as an assistant editor. 32 years old, 7 years in the Society.
Resident of New Zealand/Caid/Southron Gaard.
Michael Andrews. Some personnel management courses, significant management
and project management experience. Former Air Force service, with an
honorable discharge. Society experience includes Laurel, various arts
and service awards, and Baronial A&S officer. Employed as a Data
Processing
Manager for Oklahoma State Department of Transportation. 48 years old,
18 years in the Society. Resident of Oklahoma/Ansteorra.
Guy M. Cox. Professional consultant in organizational change, with
experience in in research and program evaluation. Ph.D. in Anthropology
from University of California at Berkeley 1986. Founded one of the
principal war units in the West, and has an AoA. 14 years in the Society.
Resident of California/West. Former resident of Caid.
Edward Eisenstein. Self-employed small business owner, manages two trust
funds. Previous experience with database design. 2 Bachelors degrees
(History and Art History, and Data Processing). Many local and kingdom
offices held, and multiple service awards. At least 11 years of Society
experience. Resident of Missouri/Calontir.
Colette Goodyear. Editor and copyright officer, applying for law school.
Long term Seneschal of one of the most isolated groups in the Society (Ar
n-Eilean-ne, Newfoundland and Labrador Canada). B.A. in English and
Medieval Studies in 1982. She has a Pelican and an East Kingdom Service
Award, and has been in the Society 7 years. Resident of Newfoundland
Canada/East Kingdom.
Nigel Haslock. A Software Engineer for Digital Equipment Corporation.
Former Seneschal of a Barony in the East, and currently a Kingdom officer
in An Tir. Has many arts awards. Member of CSOS. 13 years in the
Society. Resident of Washington State/An Tir.
Joseph Heck. 2 bachelors degrees. Electrical Engineering and Computer
Science (1990) Currently employed at the University of Missouri. He has
been a local group officer and a deputy Kingdom officer. He has 10 years
experience in the Society, and is a resident of Missouri/Calontir.
Kristofer L. Hellstrom. Supervisory and managerial experience in a small
agricultural business. He has represented Caid to an inter-kingdom meeting
as his Crown's representative. He has local and Kingdom level service
awards, and is a deputy Kingdom Marshal as well as having held local
office, and autocrated events. He is a resident of California/Caid.
Frederick Hollander. Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry, 1972, currently
employed at University of California, Berkeley as an Assistant Specialist
in X-ray Crystallography. Director of KHTI, a 501(c)(3) non-profit.
Continuously active since the founding of the Society. Countless honors
and awards, and a former Kingdom officer in the West, as well as an
experienced autocrat. Resident of Berkeley, California/West.
Scott Keyes. Experience with management of multiple California 501(c)(3)
non-profits, as Director, Manager and Chief Financial Officer. Also has
employee supervision experience. Currently a software engineer
specializing in database systems development. Award of Arms, and 10 years
Society experience. Resident of New Jersey/East Kingdom.
Eric Langhans. Vice President of a large international company, with
Chief Financial Officer experience in several others. Two years
experience in the Society. Resident of Texas/Ansteorra.
James McManus. Partner in a law firm, 10 years legal experience, whose
firm practices in Small Business, Corporate and Employment Law, and other
relevant areas. Has drafted governing documents for a 501(c)(3). J.D.
from Minnesota Law, 1982, B.S. in Government from St. Johns University in
1979. 37 years old, 3 years in the Society. Resident of Duluth
MN/Middle.
Steven Muhlberger. Associate professor and Chairman of Humanities at
Nipissing University. Ph.D. in Medieval History. Former King of the Middle
and East, former Director, former Kingdom Officer and local group officer.
25 years in the Society, and a resident of Ontario/Middle.
Sven Noren. Chemical engineer, employed by the University of Uppsala. Has
experience in several nonprofit organizations as director, auditor and
founder. Age is 36, 4 years of experience in the Society. Resident of
Uppsala, Sweden/Drachenwald.
Gerald O'Leary. He is a Systems Analyst with the US Department of the
Treasury. He has a B.A. in Greek and Latin from Columbia University. He
has been King of the East and Atlantia, local officer, and deputy kingdom
officer. Has many awards an honors and "proprietor and monolithic tyrant
of the Evil Oldcastle Political Machine" (from his application). He is
41, has spent 21 years in the Society, and resides in Maryland/Atlantia.
Brian Price. He is a project manager in a management consulting firm, and
has a degree in political science and economics, with experience in
analysis. He is editor of Chronique, and founder of The Company of Saint
George, an authentic Tournament Society within our Middle Ages. He has
been in the Society 14 years, and resides in California/West Kingdom.
