The AIChE Board of Directors consists of the president, past president, president-elect, secretary, treasurer and 12 directors. The secretary, treasurer and directors each serve for three years. The president elect shall be elected annually for a term of one year beginning January 1 following the annual election. The president elect shall succeed to presidency and serve as president for a term of one year. The president becomes the past president for a term of one year following the year serving as president.
AIChE holds annual elections for the president-elect and four director positions. The secretary and the treasurer are elected every three years.
The election process starts more than a year before the election is held. It begins with the appointment of the Nominating Committee by the Board of Directors. As stated in the AIChE bylaws, the Nominating Committee, chaired by the past president, proposes the election slate, which contains two nominees for each position. The Board of Directors approves the election slate 35 weeks prior to the Annual meeting. The election slate will include petition candidates who have submitted signatures from two percent of professional members (roughly 600 signatures) by 25 weeks prior to the Annual Meeting.
The official election ballots are sent no later than nine weeks prior to the Annual Meeting. All professional members in good standing can participate in the election, which is open for 5 weeks. The secretary announces the election results at the Annual Meeting, typically at the Business Meeting on Tuesday morning.
Nominating Committee
The Nominating Committee is tasked with nominating a Board of Directors election slate that represents the AIChE membership in terms of diversity, affiliation (academic, industry, government, etc.) and expertise (YP, practicing engineer, executive, practicing academic, dean, etc). The Nominating Committee proposes two academic candidates for president-elect every third year to provide diversity in the president role. Nominating Committee members are required to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
Timeline for The Overall Election Process
| Month | Action |
|---|---|
| July | Appointment of Nominating Committee |
| November | Nominating Committee develops election slate |
| March/April | Election slate publicized to membership |
| May | Petition candidate cut-off |
| August | Election ballot mailing |
| September | Election Commences |
| October | Ballot receipt deadline |
| October/November | Election results announced at Annual Business Meeting, All members are encouraged to attend this meeting. |
| December | Election results published in CEP |
AIChE Campaign Guidelines
In order to keep campaigning on a highly professional level and to maintain fairness to all candidates, the Institute will rely on the integrity of the candidates. The Office of the Secretary of the Institute oversees the elections and will provide interpretation of the guidelines as needed. The following are the Board of Directors Campaign Guidelines for the election of the AIChE President-Elect, Secretary, Treasurer, and Directors.
- AIChE or any AIChE Group or Committee (e.g., AIChE Division, Forum, Committee, or Local Section) cannot endorse or oppose any Board of Directors candidate. Members of the Board of Directors shall not endorse or oppose any candidate; however, a current member of the Board of Directors may campaign on his/her own behalf.
- Campaigns shall be financed by the candidates themselves. Campaigns cannot be financed by AIChE or any AIChE Committee (e.g., AIChE Division, Forum, Committee or Local Section), or by any organization, company, or university. All campaign costs are to be borne by the candidate.
- Campaign committees may be formed. A Board Member cannot be on a campaign committee.
- Candidates may campaign via social media. A URL or link to the official election information on the AIChE election web page should be provided when possible.
- AIChE Committees (e.g., AIChE Division, Forum, Committee, or Local Section) cannot provide campaign information to their members. AIChE Committees cannot endorse or oppose a Board of Directors candidate via newsletters, emails, websites, or any form of social media.
- Members of the Board of Directors are not permitted to endorse or oppose a candidate via social media (e.g., “liking,” reposting or commenting on “Facebook”).
- AIChE will advertise the candidate’s personal statement presenting his/her qualifications and views as published in AIChE’s official magazine and on AIChE’s web page. The candidate may provide an email address, website URL or social media information for more details on his/her positions in order to foster a dialog between the candidate and the voting membership.
- Interactions between the candidate and voting membership are permitted and encouraged; however, mailing lists and email lists cannot be provided by AIChE or any AIChE Committee (e.g., AIChE Division, Forum, Committee, or Local Section).
- Campaigning at AIChE meetings (e.g., the AIChE Spring, Annual, Local Section or Regional Meetings) is limited to personal interactions between the candidates and meeting attendees. Distribution and posting of campaign materials at AIChE meetings (e.g., the AIChE Spring, Annual, Local Section or Regional Meetings) are prohibited.
The Board of Directors recognizes that it is not practical to develop a complete set of rules to regulate campaigning; however, the Board is convinced that it can depend on the membership to enforce these regulations.