GRAND COUNCIL NOMINATING COMMITTEE REPORT TO THE BOARD OF THE SCA, Inc. Final Version Author: Mark Spetter Schuldenfrei April 19, 1995 Greetings from the Grand Council Nominating Committee: Carol L. Smith, Chair (Lady Caroline Forbes of Oxfordshire) Martin Costa (Baron Corwyn Da Costa) Mark Spetter Schuldenfrei (Lord Tibor of Rock Valley) EXECUTIVE SUMMARY We, as the nominating committee, are pleased to present to you the following nominees as our unanimous recommendation for the balance of the Grand Council: Phil Anderson (Edward the Discalceate) Caid/Southron Gaard Michael Andrews (Michael Fenwick of Fotheringay) Ansteorra Guy Cox (Brian O'Seabac) West Edward L. Eisenstein (Alban St. Albans) Calontir Colette Goodyear (Alienor Llanfaes) East Nigel Haslock (Fiacha Mac Neill) An Tir Joseph Heck (Terras) Calontir Kristofer L. Hellstrom (Edric Aaron Hartwood) Caid Frederick Hollander (Frederick of Holland) West Scott Keys (Arthur the Dented) East Eric Langhans (Modius Monsdraconis) Ansteorra James McManus (Magnus Maguire) Middle Steven Muhlberger (Finnvarr de Taahe) Middle Sven Noren (Frithiof Skagge) Drachenwald Gerald O'Leary (Gyrth Oldcastle) Atlantia Brian Price (Brion Thornbird) West Carole C. Roos (Alyson de Ros) Middle Greg Rose (Hossein Ali Qomi) East P. David Schroeder (Bertram of Bearington) East Janna Spanne (Caitlin Gwynstlum) Drachenwald The nominating committee originally consisted of three members appointed by the Board: Sandra Dodd (Mistress AElflaed of Duckford), Carol and Mark. Sandra resigned part way through the process, and after much searching, Martin agreed to fill out the third seat. The Board was informed of his appointment at the January meeting and called it an "internal decision". Each of us independently reviewed the applicant list and made recommendations for the Council. Our criteria were modern professional backgrounds appropriate to the topic, variety of experience, geographic distribution, and to introduce no obvious bias. We received 99 applications, and many comments on the applicants, before we finished the process. Individuals with unanimous independent approval were added to our list. Those with two positive votes were added with the approval of the remaining member. One candidate was added to additionally represent Canada (with unanimous approval). Finally, each of us chose two persons to fill the remaining seats, pending approval from the other two members. Below are details on each step, information on the candidates, data on the demographics of the applicants and current Grand Council members, and a brief discussion of the selection process. We recommend that you accept the candidates as written. We are available to answer questions, and all of our deliberations are public record, and can be sent to you upon request. INFORMATION ON THE NOMINATING COMMITTEE MEMBERS Carol L. Smith (Lady Caroline Forbes of Oxfordshire) is a 30 year old resident of St. Louis, Missouri (Barony of Three Rivers, Calontir). She has a Masters in Business Administration from the MIT Sloan School of Management, and a B.A. in Economics from Duke University. Her current job is as a Process Improvement Manager for Monsanto. She is a former Seneschal for the Kingdom of Atlantia. She was selected by the Board to be the Chair of the Grand Council and head of the nominating committee. Mark S. Schuldenfrei (Lord Tibor of Rock Valley) is a 33 year old software engineer, specializing in Quality Assurance for database systems, transaction management and symbolic processing computer systems. He attended Brandeis University, and lives in Boston MA (Barony of Carolingia, East) He has a baronial and kingdom service award, is a member of CSOS and a petitioner in the Mandamus action. He was selected by the Board to the Grand Council and the nominating committee. Sandra Dodd (Mistress AElflaed of Duckford) is a resident of Albuquerque, New Mexico and a mother of 3. She is a former Steward and Executive Director of the Society, Former Society Chronicler, and former Seneschal of the Outlands. She had been appointed to the Grand Council and the nominating committee by the Board, but resigned without prior notice early in January 1995. She forwarded a set of applications she had collected to Carol. Sandra's resignation left the nominating committee under-strength. Carol and Mark attempted to find a replacement among the previously appointed members to the Grand Council. We looked for someone who would not only