Carole Roos. B.A from Vanderbilt University in 1969 in English, she is
employed as an associate editor at the University of Notre Dame Press.
She has a wide variety of organizational experience with Girl Scouts, and
educational groups. 4 years in the Society, resident of Indiana/Middle.
Greg Rose. Ph.D. in Government from the University of Texas at Austin
(1987). Previous experience as an international correspondent and
newspaper editor. Currently a Visiting Professor of Political Science.
Teaching experience in politics, conflict resolution and econometrics,
former member of the Budget Committee in his department at the University
of North Texas. Extensive inter-kingdom SCA experience (East, Middle,
Atenveldt, Ansteorra, Atlantia and Drachenwald) with honors and awards
from many of them. Former deputy Kingdom officer, chairman of a SCA
Board committee, founder and Chairman of CSOS, extensive local officer
experience. 26 years in the Society, currently a resident of
Connecticut/East Kingdom.
P. David Schroeder. Masters in Business (organizational behavior) in 1993
from Carnegie Mellon University Business School. B.A. in Sociology, 1977
Swarthmore College. Twelve years of experience as a business manager,
with marketing experience, budgetary control and employee supervision.
Over 20 years within the Society, with local, Kingdom, Principality and
Corporate offices held. Resident of Pennsylvania/East (AEthelmearc).
Janna Spanne. Born in Prague, now a citizen of Sweden. MA in linguistics
(1986) and B.A. in linguistics (1979). Employed at the Institute of
Technology in Lund as an administrator. Founded and served as an officer
in several Swedish nonprofits. Local group officer and event autocrat
experience. Age 40, 9 years in the Society. Resident of
Sweden/Drachenwald.
SUMMARY OF ALL GRAND COUNCIL APPOINTEES AND NOMINEES
Board/Kingdom Appointees:
Modern Name Years Highest Who By From
In Award
------------ ----- ------- ------ ----
Galen Bevel 10 KSCA Ansteorra TX/Ansteorra
Janet Chennault ? AoA Caid CA/Caid
Nathan Clarenburg 17 KSCA, Laurel Calontir KS/Calontir
Martin Costa 14 Baron West CA/West
Charles Curtis 14 KSCA, Pelican Atlantia SC/Atlantia
John Elmore ? Pelican Middle IN/Middle
Angie Eves-Welsch ? Baroness Lochac New South Wales/Lochac
David Friedman 26 KSCA, OP, OL Board IL/Middle
Roy Gathercoal ? Pelican Board OR/An Tir
Chuck Hack ? Baron Trimaris FL/Trimaris
Laureen Hart ? OL or OP An Tir WA/An Tir
Tod Huckaby 13 Baron Outlands CO/Outlands
Bart Orbons 8 AoA Drachenwald
Netherlands/Drachenwald
Karen Penn ? ? Atenveldt UT/Atenveldt
Michael Potter 13 KSCA East NJ/East
Mark Schuldenfrei 13 AoA Board MA/East
Carol Smith 13 AoA Board MO/Calontir
Rolland Smith 11 KSCA Meridies AL/Meridies
Eric Wagner 13 KSCA Board CA/West
Mark Waks 14 Laurel Board MA/East
Grand Council Nominees:
Modern Name Years Highest From
In Award
------------ ----- ------- ----
Phil Anderson 7 AoA New Zealand/Southern Gaard
Michael Andrews 18 Laurel OK/Ansteorra
Guy Cox 14 AoA CA/West
Edward L. Eisenstein 11 GoA MO/Calontir
Colette Goodyear 7 Pelican Newfoundland/East
Nigel Haslock 13 AoA WA/An Tir
Joseph Heck 10 AoA MO/Calontir
Kristofer L. Hellstrom ? KSCA CA/Caid
Frederick Hollander 30 MSCA, Pelican CA/West
Scott Keys 10 AoA NJ/East
Eric Langhans 2 AoA TX/Ansteorra
James McManus 3 -- MN/Middle
Steven Muhlberger 25 KSCA, Pelican Ontario/Middle
Sven Noren 4 -- Sweden/Drachenwald
Gerald O'Leary 21 KSCA, Pelican MD/Atlantia
Brian Price 14 AoA CA/West
Carole C. Roos 4 AoA IN/Middle
Greg Rose 26 Baron CT/East
P. David Schroeder 20 Pelican PA/East
Janna Spanne 9 GoA Sweden/Drachenwald
ANALYSIS OF ALL GRAND COUNCIL APPOINTEES AND NOMINEES
By award level in the Society: Number(percent)
Board/Kingdom Nominees Overall
(20 people) (20 people) (40 people)
Patent 11 (55%) 7 (35%) 18 (45%)
Grant 0 (0%) 2 (10%) 2 (5%)
Award 4 (20%) 8 (40%) 12 (30%)
Baron 4 (20%) 1 (5%) 5 (12.5%)
None 0 (0%) 2 (10%) 2 (5%)
Unknown 1 (5%) 0 (0%) 1 (2.5%)
Years of membership: Board/Kingdom appointees:
Mean ~13 3/4 years Standard Deviation ~4 1/4 (n=13) min=8, max=26.
