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Global Board Candidates Sought for 2023 PDGA Elections

Global Board Candidates Sought for 2023 PDGA Elections

Monday, April 3, 2023 - 14:36

The PDGA seeks highly motivated active members who are interested in guiding the policies and strategic priorities for the global governing body of the sport of disc golf. Competitive candidates will demonstrate a background and expertise in the desired knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) listed below, as well as a passion for growing disc golf into a globally recognized recreational and competitive sport.

Beginning with the 2023 elections, the PDGA Global Board of Directors has updated the criteria, guidelines, and procedures for the global PDGA board candidate application process and has reconstituted the PDGA Global BOD Nominating Committee (NC) originally established in 2011 to manage the candidate process. The decision to make this change is driven by exponential growth of membership, sanctioned events, and overall financial position of the PDGA since the start of the pandemic. With this growth in membership comes the added benefit of having increasingly more members with specialties and professional backgrounds to help guide the association through these historic times. The updated qualification criteria and application process ensure we are able to properly screen, vet, and select candidates for the election ballot that best meet the current needs of the PDGA and its ever-growing membership base.

Candidate Qualification Criteria

  • Must be an active member in good standing and be at least 18 years of age as of September 1st of current election year
  • Must be an active member for at least two consecutive years as of the date of the first call for candidates (April 3, 2023)
  • Must not have been on PDGA suspension or probation within the last three years, including violation of the PDGA Community Guidelines; warnings within a 3-year period will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis
  • Must pass a criminal background check free of assaults, fraud, and/or other major negative indicators
  • Must have a history of conducting themselves in a positive and ethical manner as a member of the PDGA
  • Must not have a significant conflict of interest as identified in the PDGA COI Policy; must agree to sign nondisclosure and confidentiality agreement
  • Must be available to attend two in-person Summits per year (generally in the Spring and Fall, two days each); must be available to attend video conference meeting once per month typically scheduled for the second Tuesday of the month from 4:00 -7:00 pm ET.
  • Must have access to electronic device capable of video conferencing via Zoom, opening Microsoft Office documents, accessing the internet and email, and similar general office administration functions

Candidate Application Process

The self-nominating process has been changed from submitting a 1-page online form, to prospective candidates now completing the below requirements. All candidate material must be submitted to the NC no later than April 30, 2023, 11:59 pm EDT, by emailing [email protected].

  • Submit a professional cover letter and resume containing the following information:
    • Your intent to run for the Global BOD with the acknowledgement that this position comes with legal fiduciary responsibilities and you are willing to take on those responsibilities if elected
    • Personal goals and priorities as a Director should you be elected. Simply explain why you are running and what you want to accomplish during your tenure
    • List your specific experience, background, certifications, etc., that qualify you to accomplish your goals and priorities and how they align with the PDGA’s KSAs, strategic priorities, and core competencies
    • Disclose any conflict of interest items as detailed in the PDGA COI Policy
  • Submit three letters of recommendations attesting to your experience, qualifications, and character, with at least one reference provided by an active PDGA member.
  • Applications will be received and initially reviewed for completeness by the NC. You will receive an acknowledgement of receipt from the NC and any follow-on instructions if required.

Desired Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs)

  • Experience developing or managing youth sports and/or recreation programs
  • Olympic and/or collegiate sports experience at the management and event organization level; management experience with other sporting governing bodies
  • Executive management/leadership experience
  • Experience with developing/managing diversity and equity programs
  • Experience with policy and strategic planning development
  • Legal background
  • Accounting, finance, and/or investment management experience
  • Education background, curriculum development
  • Proficient in marketing, advertising, and/or sponsorship programs
  • Strong background in media and communications fields

PDGA Priorities

  • Increase number of competitive opportunities for members
  • Further develop Youth & Education programs and opportunities
  • Education and Training of Event Directors and members (e.g., online training, regional training, etc.)
  • Enhanced Affiliate Club Program (more structure, increase value)
  • Increase participation of underserved demographics
  • Enhance PDGA Majors and Worlds Championships
  • International growth, programs, and services

PDGA Core Competencies

  • Enabling and supporting organized sanctioned disc golf events.
  • Providing membership services that enable organized disc golf competition at all levels that help fund the PDGA’s mission to promote, grow, and sustain the sport of disc golf around the world.

