2025 Board elections
The College is now accepting nominations for the roles of:
- College President, for a term of three years
- College Board member (one vacancy), for a term of three years
If you’re a Fellow of the College, have expertise in or a strong understanding of best practice governance, financial literacy and data and technology and wish to contribute your time, skills and experience in a way that benefits the wider College membership, then please read on.
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Eligibility
The eligibility criteria for these roles can be found in the College Rules. Those putting themselves forward for nomination must be a Fellow of the College and have paid their annual dues and levies.
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The role of the College Board – best practice governance
Governance means thinking about strategic issues and following the principles of best practice governance helps the College to:
- Lead the development of purpose and strategy
- Have a defined vision of the future
- Take a big picture view of the College separate from the College operations
- Ensure accountability and effective oversight of operations
- Focus on risk management
- Ensure effective regulatory compliance.
College Board Members are required to understand and support the principles of best practice governance, as defined by the NZ Institute of Directors (IOD). Board Members are required to undertake, at a minimum, an IOD introductory course and will be supported to do this if they have not previously undertaken IOD training.
Board Members have ethical, legal and commercial duties that include to:
- Act in good faith
- Have a duty of care
- Use your powers for good
- Follow the Charities Act and the College constitution and Rules.
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Attributes and experience
The College Board regularly considers the depth and breadth of its skills and experience to provide effective governance in support of delivering the College’s Strategic Plan (Te Rautaki).
To maintain a strong and effective skills mix across the Board, nominees demonstrating at least some of the following attributes are sought:
- Strong understanding of the inequities in health outcomes impacting communities in Aotearoa
- A strong commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi, including the College’s Te Rautaki Māori strategy
- Governance level experience in information technology, e.g. disruptive technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, data analytics, cyber security and privacy awareness
- Skills in organisational leadership, commercial acumen and contracting
- Strong financial literacy and financial risk management experience.
College President - elected
The President is a Trustee of the College. A strong working relationship with the Chief Executive, the other College Board members and the College Medical Director is key to being effective in this role.
The President is one of three media spokespeople for the College and this is an increasingly large part of the role.
Advocating for members and the wider workforce means there is a lot of contact and meetings with Government and Ministry officials based in Wellington. If you are based outside of Wellington this should be taken into consideration when putting forward a nomination. The role is a two day a week commitment, with the understanding that working outside the ‘normal’ working day will be necessary from time to time.
The elected President role is a three-year term, with the opportunity to run for a second term.
Please note: That the role of the President is presently also Chair of the College Board under the current Rules.
College Board Member - elected
The elected Board Member is a Trustee of the College and has a strong working relationship with the President and other College Board Members.
Elected Board Members have a term of three years with the opportunity to run for a second term.
Board meetings and honorariums
The College Board meets eight times a year either in person at the College office in Wellington, another city location or virtually. Occasionally there may be a special (virtual) meeting held if a particular matter needs attention before the next scheduled meeting. Board Members prepare for meetings by reading the material provided electronically in support of the agenda. The President and elected Boards Members also serve on at least one other Board committee. Currently committees include Audit and Risk, Remuneration, National Advisory Council and Academic Tahuhu.
An honorarium is payable per annum. Please contact us for further information.
How to nominate
College members who wish to be considered for either of these roles are required to complete a nomination form. Please submit this, along with a photograph and candidate bio (300 words maximum) by 10pm on Friday 14 March 2025.
The College and the Board are encouraging all interested College members to submit a nomination and look forward to receiving your application.
How to vote
If there is more than one nominee for either role an election will be held. A copy of the College Rules stating who may hold office in the College and who may vote (Rule 11) and the election process (Rule 21.7) is available here.
Voting, via the single transferable vote system (STV), will begin on Monday 24 March 2025 and will be done electronically.
Prior to the election period, eligible voters will receive:
- A list of all candidates
- Information about each candidate
- Information on how to vote.
Timeline
- 21 February: Call for nominations for the roles of College President and one Board Member
- 14 March: Last day for nominations
- 17 March: All nominees will be informed of the full list of nominees to provide any nominee with the opportunity to voluntarily withdraw their own nomination should they so choose
- 24 March: Voting opens
- 17 April: Voting closes
- 24 April: Announcement of the election of the President and Board Member
- 26 July: Elected President and Board Member take office at the end of the AGM.
Questions
If you have any queries about the election, candidate eligibility, voter eligibility or the voting system, please email elections@rnzcgp.org.nz.