New CAP Governance Structure

[RiverAux]

Approved today:

MARYLAND – Members of Civil Air Patrol's Board of Governors, the organization's policymaking body, presented the corporation's new internal governance structure today to CAP members attending the 2012 National Board and Annual Conference in Baltimore. 

BoG members participating in the announcement included Brig. Gen. Rich Anderson, BoG chairman; retired Air Force Maj. Gen. John Speigel, BoG Governance Committee chairman; CAP National Commander Maj. Gen. Chuck Carr; and retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Sanford Schlitt.

The changes, which address longstanding governance issues and include recommendations designed to ensure best practices, focus on the role of the BoG and CAP's National Board and National Executive Committee, as well as the selection process for the organization's top executives.

Key components are cited below:

    CAP's national commander will serve as chief executive officer and will report directly to the BoG, which will select and evaluate the commander's performance.

    The national commander will be selected from top candidates vetted by the BoG's Personnel Committee. Candidates must be a CAP member in good standing. Required credentials include a bachelor's degree, CAP Level V professional development and prior service as a CAP wing commander. Selection requires a two-thirds majority vote by the BoG.

    Annual goals identified by the BoG with input from the national commander will be used as the basis for the commander's performance evaluations.
     
    The position of National Headquarters executive director will be renamed chief operating officer. The BoG will hire and evaluate the COO, who will report to the BoG for administrative matters and to the CEO for operational matters. The BoG will review the COO's performance annually.
     
    The National Board will become the CAP Command Council. Its 63 members – the national commander, national vice commander, chief of staff, region commanders (eight) and wing commanders (52) – will serve as advisers to the  national commander. The CAP Command Council will continue to meet twice annually to discuss operational issues related to CAP's missions.
     
    The National Executive Committee will be renamed the CAP Senior Advisory Group. The CSAG will review and recommend policy changes to the BoG. It will consist of 11 voting members – the national commander, national vice commander, CAP chief of staff and eight region commanders. The COO and CAP-U.S. Air Force commander will be ex officio, nonvoting members.
     
    CAP membership on the BoG will change from two to four member-at-large positions. The national commander and national vice commander will not serve on the BoG; however, the national commander will continue as a permanent BoG adviser.   
     
    Term limits for BoG members will include a staggered rotation schedule to ensure orderly transitions. The term will be three years for Secretary of the Air Force appointees, CAP members and industry representatives. If approved by the appointing authority, BoG members may be extended one additional term beyond their original appointment.
     
    The national commander will nominate a candidate for vice commander and the BoG will confirm the selection. The vice commander will serve at the will and pleasure of the national commander, with no specified term of office.
     
    The general counsel will be the principal legal officer and secretary for the corporation. The volunteer national legal officer will become the chief, CAP legal corps.
     
    The chief financial officer will serve as treasurer of the corporation.

     

"The governance changes will streamline the organization's decision and policymaking processes while still taking into account the important inputs of CAP's leaders in the field," said Carr.

"Expanding the member-at-large positions from two to four also postures members to have a greater voice in policy changes affecting the future direction of the organization," Carr said, adding, "I encourage all members to embrace these changes, which will better position CAP to serve our nation and our communities."

The BoG's governance decisions will be provided to the Constitution and Bylaws Committee for action, with initial implementation of the changes set for October.

"I have been affiliated with the CAP governance structure for three decades, and I feel strongly the modifications we're implementing will significantly enhance the way in which CAP is governed by the BoG and led by our volunteer national leadership,"  said Anderson.

The board's recommendations were briefed to key Air Force leaders at the Pentagon, said Anderson, including the Secretary of the Air Force, and Air Force leadership has endorsed the changes.

The BoG formed the Governance Committee after receiving an internal governance report from a CAP Governance Committee consisting of volunteer leaders, as well as an external governance study conducted by BoardSource, a nonprofit organization based in Washington. These reports, as well as information gleaned from meetings with outside experts and member surveys, were used to help develop the new governance structure.

[ColonelJack]

Question ... in the new governance structure, the National CC is now required to have achieved Level V.  Isn't this the first time Level V has been required for any position in CAP?

Jack

[Eclipse]

Everyone has a commander, no one is commanding themselves, an the emphasis will be on executing the mission in your AOR, not being worried about
trivialities three states away.

Between this, the CAP-USAF restructure, and the general culture of change this will bring, we have an opportunity to win back much of the important responsibilities that have eroded and evolved from the volunteer cadre over the last decade.

This is a good time to be in CAP, especially if you are prepared to embrace the changes and act on the opportunities they will afford.

[ColonelJack]

+1 Eclipse!  Well said.

Jack

[arajca]

I guess the corporatists won. The new structure is far more corporate based than military based.

[Eclipse]

I guess the corporatists won. The new structure is far more corporate based than military based.

How do you figure?  From a title perspective, maybe, but from a top-down chain of command, and from a "concentration of effort" perspective,
this is much more military then before.

Wing CC's in the USAF do not "vote" for the CSAF (etc.), he's appointed by people without a direct vested interest in who the appointee is.

You should also note that the COO now reports to the Nat CC for operational matters - this issue of the national staff competing with the
national CC has been noted by a lot of people as a factor in our inability to get trivial matters handled timely, and also in regards to
paid-staff usurping the regulatory-roles of volunteer staff and commanders simply because of expedience and access.