Nominating Committee

NC Composition

NC members will consist of three to five PDGA members. When possible, one or two should be past Directors of the Global BOD, with the remaining two consisting of members with strong backgrounds matching the desired KSAs for the current election cycle. The initial members of the NC will be selected by the Global BOD and the Executive Director; however, for subsequent years the NC will select members of the committee independent of the BOD and ED. The NC will elect the Chair of the committee from within their current group, who will lead the committee through their charter. NC members may only serve two consecutive years on the committee before they are required to sit out for at least two years before being reconsidered for this committee once again. The NC is charged with initial screening, vetting, and ballot selection of the candidates. The names of of the NC members will be posted on the PDGA's Committee page after they are selected.

NC Process

  • Initial screening: Nominating Committee reviews cover letters and resumes. The initial review may eliminate candidates who are significantly under-qualified or do not meet the minimum candidate qualification criteria to run for the BOD.
  • Vetting: Ensure the candidates have a clean disciplinary history and are in good standing with the PDGA.
  • Interviews: Conduct video interviews with the remaining candidates.
  • Selection: NC ranks candidates and selects up to 6 nominees for every 2 open positions, and 7 nominees for every 3 open positions. If there are not 6-7 qualified candidates, the NC may select fewer candidates for the ballot. Selection will be based on best qualified to meet the needs of the PDGA as advertised in the call for candidates.
  • Background Check: Criminal background checks will be run on the selected candidates before they are officially approved for the ballot and notified of their selection. Should an applicant not pass the background check, the next nominee in line will take their place.
  • Notification: Candidates will be notified of the results of the selection process.

Note: A key change to this year’s process is only 6 of the most qualified candidates will make it onto the ballot. This change is being introduced to ensure individual member votes have the most impact when selecting the candidates to best represent their interests. In recent elections there has been up to 18 candidates on the ballot, many of which received under 10% of votes with very little chance of winning. We have received member feedback that the candidate field needs to be reduced as to not dilute member votes across a very large field of candidates. 6-7 candidates are also a large enough field to provide a diverse list of qualified nominees while allowing members adequate time to fully review their stated priorities and experience before selecting 2-3 candidates who best represent their interests.

Key Dates

  • April 3-30: Call for PDGA Global Board candidates published. Candidate application are due NO LATER THAN Apr 30, 2023, 11:59 pm ET. Late submission will not be accepted so please allow time for unforeseen circumstances.
  • May 1-30: Nominating Committee process begins.
  • June 1-30: On June 1, the official candidates will be listed on PDGA.com. PDGA Radio interviews with candidate will also commence and be posted on their bios NO LATER THAN Jun 15.
  • July 1-31: Member voting period.
  • August 1: Results released.
  • September 1: Newly elected Directors begin three-year terms.

Comments

Submitted by biggernyce on

I'd like to nominate Jennifer Castro for the board of directors. Jennifer is the best candidate for the job, and has the best intentions for our sport. She has my full support.

These are totally communistic standards put in place by a board who found a way to prevent the opposition to thier warped sense of reality from being able to run for the BOD therefore sealing thier silliness for years to come which will be the ruin of this organization

Submitted by tuminoid on

This is power grab by Nate and cronies, a coup. Making sure they can filter away anyone who might oppose them. Thinly veiled to pretend its for everyone’s best. We did not vote for this and nothing like this should be implemented by board decision alone.

This is going to be long but I think it needs to be said. This is why I suck at Twitter, I can't make a logically sound argument with a limit of 280 characters. I agree with some of the comments about the BOD becoming a little too full of themselves. Not "communistic" as one comment above states, this is more like Fascism.

The ONLY real "qualification" should involve you being an active member, at least 2 consecutive years seems reasonable. Perhaps being a Certified Official is another good idea. And doing something to demonstrate that you are not just a "taker" like some of the Pros who now get ridiculous amounts of cash playing & with sponsorships, while never lifting a finger to advance disc golf outside of their own greed. Designing a course, running a recurring league, or being a regular TD or staff takes a TON of extra work with zero reimbursement. THOSE should be considerations. Most Pros wouldn't know how to run an event if their life depended on it. Some of the behavioral stuff (suspensions, criminal record) should be considered but maybe on a case-by-case basis instead of a blanket policy.

