Y a-t-il avantage à nommer un Administrateur principal (Lead Director) lorsque les postes de PCD (président et chef de la direction) et de PCA (président du conseil) d’une OBNL sont occupés par la même personne ? L’article de Dr Fram avance que les pratiques des OBNL devraient être les mêmes que celles des sociétés publiques : c’est-à-dire que la fonction d’administrateur principal s’avère très utile lorsque la situation de dualité de rôles est susceptible d’engendrer des conflits. L’article présente les avantages d’avoir une personne (un bénévole) bien entraînée à exercer le rôle de président du conseil. Mais l’article présente l’administrateur principal plutôt comme un coach que comme une personne qui joue ce rôle en permanence ! Qu’en pensez-vous ?
L’article présente également le commentaire de Mark Soundie, un expert de la gouvernance des OBNL.

Designating a ‘Lead Director’ Can Help Nonprofit Boards
« Few nonprofit boards do a great job of overseeing their organizations. Both nonprofit board members and CEO’s share that concern: Asked to rank their performance with academic-style grades by the nonprofit group BoardSource, chief executives gave their boards a C+, while board members gave themselves a B.
The use of such directors became popular as a way to deal with the public concern about the business world that prompted passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley law in 2002. That legislation spurred the New York Stock Exchange to enshrine the idea of lead directors as a way to show that a company was well governed. Given how time consuming it is to serve as a nonprofit board chair, especially of a complicated organization like a university or hospital, it seems logical to empower another volunteer to formally fulfill some of the responsibilities expected of a board chair.
A lead director can assist the chair in the day-to-day needs of leading a board (while not micromanaging) and to assist in rehabilitating a dysfunctional board. This is especially important when the chair has little management or board experience. (Example: a concert pianist chairs a social-services board.) At first glance, adding a lead director to the structure of a nonprofit board seems like formalizing a position in a way that could impede the relationship among the chair, the CEO, and other board members.
The lead director should be viewed as just the opposite, as the business world has demonstrated. H/she can help the CEO work more effectively and efficiently with board committees, especially in driving the work of the strategic-planning groups. What’s more, the lead director can be an additional consultant or mentor to the CEO, especially when the board chair is unavailable. Because the lead director would help the board run better, this move could also do much to build morale at nonprofit groups ».
Articles reliés :
- Most Small Nonprofits are Screwed (myersbowman.wordpress.com)
- Nonprofit Board Chairs (nonprofitboardcrisis.typepad.com)
- For-profits need the nonprofits (mysanantonio.com)
- Nonprofit Board Chair Selection (nonprofitboardcrisis.typepad.com)