We can't say that we didn't see this one coming, but the pivotal question is this... is it too little -- and too late?

That said, ANN has learned that the National Association of Flight Instructors (NAFI) will begin transitioning to a board that is comprised of at least 51 percent of directors elected by NAFI membership. The move was approved at the regular spring meeting of the NAFI Board of Directors last week in Oshkosh. The board considered recommendations made by the Governance Committee at its March meeting in Ft. Myers, Florida. Those recommendations were based on months of study of a number of governance structures including professional associations, aviation groups such as AOPA and EAA, and non-profit organizations outside of aviation. It also considered expert opinions on the workings of volunteer boards of directors.

The final version is fairly similar to the EAA governance structure, but without as many classes of director. NAFI will have two classes of directors, both voting, with a majority of board seats to be filled by election, while reserving a minority of the seats to be appointed by the full board to assure that key skill sets, such as financial, legal, and management expertise, are always present on the board.

Implementation of this resolution requires that elements of the NAFI/EAA affiliation agreement be brought into alignment. For example, the current affiliation agreement between NAFI and EAA prohibits direct member election of NAFI directors. The NAFI Board will present the proposed resolution to EAA for review, and upon approval by EAA and NAFI of revisions to the affiliation agreement, NAFI will be able to formally implement the change.

The board is excited about this impending change to NAFI's governance structure. While awaiting formal approval of revisions to the affiliation agreement, the board would like to informally begin the nomination process. The board asks that members who are interested in serving in a position of leadership should contact Executive Director Jason Blair at the Oshkosh office. Please give a brief bio and an indication of the things you would be interested in working on, as well as the skills you bring to that task.

To aid in that effort, the standing committees are:

• Governance
• Administration and Finance
• Development
• Nominations
• Communications
• Government Relations
• Professional Standards
• Programs
• Marketing

Over the past several months, the board has been working to address requests that our members have made for structural changes in the organization. The board has addressed these issues in a deliberate, collegial manner and received welcome input from a number of members and others. The board continues to welcome input or feedback on this or anything else affecting flight instruction or flight instructors.

FMI: www.nafinet.org, www.eaa.org