Years of membership: Committee nominees:
Mean ~13 years Standard Deviation ~8 1/4 (n=19) min=2, max=30.
Years of membership: Combined:
Mean ~13 1/3 years Standard Deviation ~ 6 7/8 (n=32).
Proportion in ranges of 5 years: Number(percent)
Board/Kingdom Nominees Overall
(20 people) (20 people) (40 people)
1 - 5 years: 0 (0%) 4 (20%) 4 (10%)
6 - 10 years: 2 (10%) 5 (25%) 7 (17.5%)
11 - 15 years: 9 (45%) 4 (20%) 13 (32.5%)
16 - 20 years: 1 (5%) 2 (10%) 3 (7.5%)
21 - 25 years: 0 (0%) 2 (10%) 2 (5%)
26 - 30 years: 1 (5%) 2 (10%) 3 (7.5%)
Unknown: 7 (35%) 1 (5%) 8 (20%)
Geographic Distribution of Nominees, compared to applicant: Number(percent)
Kingdom/Group Board/Kingdom Applicants Nominees Overall
(20) (99) (20) (40)
------------- ------------- ---------- -------- -----------
An Tir 2 (10%) 8 (8%) 1 (5%) 3 (7.5%)
Ansteorra 1 (5%) 11 (11%) 2 (10%) 3 (7.5%)
Atenveldt 1 (5%) 2 (2%) 0 (0%) 1 (2.5%)
Atlantia 1 (5%) 3 (3%) 1 (5%) 2 (5%)
Caid 1 (5%) 4 (4%) 1 (5%) 2 (5%)
Calontir 2 (10%) 6 (6%) 2 (10%) 4 (10%)
Drachenwald 1 (5%) 5 (5%) 2 (10%) 3 (7.5%)
East 3 (15%) 19 (19%) 4 (20%) 7 (17.5)
Meridies 1 (5%) 2 (2%) 0 (0%) 1 (2.5%)
Middle 2 (10%) 18 (18%) 3 (15%) 5 (12.5%)
Lochac 1 (5%) 1 (1%) 0 (0%) 1 (2.5%)
Outlands 1 (5%) 5 (5%) 0 (0%) 1 (2.5%)
Southron Gaard 0 (0%) 2 (2%) 1 (5%) 1 (2.5%)
Trimaris 1 (5%) 3 (3%) 0 (0%) 1 (2.5%)
West 2 (10%) 10 (10%) 3 (15%) 5 (12.5%)
Gender issues:
26 % of our applicants were female.
15 % of our nominees are female.
25 % of the Board/Kingdom's nominees are female.
20 % of the committee and nominees would be female if accepted as nominated.
COMMENTARY ON THE ANALYSIS:
By award level in the Society:
Unlike the Board/Kingdoms selections (55% Patents, 20% AoA), the largest
single group of nominees are those which have an AoA as their highest
award (35% Patents, 40% AoA)). This more closely represents the expected
general level of participation in the Society. It may be inevitable that
applicants who have the confidence to nominate themselves tend to be
those that have been validated by the Society at large. The proportion of
applicants with patent level awards was MUCH higher than the general
population. (Source, analysis of awards in the East Kingdom by Mistress
Thora Sharptooth, published in Pikestaff.)
Years of membership or participation:
While both the Board/Kingdoms appointees and the nominees have the same
mean years of participation (13 3/4 Board/Kingdom versus 13 years
nominees), the larger standard deviation (4 1/4 Board/Kingdoms versus 8
1/4 nominees) shows the nominee list has a greater spread of years than
the Board/Kingdom appointees.
Proportion in ranges of 5 years:
This table is as you might expect, showing something of a standard
distribution in shape. The distribution peaks at a median of 11 years in
the Society for the nominees, versus the Board/Kingdoms appointees
centering at a median of 13.8 years. Note that the nominees sample is
skewed toward newer members, which nicely compensates for the Board/
Kingdoms lack of newer members in its appointees.