be prepared for the hard work, but who could also represent a more conservative point view. After after asking two candidates, and receiving two rejections, we found a volunteer. Martin Costa (Baron Corwyn Da Costa) is a 30 year old recent graduate (1994) with a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Southern California, and has a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley. He also has sales and management experience. Within the Society, he is an experienced autocrat and group officer. Martin is the West Kingdom's appointee to the Grand Council. THE PLANNED PROCESS FOR SELECTING GRAND COUNCIL NOMINEES Sandra was originally asked by the Board to form the Grand Council. She began assembling candidates through an informal process of word-of-mouth and electronic solicitation of candidates. At the October 1994 Meeting, the Board re-opened the process, appointed the nominating committee, and appointed Carol chair of both groups. Sandra claims to have sent all the applications and comments to Carol. They were received in December. When Carol became Chair of the Grand Council, she advertised for applications in the December 1994 issue of every Kingdom newsletter, plus Lochac's. Carol also advertised electronically for applicants. Carol's advertisement: THE GRAND COUNCIL WANTS YOU! The Grand Council has been formed to study the corporate and organizational structure of the SCA, Inc. and to make recommendations for changes necessary to carry out the Society's mission given a global organization. Potential topics include the relationship between the Corporation and Society branches, services provided by the Corporation, and the Corporate governing documents. WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR: Gentles with a variety of Society and modern backgrounds and experiences will make up the Grand Council. You need to be able to communicate with the Grand Council frequently by email or on paper for about the next 2 years. You'll also be expected to discuss Grand Council issues with gentles in your area. Please contact Lady Caroline (info below) for more information on the Grand Council and its work. To apply, please send a letter or resume by 31 DECEMBER 1994 with your modern and SCA experiences to: All applicants were to nominate themselves and there were no specific applicant requirements other than a Society and modern resume. The deadline for consideration was December 31, 1994. We intended, however, to accept late applicants until the selection process was completed. We received 99 written and electronic applications before the end of the selection process (some duplicates, some lost in the transfer, and some new). In early January, Carol and Mark asked for comments on the applicants. We all received dozens of comments. All comments received are public record. The nominating committee discussed the process by which we would consider and select candidates. We concluded that all commentary and discussions by the nominating committee would become public record. We were concerned that potential candidates ought to be able to answer questions about their backgrounds if any were raised during the process. Commentary received electronically and our deliberations are all available on line to anyone whose has computer access. These can be found at ftp.gc.sca.org /pub/sca_gc. Arrangements can be made for people without electronic access to receive copies. It is, however, quite long. We agreed that our basic mechanism would be as described here by Carol in one of her messages (dated January 26, 1995): "Read the background documents and the applications. For each applicant, decide yes, no, or maybe. Then we'll compare lists. The people who are yes's on all three lists are in. The unanimous no's are out. The rest we discuss. At any time you may take yourself out of the discussion for any candidate. You don't have to tell us why, but you should agree to abide by the decision of the other 2 people on that candidate." The plan was for each of us to produce independent lists, and combine them. We would accept each candidate with 3 independent yes votes, discuss those with 2 yes votes, analyze where we were, and continue from that point. We did not have a specific plan for how to continue past that point. Given that the Grand Council is to be an advisory committee, not an action group, we felt it best if the nominees be the most qualified candidates. While modern qualifications were strongly