As the Association of Pool & Spa Professionals continues to seek a replacement for its CEO, the trade group also is reorganizing its leadership structure.
“This is a transformational reorganization of our government that allows people to become engaged in smaller periods of time,” said APSP Chairman Steve Gorlin. “There are going to be more opportunities in different ways.”
For the past several months, the organization reached out to members via survey, focus groups and visits with Gorlin to discuss what professionals would like to see from APSP. They also researched how other successful associations handle their leadership.
APSP officials believe a large deterrent to involvement has been the required time commitments. Board and council members meet in person at least four times a year in different places around the country. In between, they hold meetings via telephone and discuss issues and take votes several times. In the case of the Board of Directors, it can take years of involvement before getting on track to become chairman.
With the change, APSP’s leadership structure will become less focused on the board and large councils, with their longer time commitments, and more reliant on an increased number of project-specific task forces formed to accomplish specific goals, present their findings and recommendations to the board, then disband.
The councils will remain in place.
APSP will reduce its board from the current slate of 24 positions to a count of seven to 11 professionals who will play a more strategic, big-picture role. Its Executive Board, which included the top five board directors, has been disbanded.
Additionally, term limits were shortened. Whereas previously, directors could serve a succession of three-year terms, with a potential total of 10 years (including an extra year for the chair), terms now have been reduced to two years each, with the potential for a total of six (with a seventh for the chair).
“So it provides a greater richness in terms of the input that you’re getting in the decision-making as opposed to just expecting all that to reside within the board table itself,” said Bill Weber, APSP’s CEO.
The change is meant not only to appeal to the time-strapped, but also to younger professionals, who respond more to issues than process.
“It’s a breath of fresh air,” Gorlin said. “It gives an opportunity for APSP to look out to the industry and take advantage of all the talent that we have out there.”
APSP will work on implementing the changes over the next few months.
In the meantime, the group also continues its search to replace Weber, who retires at the end of 2013. Candidates currently are being identified, and preliminary interviews are expected to take place in June. At the July board meeting, two finalists are to be interviewed, with the final selection to come shortly afterward.
Weber expects his replacement to start around the beginning of September, after which Weber will serve in an advisory capacity until his Dec. 31 departure.
