FY18 SWE PNW Election & Section Rep Role Update

Society Bylaws Update
As you may know, SWE is in the process of updating its governance structure. One of the changes that impacts us at a section level is the passing of society bylaws amendment S1704: Region Council.

This amendment changes the section representative determination from 1 representative per 100 members (no more than 4) to 1 section representative per section or MAL.

Impact to SWE PNW Bylaws
SWE PNW has previously had 4 section representative slots on the ballot based on our section's membership (we're one of the largest sections). Additionally, our section bylaws outlines that the President-elect shall serve as a section representative (Section 3, Article B, Item 4).

To support the society level bylaws amendment, the SWE PNW Executive Council (EC) met on Sunday, February 19, 2017 to discuss how we would approach the FY18 election cycle. Quorum was established as a majority of the members of the EC were present, two of whom were president, vice president, or section representative:

Position	Name(s)	Attendance
President	Grace Lefebure	X
President-Elect	Open	---
VP, Outreach	Rosie Pham
VP, Professional Development	Katie Elliott	X
Treasurer	Suzanne Hakam	X
Secretary	Connie Starr	X
Section Representative	Elaine Reeves	X
Section Representative	Kalyani Mallela
Section Representative	Sonia Hingorany	X
Section Representative	Theresa Krack	X

After discussion of our section Bylaws, Theresa Krack proposed the following motion:

• For the FY18 election cycle, the President-elect position will not be considered as a Section Representative for the section;
• For the FY18 election cycle, there will be one (1) Section Representative slot on the ballot; and
• For FY18, the President-elect will not serve as section representative.

The motion was seconded by Grace Lefebure and opened for discussion.

After the discussion concluded, the vote was put to the EC. All those in attendance voted in favor of the amendment. Having establish quorum, the motion passed.

Update from WE Local San Jose Region J Meeting
Following the SWE PNW bylaws meeting, there was clarification given on the future of the Section Representative role as a part of the Region J meeting at WE Local San Jose on Sunday, February 26, 2017. The following information and clarification was provided:

• The restructuring to take focus off geography is to be in place by the end of FY18.
• Regions shall be dissolved by the end of FY18.
• At the end of FY17, Sections will elect their last Section Representative.
• The elected Section Representative will serve the FY18 term.
• After FY18, the Section Representative role will no longer exist as it was a role tied to reporting to and interfacing with the Region level.

If you have any questions about this motion or the impact to the FY18 SWE PNW election cycle, please contact your section representatives at swe.pnw.section.reps@gmail.com.

SWE Society Governance Updates
For additional information on the item related to the governance updates, please refer to the following:

• WE16 Senate Meeting: Bylaw Amendments Voting Result
• Region J Senators' Blog
• SWE Governance Update
• Post questions and suggestions to governance@swe.org
• Visit governance.swe.org for history, reference materials, webinars
• Receive text updates by texting SWE Governance to 56512 on your mobile phone

Ongoing SWE PNW Bylaws Review
The SWE PNW EC is continuing the process of reviewing our complete bylaws to ensure that they are updated to support this change as well as any other necessary changes to align with the society level bylaws changes. This also includes looking at the roles and responsibilities for our elected officers.

If you are interested in learning more about our review process or helping, please contact our section president at swepnw.president@gmail.com.


---
Article By: Theresa Krack, FY17 Section Representative