considered, we also intended to avoid skewing in favor of any one Kingdom, keep a good geographic and international balance, find diversity of experience, and keep the selections proportional to the level of nominations from each Kingdom. We were prepared to rebalance the nominations list if it became skewed. International members were encouraged to have electronic mail, since the inevitable delays of conventional mail would handicap their participation. WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED DURING THE SELECTION PROCESS After the deadline for applications had passed, Carol asked Sandra and Mark if they were ready to go. After some discussions, Sandra decided to drop off both the nominating committee and the Grand Council. Carol and Mark agreed that we should find a replacement for Sandra, specifically one that could represent a more conservative point of view. We approached two people, Michael Potter (Sir Myrdinn the Just, the East's nominee) and Nathan Clarenburg (Sir Nathan Adelaar, Calontir's nominee): each declined for personal reasons. A few other people were informally polled by Carol, and they also declined. Finally, Martin Costa (Baron Corwyn Da Costa) agreed to serve. We sent word on this to the January 1995 Board meeting and were instructed to continue, as this was an "internal decision". Carol set a deadline of February 4th for us to produce lists. We each worked independently, reviewing all the resumes and dozens of letters of comment. We finished shortly after the deadline. Carol's and Mark's lists were sent February 5th, and Martin's was completed February 7th. Carol released a combined list on February 14, 1995. It listed all candidates that had received either 2 or 3 independent votes. After a small amount of discussion, we each accepted the entire set. The original 12 nominees (in alphabetical order) were: Guy Cox (Brian O'Seabac) West (3 Yes) Dorian Davis (Matsuyama Yoshitoshi) Southern Gaard (2 Yes) Colette Goodyear (Alienor Llanfaes) East (3 Yes) Frederick Hollander (Frederick of Holland) West (3 Yes) Scott Keys (Arthur the Dented) East (3 Yes) Eric Langhans (Modius Monsdraconis) Ansteorra (2 Yes) James McManus (Magnus Maguire) Middle (2 Yes) Sven Noren (Frithiof Skagge) Drachenwald (3 Yes) Brian Price (Brion Thornbird) West (2 Yes) Carole C. Roos (Alyson de Ros) Middle (3 Yes) P. David Schroeder (Bertram of Bearington) East (3 Yes) Janna Spanne (Caitlin Gwynstlum) Drachenwald (2 Yes) This left us with 8 seats to fill. We began to discuss the necessity of filling all the seats. Our opinions varied, and we solicited opinions from a number of other people. The discussion waved back and forth. As this was happening, we received one late resume, and one application that seemed to have been misplaced: Greg Rose (Hossein Ali Qomi) East. We discussed him quite a bit, and Carol and Martin solicited comments from various Kingdoms. Eventually, after some correspondence between Carol and Greg, we agreed unanimously to recommend him for the Grand Council. This left 7 vacancies. (The other late resume was considered and left out to balance Kingdom representation, as this candidate was also from the East.) In the meantime, we had done some analysis on the composition of the nominees and the entire Council and concluded that mainland Canada was under-represented. We eventually chose to recommend Steven Muhlberger (Finnvarr de Taahe) Middle. Finally, we chose to fill the remaining 6 places on the committee. We had discussed a number of schemes that could be used (such as a lottery, building a smaller candidates list, and so forth). Eventually, we simply chose two candidates each and allowed the other two nominating committee members to veto if they chose. No vetos were exercised. The additional six candidates, alphabetically: Michael Andrews (Michael Fenwick of Fotheringay) Ansteorra (by Mark) Edward L. Eisenstein (Alban St. Albans) Calontir (by Martin) Nigel Haslock (Fiacha Mac Neill) An Tir (by Mark) Joseph Heck (Terras) Calontir (by Carol) Kristofer L. Hellstrom (Edric Aaron Hartwood) Caid (by Martin) Gerald O'Leary (Gyrth Oldcastle) Atlantia (by Carol) Finally, when we contacted each of the nominees, one (Dorian Davis), felt that he had to withdraw. He recommended as his replacement the only other New Zealander who applied: Phil Anderson (Edward the Discalceate) Caid/Southern Gaard We all agreed, and our task was completed on March 21, 1994. It took approximately 3 months to complete the entire selection process, including a several week delay while we found a third nominating committee member. The time roughly divided as on month to replace AElflaed, plus ancillary discussion before and after, one month to choose the first candidates, and one month discussing how to fill the remaining seats, choosing them, and confirming that each was still willing to serve. SHORT BIOGRAPHIES OF THE NOMINEES (Complete copies of the applications are available on request.) Phil Anderson. New Zealand resident, previous nonprofit experience with managerial and administrative responsibilities. Chronicling experience. Employed as an assistant editor. 