Governance Review Workgroup Helping to Shape GSA's Future

By Executive Director and CEO James Appleby, BSPharm, MPH

The final numbers for the IAGG 2017 World Congress of Gerontology and Geriatrics are in, and they are impressive. GSA welcomed more than 6,000 participants to San Francisco, hailing from 80 countries. Serving as the host society for the World Congress provided a wonderful opportunity for GSA to further solidify its role as a connector, convener, and collaborator across the broad spectrum of stakeholders in the aging arena — on a national and international stage.

GSA has never been stronger and we are taking steps to ensure we remain vital in a dynamic environment. The next major milestone the Society will be building toward is our 75th anniversary in 2020. As we look to the future, GSA will continue to explore new ways to enhance the benefits we provide to all members, and evaluate opportunities for strengthening the Society for the next 75 years.

To that end, work is now underway to evaluate GSA's governance structure to determine if any modifications are warranted to ensure we’re operating in an effective manner that enables the Society to be future-focused. The GSA Council approved formation of a Governance Review Workgroup led by President Barbara Resnick. It will review our system of governance, including the membership structure, roles of various committees and interest groups, and the involvement of international members.

This work is being supported by an outside organization, Quantum Governance, L3C. This firm has been assigned the task of assessing the Society across eight critical functional areas, providing feedback and identifying gaps or areas for improvement that will help GSA achieve its vision, mission and strategic goals.

Recommendations from this workgroup are expected in the first half of 2018 and we need your help now to inform their deliberations. Watch for an e-mail survey invitation — sent by Quantum via SurveyGizmo — that will provide you the opportunity to have a voice in this review process.