Board - Director

Reports To: Board of Directors

Summary: Responsible for fulfilling governance responsibilities, ensuring compliance with applicable laws and bylaws, conducting Board business effectively and efficiently and holding overall accountability for their performance. The Board provides strategic leadership, including fiduciary responsibility, keeping the Agency’s mission front and centre.

Governance Responsibilities

  • Adhere to Agency values and beliefs;
  • Awareness of Agency Governance policies and procedures; Bylaws confidentiality; abide by the Board’s conflict of interest policy;
  • Maintain a culture of honesty and integrity, open debate respecting the diversity of viewpoints and styles, forthright examination of all issues while striving for a consensual approach to decision making;
  • Commit to regularly attend Board (up to 3 hours per month) and Committee meetings (up to 2 hours per month), if applicable;
  • Complete the necessary background preparation in order to participate effectively in meetings of the Board;
  • Vote on matters that come before the Board at its meetings;
  • Respect Board of Directors’ decisions once these have been reached;
  • Review the minutes and other materials; 
  • Keep informed about matters relating to the Agency, the community and the broader social and health systems;
  • Participate in training, including governance/fiduciary roles, responsibilities, liabilities and conflicts of interest;
  • Periodically represent the Board in external activities such as liaison with consumers and other stakeholders;
  • Participate in an annual evaluation of the overall Board effectiveness.

Planning

  • Develop, review and approve the mission, values and strategic directions of the Agency every three to five years, in collaboration with staff, clients and community stakeholders;
  • Review Agency by-laws, at least every four years, one year prior to the accreditation site review;
  • Review the Agency’s and departmental annual work plans based upon the strategic directions that were established in the Strategic Plan;
  • Ensure that the process of Board recruitment results in Board members who are diversified, knowledgeable, skilled, committed and representative of the stakeholders;
  • Ensure that the Board conducts a needs analysis at least annually to identify any gaps in Board representation and recruits accordingly.

Regulations

  • Develop written governing policies, which, are reviewed at least every four years one year prior to the accreditation site review;
  • Comply with relevant legislation when developing and overseeing Agency policies;
  • Govern according to the Agency’s by-laws and relevant laws, rules and regulations to which the Agency is subject;
  • Maintain a clear distinction between the Board and management roles by focusing on matters of policy and risk rather than day-to-day operations;
  • Review and address the number and pattern of client and/or community complaints, incident reports, serious occurrences and staff complaints;
  • Review hazard identification and accident reports and identify trends in order to mitigate risk;
  • Review annual quality improvement reports.

Finances

  • Strive to obtain sufficient resources for the Agency to achieve its Mission;
  • Approve year-to-date monthly financial statements, operating budgets and extraordinary expenditures, pension governance compliance checklist;
  • Review and approve audited financial statements;
  • If necessary, address dissolution of the corporation and ensure the Agency’s assets and interests of its clients and staff are protected;
  • Ensure the protection of the Agency’s business interests, including corporate opportunities, assets and confidential information;
  • Ensure Board duties are executed in a manner that is transparent and seen to be fair and would bear close public scrutiny;
  • Declare a conflict of interest with respect to fiduciary responsibilities.

Human Resources

  • Annually evaluate the performance of the Executive Director;
  • Ensure uninterrupted leadership during planned and unplanned absences, or sudden loss of the Executive Director;
  • Review and address all summarized exit interviews monthly for staff and volunteers and annually for students.  Review and address annual staff turnover reports.

Internal Communications

  • Support the Agency through involvement at special events.

Community Relations/Marketing

  • Promote the Agency in the community.

Core Competencies

  • Communication
  • Team Work
  • Creative and Innovative Thinking
  • Decision Making and Judgement
  • Planning and Organizing
  • Accountability and Dependability
  • Ethics and Integrity

If you are interested in volunteering on the St. Leonard's Community Services Inc. Board of Directors please email Becky Norman, Executive Director of Operations at becky.norman@soarcs.ca.

You can also see our current Management Team and Board of Directors.