32 years old, 7 years in the Society. Resident of New Zealand/Caid/Southron Gaard. Michael Andrews. Some personnel management courses, significant management and project management experience. Former Air Force service, with an honorable discharge. Society experience includes Laurel, various arts and service awards, and Baronial A&S officer. Employed as a Data Processing Manager for Oklahoma State Department of Transportation. 48 years old, 18 years in the Society. Resident of Oklahoma/Ansteorra. Guy M. Cox. Professional consultant in organizational change, with experience in in research and program evaluation. Ph.D. in Anthropology from University of California at Berkeley 1986. Founded one of the principal war units in the West, and has an AoA. 14 years in the Society. Resident of California/West. Former resident of Caid. Edward Eisenstein. Self-employed small business owner, manages two trust funds. Previous experience with database design. 2 Bachelors degrees (History and Art History, and Data Processing). Many local and kingdom offices held, and multiple service awards. At least 11 years of Society experience. Resident of Missouri/Calontir. Colette Goodyear. Editor and copyright officer, applying for law school. Long term Seneschal of one of the most isolated groups in the Society (Ar n-Eilean-ne, Newfoundland and Labrador Canada). B.A. in English and Medieval Studies in 1982. She has a Pelican and an East Kingdom Service Award, and has been in the Society 7 years. Resident of Newfoundland Canada/East Kingdom. Nigel Haslock. A Software Engineer for Digital Equipment Corporation. Former Seneschal of a Barony in the East, and currently a Kingdom officer in An Tir. Has many arts awards. Member of CSOS. 13 years in the Society. Resident of Washington State/An Tir. Joseph Heck. 2 bachelors degrees. Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (1990) Currently employed at the University of Missouri. He has been a local group officer and a deputy Kingdom officer. He has 10 years experience in the Society, and is a resident of Missouri/Calontir. Kristofer L. Hellstrom. Supervisory and managerial experience in a small agricultural business. He has represented Caid to an inter-kingdom meeting as his Crown's representative. He has local and Kingdom level service awards, and is a deputy Kingdom Marshal as well as having held local office, and autocrated events. He is a resident of California/Caid. Frederick Hollander. Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry, 1972, currently employed at University of California, Berkeley as an Assistant Specialist in X-ray Crystallography. Director of KHTI, a 501(c)(3) non-profit. Continuously active since the founding of the Society. Countless honors and awards, and a former Kingdom officer in the West, as well as an experienced autocrat. Resident of Berkeley, California/West. Scott Keyes. Experience with management of multiple California 501(c)(3) non-profits, as Director, Manager and Chief Financial Officer. Also has employee supervision experience. Currently a software engineer specializing in database systems development. Award of Arms, and 10 years Society experience. Resident of New Jersey/East Kingdom. Eric Langhans. Vice President of a large international company, with Chief Financial Officer experience in several others. Two years experience in the Society. Resident of Texas/Ansteorra. James McManus. Partner in a law firm, 10 years legal experience, whose firm practices in Small Business, Corporate and Employment Law, and other relevant areas. Has drafted governing documents for a 501(c)(3). J.D. from Minnesota Law, 1982, B.S. in Government from St. Johns University in 1979. 