Everyone counts in NEHA.

  Cannibals on the Loose
    A big corporation recently hired several cannibals.
    "You are all part of our team now," said the HR rep during the
  welcoming briefing.
    "You get all the usual benefits and you can go to the cafeteria for
  something to cat, but please don't cat any of the other employees."
    The cannibals promised.
    Four weeks later, their boss remarked, "You're all working very
  hard, and I'm satisfied with you. However, one of our secretaries has
  disappeared. Do any of you know what happened to her?" The cannibals
  all shook their heads no.
    After the boss had left, the leader of the cannibals said to the
  others, "Which one of you idiots ate the secretary?" A hand rose
  hesitantly, to which the leader of the cannibals continued, "You fool!
  For four weeks we've been eating managers and supervisors, and no one
  noticed anything, then you had to go and eat a secretary!"
    --From SeibCo LLC Weekly Email (May 31, 2005)

Our association's board of directors meets formally four times a year. I attend each of these meetings to report on association activities, respond to questions and concerns, and obtain direction on how our board would like to have various matters handled. Although I am involved in many interactions with the board--including some that are very complicated and intense--my job also requires me to step back and observe. From the perspective of an observer, I am able to understand and appreciate the board as the separate and independent body that it is.

As a legitimate "body" in its own right, our board (like any board) has its own value system, its own culture, and its own way of setting priorities. Understanding these points--which is to say, understanding the body as a whole (in addition to understanding the 15 individual directors who sit on our board)--is as important a responsibility as I have. I say that because it is through these understandings that we achieve the critical linkage between what NEHA ultimately does and what gets expressed through the much more abstract process of governance.

Having introduced the idea that a board such as ours has a mindset and value system of its own, I think it is instructive to examine what that mindset and value system looks like. It will be my pleasure to explore this topic with you in the paragraphs ahead and, by doing so, to provide the assurance that in NEHA, everyone matters. In contrast to the cannibal story, should we ever lose any of our people, it would be noticed!

My way of giving you a sense of our board's value system will be to cite some highlights from our two most recent meetings. Let me warn you, however, that this list of highlights, will look a little different from most such lists. My focus will not be as much on big ticket outcomes as on the discussions that led to those outcomes, because it is in these discussions that our board's value system can be more easily seen.

1. Over the last several months, the board has met twice. At its spring meeting, the board decided to take the NEHA 2008 annual conference to Tucson, Arizona. There were many good reasons for this decision--ranging from low hotel room rates to the opportunity to provide an exceptional environmental experience for everyone to the many surrounding sites that we thought our members would find appealing. In addition to everything else, however, the board was taken by the opportunity that Tucson offered to provide our members with a fabulous resort experience. Our board appreciates that working in environmental health isn't likely to fund too many resort excursions! The opportunity therefore to make such an experience available to the profession was one that the board jumped at--so focused is it on each and every member, and what NEHA might do to provide all members with enjoyable life experiences. (The board followed the same logic in the decision to hold the 2004 AEC in Alaska so that many of our members could have a once-in-a-lifetime experience of getting to Alaska--through NEHA.)

2. In another discussion at the spring meeting, the board talked about how NEHA might work more closely with state environmental health directors. These individuals are obviously very important to our profession and its aspirations. In that discussion, time and again, various directors commented that while this connection was important to NEHA, NEHA also needed to be careful not to give the impression that in working with state environmental health directors, we were somehow diminishing the importance of our connection with all environmental health practitioners irrespective of the level of their employment position. In other words, our board insisted that NEHA must always be an association that represents everyone who practices in this profession.

3. At numerous times during both the spring and the AEC board meetings, the issue of students came up. (Actually this happens at virtually every NEHA board meeting.) To ensure that students receive as much encouragement and support from NEHA as possible, the board acted to a) move forward with a plan to offer scholarships to students to attend the AEC, b) defend academic programs offering environmental health degrees, c) support the presentation of a special section of our Web site devoted to students, and d) work closely with various groups involved with students. Repeatedly, members of our board emphasized the need to be mindful of how NEHA could help students as we consider various programs, products, and policies. At times it even seems that no issue can be discussed without consideration of its implications for students--so complete is the board's commitment to this segment of the association.

4. After making its decision on Tucson, the board opened up a discussion on potential sites for the 2009 AEC. In that discussion, the board again reaffirmed its commitment to rotating the conference all around the country. By taking the AEC to different locations, the board ensures that all NEHA members will periodically have the opportunity to drive to a conference, thereby saving money. We understand that not everyone can afford the expense of traveling to a conference. To ensure that we are taking care of all of our members, our board is adamant about following this policy.

5. For years we have functioned as a market-driven organization, which simply means that we spend a lot of time listening to the people of this profession so that we can better provide them with the products, services, and support that they need. What is important to note is that when we do polling or survey work, we make the effort to visit with and listen to all of our people--and not just those who occupy the higher-level positions in the profession. Everyone's opinions count in NEHA.

6. With the backing--and even urging--of our board, we've dealt with a couple of instances this year in which the system that we follow to produce candidates for our elections just didn't work. When no candidates voluntarily came forward to run for office, our board was perfectly within its prerogative (and our articles of incorporation and bylaws) to appoint someone to fill the open position. Rather than making such appointments, however, the board authorized an elaborate and costly process to ensure that every single member in the affected regions was invited to consider running for the open offices. It was important to the leadership of this association that all members be individually asked and invited to run for elective office.

7. At the AEC meeting, the board examined NEHA's mechanism that allows floor nominations (for elective office) to take place at the AEC. While the mechanism isn't perfect and isn't altogether fair to those who have properly complied with our election processes, the board nonetheless concluded that all members should have this last-minute right to run for office, Accordingly, they allowed this provision of our articles of incorporation and bylaws to stand.

I could go on, but I think these examples fulfill the purpose of my column. This board--your board--operates from a value system that values and respects all members of the association (and, for that matter, all members of our profession). No class, grade, or specialty holds prominence over any other in NEHA. We are all in this together. Moreover, NEHA is working to ensure that all of its members get the support they deserve from their national professional society.

Moral to the story: If we were to hire any cannibals to work for us and they got loose in the membership, you can be assured that we would quickly notice if anyone was missing! Everyone counts in NEHA.

Epilogue: I have tried to weave a thread of humor into this column even though the message is a very serious one. Nonetheless--and to drive home the point--we have indeed lost a number of people from our membership. And it has been noticed. A number of members have chosen not to renew, and we feel their loss in a diminished vitality within the organization. We have also lost some very special people who have passed on, such as Claire Schmutz and Vincent Sikora, to name just two. We miss them dearly.

Nelson Fabian, M.S.

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