[Phil Hirons, Jr.]

Question ... in the new governance structure, the National CC is now required to have achieved Level V.  Isn't this the first time Level V has been required for any position in CAP?

Jack

I believe it is the first time.

I know they push for Wing CCs to get Level V but only III is required. So does this mean at least Level IV for Region CC?

[Phil Hirons, Jr.]

I guess the corporatists won. The new structure is far more corporate based than military based.

How do you figure?  From a title perspective, maybe, but from a top-down chain of command, and from a "concentration of effort" perspective,
this is much more military then before.

Wing CC's in the USAF do not "vote" for the CSAF (etc.), he's appointed by people without a direct vested interest in who the appointee is.

You should also note that the COO now reports to the Nat CC for operational matters - this issue of the national staff competing with the
national CC has been noted by a lot of people as a factor in our inability to get trivial matters handled timely, and also in regards to
paid-staff usurping the regulatory-roles of volunteer staff and commanders simply because of expedience and access.

We've always been aux and corp. The new corp titles for the volunteers are very much in line with their "military" titles. Like the AF, the "civilian" employees are now under the national commander. CC Trumps EX!

Did not mention if the Wing CCs are still corporate officers.

[lordmonar]

I guess the corporatists won. The new structure is far more corporate based than military based.

Disagree.

While the titles are corporate.....the structure is much more military based than what we had before.

The BoG is SECAF....the National CC is CSAF, regional commanders are Numbered AF, and so on.

The Regional Commanders with the National CC advise and make suggestions to the BoG.

The Command Counsel advises the National Commander.....much like the MAJCOM commanders do for the CSAF.

But.....and here is the key point....the National Commander and his Vice are both hired by the BoG....i.e. their boss......and not their subordinates....and since the NB is gone.....the requirment for having all the regs and orders of the National Commander ratified by his subordinates is gone...which means stream lined regulations, clear lines of authority.  Some wing commander not following the regs or is doing poorly in his job, he can be removed with out cries of "politics" from every Blogger on the internet.

[lordmonar]

Question ... in the new governance structure, the National CC is now required to have achieved Level V.  Isn't this the first time Level V has been required for any position in CAP?

Jack

I believe it is the first time.

I know they push for Wing CCs to get Level V but only III is required. So does this mean at least Level IV for Region CC?

That would make sense.  Five levels of command in CAP......Level I is requrired for Squadron, Level II for Group, Level III for wing, Level IV for Region, Level V for National.

[ZigZag911]

Pre-announcement word is region and wing CCs will still be 'corporate officers' (much like in banking, with authority to sign and commit the corporation) but not 'corporate directors'.

LordMonar:  do you really think Level 1 is sufficient for a sqdn CC, Level 2 for a group CC?  I have to differ with you there:  Level 2 for sqdn, level 3 for group, level 4 for wing, level 5 for region or national.

My 2 cents!

[Ned]

Wing and region commanders going forward will no longer need to be "corporate officers."

Much like our colleagues in the AF,  contracting will not be a command function.  It will be handled by legal and contracting officers.  Commanders will be able to focus on operational concerns.

[BrianH76]

Does anyone know if there will be a set term for the National CC and CV or will they serve an indefinite term once appointed?  And will the National CC still be a volunteer or a full-time, paid staff member as CEO?

Overall, the changes appear to be good, but I'm still looking forward to more details.

[Phil Hirons, Jr.]

Wing and region commanders going forward will no longer need to be "corporate officers."

Much like our colleagues in the AF,  contracting will not be a command function.  It will be handled by legal and contracting officers.  Commanders will be able to focus on operational concerns.

IGs / IOs require indemnification from a corporate officer to start an investigation.  Was this issue raised / addressed?

[Ned]

(sit ting in a seminar)

The term for national cc is three years, with one possible extension.

The vice serves at the pleasure of the cc, and has no term limit.  In theory the vice could serve more than one commander, and a given commander could replace a sitting vice if necessary.

[RiverAux]

The BoG will hire and evaluate the COO, who will report to the BoG for administrative matters and to the CEO for operational matters.

I guess I'm not sure exactly what this means.  What operational role has the paid national staff been filling? 

[Phil Hirons, Jr.]

The BoG will hire and evaluate the COO, who will report to the BoG for administrative matters and to the CEO for operational matters.

I guess I'm not sure exactly what this means.  What operational role has the paid national staff been filling?

Isn't the NOC all or mostly paid staff?

[Larry Mangum]

The number of paid NOC staff members is very small. That is why NOC Augmenttes are used throughout the year.

[bosshawk]

I believe that the vehicle and aircraft maintenance folks are paid staff, as well as some of the NOC people. The aircraft, vehicle and communications equipment acquisition and distribution involves paid staff.  If I recall correctly, just about anything related to operations involves paid staff: I know that the CounterDrug operation is paid staff.  So------operations correctly involve paid staff with augmentation from volunteers.

Don't know about cadet stuff: was never involved in that side of CAP.

[lordmonar]

The BoG will hire and evaluate the COO, who will report to the BoG for administrative matters and to the CEO for operational matters.

I guess I'm not sure exactly what this means.  What operational role has the paid national staff been filling?

You have no idea!