37 years old, 3 years in the Society. Resident of Duluth MN/Middle. Steven Muhlberger. Associate professor and Chairman of Humanities at Nipissing University. Ph.D. in Medieval History. Former King of the Middle and East, former Director, former Kingdom Officer and local group officer. 25 years in the Society, and a resident of Ontario/Middle. Sven Noren. Chemical engineer, employed by the University of Uppsala. Has experience in several nonprofit organizations as director, auditor and founder. Age is 36, 4 years of experience in the Society. Resident of Uppsala, Sweden/Drachenwald. Gerald O'Leary. He is a Systems Analyst with the US Department of the Treasury. He has a B.A. in Greek and Latin from Columbia University. He has been King of the East and Atlantia, local officer, and deputy kingdom officer. Has many awards an honors and "proprietor and monolithic tyrant of the Evil Oldcastle Political Machine" (from his application). He is 41, has spent 21 years in the Society, and resides in Maryland/Atlantia. Brian Price. He is a project manager in a management consulting firm, and has a degree in political science and economics, with experience in analysis. He is editor of Chronique, and founder of The Company of Saint George, an authentic Tournament Society within our Middle Ages. He has been in the Society 14 years, and resides in California/West Kingdom. Carole Roos. B.A from Vanderbilt University in 1969 in English, she is employed as an associate editor at the University of Notre Dame Press. She has a wide variety of organizational experience with Girl Scouts, and educational groups. 4 years in the Society, resident of Indiana/Middle. Greg Rose. Ph.D. in Government from the University of Texas at Austin (1987). Previous experience as an international correspondent and newspaper editor. Currently a Visiting Professor of Political Science. Teaching experience in politics, conflict resolution and econometrics, former member of the Budget Committee in his department at the University of North Texas. Extensive inter-kingdom SCA experience (East, Middle, Atenveldt, Ansteorra, Atlantia and Drachenwald) with honors and awards from many of them. Former deputy Kingdom officer, chairman of a SCA Board committee, founder and Chairman of CSOS, extensive local officer experience. 26 years in the Society, currently a resident of Connecticut/East Kingdom. P. David Schroeder. Masters in Business (organizational behavior) in 1993 from Carnegie Mellon University Business School. B.A. in Sociology, 1977 Swarthmore College. Twelve years of experience as a business manager, with marketing experience, budgetary control and employee supervision. Over 20 years within the Society, with local, Kingdom, Principality and Corporate offices held. Resident of Pennsylvania/East (AEthelmearc). Janna Spanne. Born in Prague, now a citizen of Sweden. MA in linguistics (1986) and B.A. in linguistics (1979). Employed at the Institute of Technology in Lund as an administrator. Founded and served as an officer in several Swedish nonprofits. Local group officer and event autocrat experience. Age 40, 9 years in the Society. Resident of Sweden/Drachenwald. SUMMARY OF ALL GRAND COUNCIL APPOINTEES AND NOMINEES Board/Kingdom Appointees: Modern Name Years Highest Who By From In Award ------------ ----- ------- ------ ---- Galen Bevel 10 KSCA Ansteorra TX/Ansteorra Janet Chennault ? AoA Caid CA/Caid Nathan Clarenburg 17 KSCA, Laurel Calontir KS/Calontir Martin Costa 14 Baron West CA/West Charles Curtis 14 KSCA, Pelican Atlantia SC/Atlantia John Elmore ? Pelican Middle IN/Middle Angie Eves-Welsch ? Baroness Lochac New South Wales/Lochac David Friedman 26 KSCA, OP, OL Board IL/Middle Roy Gathercoal ? Pelican Board OR/An Tir Chuck Hack ? Baron Trimaris FL/Trimaris Laureen Hart ? OL or OP An Tir WA/An Tir Tod Huckaby 13 Baron Outlands CO/Outlands Bart Orbons 8 AoA Drachenwald Netherlands/Drachenwald Karen Penn ? ? Atenveldt UT/Atenveldt Michael Potter 13 KSCA East NJ/East Mark Schuldenfrei 13 AoA Board MA/East Carol Smith 13 AoA Board MO/Calontir Rolland Smith 11 KSCA Meridies AL/Meridies Eric Wagner 13 KSCA Board CA/West Mark Waks 14 Laurel Board MA/East Grand Council Nominees: Modern Name Years Highest From In Award ------------ ----- ------- ---- Phil Anderson 7 AoA New Zealand/Southern Gaard Michael Andrews 18 Laurel OK/Ansteorra Guy Cox 14 AoA CA/West Edward L. Eisenstein 11 GoA MO/Calontir Colette Goodyear 7 Pelican Newfoundland/East Nigel Haslock 13 AoA WA/An Tir Joseph Heck 10 AoA MO/Calontir Kristofer L. Hellstrom ? KSCA CA/Caid Frederick Hollander 30 