Many of us that have been organizers since the last millennium have given our heart & soul & blood & sweat & tears to the sport while asking for NOTHING in return - except for maybe a "Thank You" once in a while. Instead we get touring pros that get all whiny and bitchy when they didn't get as much prize money as they think they "deserve", or they try to intimidate the TD into bending the rules in their favor or some other thing. Not all pros do this of course, but the complaints and criticisms I've personally experienced as a TD have ALWAYS been from Pros. Ams compete for the love of the sport, maybe some new plastic...and in most cases some of their potential prize pool ends up being shifted to the Pro divisions using shady number crunching so the PDGA doesn't find out....or maybe they DO know but don't care as long as the player/non-member/sanctioning fee conveyor belt keeps pouring money in their direction. Therefore at the very least TOURING pros should be disqualified form the BOD. They should be out touring, their heads should be in the game NOT in the Board Room. I can see a whole lot of conflict of interest coming down the pike if a Board dominated by Pros gets to make ALL the decisions about rules and tournament standards.

As far as any of those other qualifications, the resume? The letters of recommendation? This is Disc Golf for crying out loud, not the BOD of Apple or IBM...in fact their BOD's probably have looser requirements!! The qualifications should have been presented to the membership at large as a list of options and let the MEMBERS decide which qualifications are important. Yet, here we are, and we have less than ONE MONTH to get our "qualifications" in order, let alone bring up any opposition or problems with the current direction. That stinks of "let's sneak this under the radar" RIGHT at what is the actual start of the competitive season in many parts of the world. An organization that has nothing to fear from its membership would certainly give MORE time than that!

The sport has exploded over the last two years, and it seems to me that the Board is trying to take advantage of that situation; as the general membership grows, they want to plow unpopular decisions right through so that they don't have to resort to pesky democratic (little d) principles. This is a conflict of interest train wreck heading right over the cliff. I've advocated for YEARS that the PDGA needs to split into two organizations, one for PROS and one for AMS - why not an ADGA?. We are the ONLY Sports organization in the world that combines Pros and Ams under the same structure and rules. Would this work for the NHL, the NFL, THE NBA or Major League Baseball? Anyone not familiar with disc golf (and especially the politics of it at the PDGA), when I try to explain to them how Pros and Ams are governed by the same body they can't believe its allowed to exist that way, and cite the other major sports leagues as examples. Sure, combining the two made perfect sense when it was new and it was a challenge to get even half of the spots filled in any given event. I think we are WAY beyond that point now, and as a result our organizations need to grow and adapt to the new normal.

The local school where my wife is a teacher and my son is in 8th grade (both also PDGA Members) has a BOD that I tried to get onto. You know why they wouldn't let me? Because they DON'T elect members to the Board like a normal school district, their Articles of Organization were rewritten (more like perverted), so that the Board gets to choose who the next Directors are...so can you guess what happens? All decisions of the BOD are miraculously "unanimous" so there is no debate, no arguments, no dissension. Just a pseudo-Monarchist structure (think King & Queens) where successors are CHOSEN, not elected, to represent the greater community? In a nutshell that is what is going on here - the current Board is trying to fix it so that THEY have to approve of candidates before WE, as faithful dues-paying MEMBERS, get to vote on the candidates. That's like Putin's Russia, where he miraculously gets 99% of the "popular" vote in every election. That is the opposite of democracy.

Thank you for your time, I wish I could submit an application to run for the BOD, but I don't meet enough of those qualifications listed above. I'm also retired so my days of filling out resumes and asking for letters of recommendation are LONG GONE.

Sincerely,
Michael "Wildman" Wildner #12132, active member every year since 1996, a TD since 2000, volunteer in my regional and State disc golf organizations, but apparently that won't be enough to qualify me for this Board.

Submitted by Pizza God on

Well, I was thinking about running this year. I put the idea out on social media last time and got a positive response. I think I have something to offer, but what I see above is all about eliminating people using excuses only because of a certain subject they feel strongly about.