The "bubble" at the high end of the nominees years in the Society (10% of
the nominees having 26-30 years in the Society) represents a deliberate
choice on the part of the committee. When appointing a single additional
candidate to represent mainland Canada, we chose to select a long term
Society participant (Steve Muhlberger, Finnvarr de Taahe), since he also
has experience in several other kingdoms and countries.
Geographic Distribution of Nominees, compared to applicant:
Compare the percentages from the applicant pool and the nominees. If you
notice that each nominee corresponds to 5 percent of the pool, the
percentage of nominees is ALWAYS within 5% of the applicants. This shows
shows the nominees selected closely approximates the applicants residency
distribution.
The overall proportions are (very roughly) accurate to the percentages
of the populations within the Society. While the East is somewhat
over-represented, (4 people, 20% of the nominees, and a total of 7 people
or 17.5% of the entire Council) one of those nominees recently moved to
the East from Atlantia (Greg Rose), one is from Newfoundland and rarely
attends Eastern events, and a third is from AEthelmearc (which may soon
become it's own Kingdom) and lives on the border with the Midrealm and
has lived in 3 different Kingdoms.
Gender issues:
It is not easy to explain why so few of the applicants (26%) were female,
nor why so few of the nominees originally selected were female (15%).
It shouldn't affect the committee's work, but it is unfortunate.
Since the nominees produce a committee that is so well balanced by
geography, Kingdom population and applicants, and has such outstanding
modern skills, and since there are so few additional female candidates to
choose from, it would be almost impossible to redress the gender gap
with the qualified applicants we have.
POSITIVES AND NEGATIVES OF THE SELECTION PROCESS
We spent a bit too long developing the process we would use to select
nominees overall. However, some of this delay may have been unavoidable:
we had to replace one nominating member late in the schedule. This required
us to restart the process of achieving consensus. It may be an inevitable
part of the re-engineering process that we spent so much time examining
selection alternatives: that is, after all, what we were picked to do.
Inter-member communication between the nominators was via electronic mail,
and was generally satisfactory. We did have occasional snafu's, but the
delays introduced by such problems generally were no worse than those that
would have been introduced with postal mail. There were some times when
a more rigorous system of updates to each other might have helped. We
will apply this lesson to future Grand Council deliberations.
One positive side effect of a public commenting process, was that any
questions people have about the process, or any concerns they may have
about politics or bias, can be answered by inviting them to inspect public
comments and the records of our deliberations. People who do not like
the outcome can certainly question the judgement of the nominating
committee, but any chance of deliberate bias is very much reduced.
On the negative side, we didn't receive very much negative feedback, since
it would all be on the record. And our own negative discussions were kind
of inferential, avoiding making negative statements whenever we could, and
making those rather obliquely. (i.e., one of the most negative comments
made was " I know her personally, and I feel she would be a significant
detriment to the Grand Council.")
Overall, the open approach was a great success, but perhaps it could have
been improved. We took a different approach from the SCA business-as-
usual method. That method usually consists of a "Private Meeting, with
results announced and no explanations". The end result combined open
feedback from the members, fairness, and a positive sense among the
committee.
CONCLUSION
We followed an open, rigorous and fair process, which was complete, and
whose end result is a committee well balanced for the task at hand.
Preliminary response from the membership has been quite favorable, and
accepting the nominated slate as it stands would show the Board in a
favorable light. It would also assist the Grand Council with its work, if
the Board were seen to approve of this first recommendation from the
committee.
We, as the nominating committee, are pleased to present to you the
nominees as our recommendation for the balance of the Grand Council.
We recommend that you accept the candidates as written. Please contact
any of us if you have any questions.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Lady Caroline Forbes of Oxfordshire
Carol L. Smith
14713 Mill Spring Drive, Chesterfield, MO 63017-5654
+1 314 530 1836
clsmit@ccmail.monsanto.com
Baron Corwyn Da Costa
Martin Costa
359 America Ave, Sunnyvale, CA 94086
+1 408 738 1306
Mcosta@Leland.Stanford.edu corwyn@aol.com
Lord Tibor of Rock Valley
Mark Spetter Schuldenfrei
109 Milton St., Arlington, MA 02174-8734
+1 617 648 5326
NOSPAMschuldy@schuldy.org
For more information on the SCA, see the SCA Home Page
Last changed: 3-Apr-2006
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