MSCA, Pelican CA/West Scott Keys 10 AoA NJ/East Eric Langhans 2 AoA TX/Ansteorra James McManus 3 -- MN/Middle Steven Muhlberger 25 KSCA, Pelican Ontario/Middle Sven Noren 4 -- Sweden/Drachenwald Gerald O'Leary 21 KSCA, Pelican MD/Atlantia Brian Price 14 AoA CA/West Carole C. Roos 4 AoA IN/Middle Greg Rose 26 Baron CT/East P. David Schroeder 20 Pelican PA/East Janna Spanne 9 GoA Sweden/Drachenwald ANALYSIS OF ALL GRAND COUNCIL APPOINTEES AND NOMINEES By award level in the Society: Number(percent) Board/Kingdom Nominees Overall (20 people) (20 people) (40 people) Patent 11 (55%) 7 (35%) 18 (45%) Grant 0 (0%) 2 (10%) 2 (5%) Award 4 (20%) 8 (40%) 12 (30%) Baron 4 (20%) 1 (5%) 5 (12.5%) None 0 (0%) 2 (10%) 2 (5%) Unknown 1 (5%) 0 (0%) 1 (2.5%) Years of membership: Board/Kingdom appointees: Mean ~13 3/4 years Standard Deviation ~4 1/4 (n=13) min=8, max=26. Years of membership: Committee nominees: Mean ~13 years Standard Deviation ~8 1/4 (n=19) min=2, max=30. Years of membership: Combined: Mean ~13 1/3 years Standard Deviation ~ 6 7/8 (n=32). Proportion in ranges of 5 years: Number(percent) Board/Kingdom Nominees Overall (20 people) (20 people) (40 people) 1 - 5 years: 0 (0%) 4 (20%) 4 (10%) 6 - 10 years: 2 (10%) 5 (25%) 7 (17.5%) 11 - 15 years: 9 (45%) 4 (20%) 13 (32.5%) 16 - 20 years: 1 (5%) 2 (10%) 3 (7.5%) 21 - 25 years: 0 (0%) 2 (10%) 2 (5%) 26 - 30 years: 1 (5%) 2 (10%) 3 (7.5%) Unknown: 7 (35%) 1 (5%) 8 (20%) Geographic Distribution of Nominees, compared to applicant: Number(percent) Kingdom/Group Board/Kingdom Applicants Nominees Overall (20) (99) (20) (40) ------------- ------------- ---------- -------- ----------- An Tir 2 (10%) 8 (8%) 1 (5%) 3 (7.5%) Ansteorra 1 (5%) 11 (11%) 2 (10%) 3 (7.5%) Atenveldt 1 (5%) 2 (2%) 0 (0%) 1 (2.5%) Atlantia 1 (5%) 3 (3%) 1 (5%) 2 (5%) Caid 1 (5%) 4 (4%) 1 (5%) 2 (5%) Calontir 2 (10%) 6 (6%) 2 (10%) 4 (10%) Drachenwald 1 (5%) 5 (5%) 2 (10%) 3 (7.5%) East 3 (15%) 19 (19%) 4 (20%) 7 (17.5) Meridies 1 (5%) 2 (2%) 0 (0%) 1 (2.5%) Middle 2 (10%) 18 (18%) 3 (15%) 5 (12.5%) Lochac 1 (5%) 1 (1%) 0 (0%) 1 (2.5%) Outlands 1 (5%) 5 (5%) 0 (0%) 1 (2.5%) Southron Gaard 0 (0%) 2 (2%) 1 (5%) 1 (2.5%) Trimaris 1 (5%) 3 (3%) 0 (0%) 1 (2.5%) West 2 (10%) 10 (10%) 3 (15%) 5 (12.5%) Gender issues: 26 % of our applicants were female. 15 % of our nominees are female. 25 % of the Board/Kingdom's nominees are female. 20 % of the committee and nominees would be female if accepted as nominated. COMMENTARY ON THE ANALYSIS: By award level in the Society: Unlike the Board/Kingdoms selections (55% Patents, 20% AoA), the largest single group of nominees are those which have an AoA as their highest award (35% Patents, 40% AoA)). This more closely represents the expected general level of participation in the Society. It may be inevitable that applicants who have the confidence to nominate themselves tend to be those that have been validated by the Society at large. The proportion of applicants with patent level awards was MUCH higher than the general population. (Source, analysis of awards in the East Kingdom by Mistress Thora Sharptooth, published in Pikestaff.) Years of membership or participation: While both the Board/Kingdoms appointees and the nominees have the same mean years of participation (13 3/4 Board/Kingdom versus 13 years nominees), the larger standard deviation (4 1/4 Board/Kingdoms versus 8 1/4 nominees) shows the nominee list has a greater spread of years than the Board/Kingdom appointees. Proportion in ranges of 5 years: This table is as you might expect, showing something of a standard distribution in shape. The distribution peaks at a median of 11 years in the Society for the nominees, versus the Board/Kingdoms appointees centering at a median of 13.8 years. Note that the nominees sample is skewed toward newer members, which nicely compensates for the Board/ Kingdoms lack of newer members in its appointees. The "bubble" at the high end of the nominees years in the Society (10% of the nominees having 26-30 years in the Society) represents a deliberate choice on the part of the committee. When appointing a single additional candidate to represent mainland Canada, we chose to select a long term Society participant (Steve Muhlberger, Finnvarr de Taahe), since he also has experience in several other kingdoms and countries. Geographic Distribution of Nominees, compared to applicant: Compare the percentages from the applicant pool and the nominees. If you notice that each nominee corresponds