Nominations are now open for Co-Chair of the Cochrane Governing Board – we welcome you to apply!

The deadline for receiving nominations is the end of the day on Sunday 30 June in any time zone.

The Board has two Co-Chairs, to share workload, utilize complementary skills and experience, and permit continuity through the Co-Chairs stepping down at different times. The new Co-Chair will work alongside current Co-Chair Martin Burton and replace Marguerite Koster, who is stepping down as Co-Chair at the end of her current term but will remain on the Board as a member.

The Co-Chairs are accountable to the Board, and to the members of the organization. They are expected to have leadership skills, to be fully consultative, to have vision, to be adept at dealing with people, to be able to solve problems and resolve conflicts effectively, to communicate well, and to be able to represent Cochrane in a variety of different settings.  

Members of the Governing Board have responsibilities both as trustees under UK charity law and as directors under UK company law. All Board members must adhere to the Governing Board Charter and to the Code of Conduct for Trustees.

Eligibility
Anyone who holds, or has held, a leadership position within Cochrane is eligible to apply for the position of Co-Chair. Experience of membership of the Governing Board is advantageous but not essential. Anyone appointed Co-Chair that is not already a Board member becomes a member upon their appointment.
 

Responsibilities

Co-Chairs agree upon an appropriate division of responsibilities, which include:

• Chairing Board meetings and various Board sub-committees;
• Chairing Cochrane’s Annual General Meeting;
• Facilitating strategic planning by the Board;
• Advising and guiding the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), the Editor in Chief and the Central Executive Team in working towards delivery of Cochrane’s strategy;
• Serving as official spokesperson(s) for Cochrane and the Board, with the authority to delegate this responsibility to others;
• Responding to issues raised by members of the organization, outside the remits of the CEO and the Editor in Chief;
• Conducting the performance appraisal of the CEO.

Time commitment

There is a need for a minimum of eight hours per week for the Co-Chairs combined, but with an expectation that a combined total of up to 30 hours per week might sometimes be needed (not including the full-time requirements at the times of the two face-to-face Board meetings per year).

This year, the new Co-Chair must be available to travel to Santiago, Chile for the Board’s meeting 19-21 October 2019, and stay on to attend the Colloquium, to at least 23 October 2019.

Term of office

The Co-Chairs hold office for two years. They may continue to hold office for a further two-year term with the approval of the Board. The term of the new Co-Chair will begin on 1 September 2019.

How to nominate

The Board appoints the Co-Chairs. Candidates should be nominated by three Cochrane Members as defined by the Membership Terms & Conditions, including a current member of the Board.

Current Board members may only nominate one candidate each and a serving Co-Chair is not permitted to provide a Letter of Support for a fellow Board member standing for a Co-Chair appointment.

Candidates standing for appointment must submit their nomination by email to Lucie Binder, by the specified deadline below, including:

1. A completed Co-Chair Candidate Statement which includes a declaration of conflicts of interest (including direct and indirect conflicts, and professional relationships to other members of the Board, and other boards they may sit on).
2. Letters of Support from three Cochrane members acting as 'nominators' for the candidate, including one current member of the Board, supplying the following information:
   • Name and role in Cochrane of the person writing the Letter of Support.
   • Statement about the capacity in which they know the nominee, why they consider the nominee to be an appropriate candidate in the light of the Co-Chair job description as set out in this policy and the extent to which they think the nominee has the necessary attributes.

For more information, please refer to the Board electoral and appointment procedure on the Cochrane Community website or contact Lucie Binder (lbinder@cochrane.org), Senior Advisor to the CEO (Governance & Management).

Important dates