to 5 percent of the pool, the percentage of nominees is ALWAYS within 5% of the applicants. This shows shows the nominees selected closely approximates the applicants residency distribution. The overall proportions are (very roughly) accurate to the percentages of the populations within the Society. While the East is somewhat over-represented, (4 people, 20% of the nominees, and a total of 7 people or 17.5% of the entire Council) one of those nominees recently moved to the East from Atlantia (Greg Rose), one is from Newfoundland and rarely attends Eastern events, and a third is from AEthelmearc (which may soon become it's own Kingdom) and lives on the border with the Midrealm and has lived in 3 different Kingdoms. Gender issues: It is not easy to explain why so few of the applicants (26%) were female, nor why so few of the nominees originally selected were female (15%). It shouldn't affect the committee's work, but it is unfortunate. Since the nominees produce a committee that is so well balanced by geography, Kingdom population and applicants, and has such outstanding modern skills, and since there are so few additional female candidates to choose from, it would be almost impossible to redress the gender gap with the qualified applicants we have. POSITIVES AND NEGATIVES OF THE SELECTION PROCESS We spent a bit too long developing the process we would use to select nominees overall. However, some of this delay may have been unavoidable: we had to replace one nominating member late in the schedule. This required us to restart the process of achieving consensus. It may be an inevitable part of the re-engineering process that we spent so much time examining selection alternatives: that is, after all, what we were picked to do. Inter-member communication between the nominators was via electronic mail, and was generally satisfactory. We did have occasional snafu's, but the delays introduced by such problems generally were no worse than those that would have been introduced with postal mail. There were some times when a more rigorous system of updates to each other might have helped. We will apply this lesson to future Grand Council deliberations. One positive side effect of a public commenting process, was that any questions people have about the process, or any concerns they may have about politics or bias, can be answered by inviting them to inspect public comments and the records of our deliberations. People who do not like the outcome can certainly question the judgement of the nominating committee, but any chance of deliberate bias is very much reduced. On the negative side, we didn't receive very much negative feedback, since it would all be on the record. And our own negative discussions were kind of inferential, avoiding making negative statements whenever we could, and making those rather obliquely. (i.e., one of the most negative comments made was " I know her personally, and I feel she would be a significant detriment to the Grand Council.") Overall, the open approach was a great success, but perhaps it could have been improved. We took a different approach from the SCA business-as- usual method. That method usually consists of a "Private Meeting, with results announced and no explanations". The end result combined open feedback from the members, fairness, and a positive sense among the committee. CONCLUSION We followed an open, rigorous and fair process, which was complete, and whose end result is a committee well balanced for the task at hand. Preliminary response from the membership has been quite favorable, and accepting the nominated slate as it stands would show the Board in a favorable light. It would also assist the Grand Council with its work, if the Board were seen to approve of this first recommendation from the committee. We, as the nominating committee, are pleased to present to you the nominees as our recommendation for the balance of the Grand Council. We recommend that you accept the candidates as written. Please contact any of us if you have any questions. CONTACT INFORMATION: Lady Caroline Forbes of Oxfordshire Carol L. Smith 14713 Mill Spring Drive, Chesterfield, MO 63017-5654 +1 314 530 1836 clsmit@ccmail.monsanto.com Baron Corwyn Da Costa Martin Costa 359 America Ave, Sunnyvale, CA 94086 +1 408 738 1306 Mcosta@Leland.Stanford.edu corwyn@aol.com Lord Tibor of Rock Valley Mark Spetter Schuldenfrei 109 Milton St., Arlington, MA 02174-8734 +1 617 648 5326 schuldy@math.harvard.edu