1. Stacey DelVecchio August 2013
SWE LETF Path Forward
Stacey DelVecchio
August 2013

2. LETF Focuses in FY13 From BOD4 Presentation….
Petition process for BOD positions
Election campaign policy
Special election process
Collegiate Director election process
Diversity & Inclusion component
Overall pipeline, succession planning, and election processes
Contested elections

3. Status of Recommendations
Petition process for BOD positions
DONE
Election campaign policy
Voting on at BOD1
Special election process
In process in Senate
Collegiate Director election process
Submitted by Nominating Committee
For discussion….path forward?
Diversity & Inclusion component
Overall pipeline, succession planning, and election processes
Contested elections

4. Where and How Does Diversity and Inclusion Fit in the Processes?

5. Diversity and Inclusion Component
D&I is important to SWE but yet the progress has been very slow
General goals for SWE
The composition of SWE membership and SWE leadership should reflect the female population in general engineering workforce
The composition of SWE leadership should reflect the population of SWE membership
Gaps
SWE is not collecting proper D&I metrics and using those metrics to support SWE goals
To build diverse leadership, D&I must be included in the Pipeline, Succession Planning, committee chairs/members selection processes
SWE promotes diversity within engineering but yet we don’t have diverse membership and leadership. We need to promote this within ourselves.
We represent 5% of the population of females inside engineering, and we need to grow and should grow to include more membership.
Two diversity metrics were included in the BOD scorecard from FY09 thru FY12. They were: NSBE/SHPE/AISES Joint Members (#) and % of members who self-identify as part of an ethnic group. However, these metrics have made very limit impact to SWE D&I strategy and goals. Starting FY13, they are no longer captured in the BOD scorecard.
Regions are identifying and developing leaders. However, SWE is still weak in building a “diverse” leadership.
If D&I is not included in the Pipeline, Succession Planning and committee chairs/members selection processes. There is very little impact that the Nominating Committee can make when selecting a slate for the BOD and BOT positions.

6. D&I Recommendations – Metrics Collection
Why – Metrics help us know where SWE stands and enable us to set specific and actionable goals for improvements
What – Collect diversity related metrics within SWE
Ethnic Origin
Gender
Engineering Disciplines
Disability
Religion
Sexual Orientation (LGBT)**
Employee Status**
Citizenship**
** Due to the sensitivity of certain data, suggest SWE focusing on the top 5 metrics for now until we know how to handle metrics 6, 7 and 8.
Propose we use what we have available to use& develop a robust process for their use
We need to know if we have any underutilized population within SWE and what they are.
We need to be more aggressive in building diverse leadership in order to recruit membership so that in the future SWE membership will reflect the female population in engineering. For example, in order to increase Hispanic members, we need to have more Hispanics in leadership positions (i.e., the percentagewise of Hispanics leaders may be higher than the percentage of Hispanics members).
The measurements need to be collected at all levels of leadership. The measurements should beyond race and ethnicity too.

7. D&I Recommendations – Accountability
SWE BOD shall not only collect the D&I metrics but also fully commit to use the data and keep it transparent to SWE members
SWE BOD shall use the data (and the trends of data) to set the goals and then flow down the goals to regions and the succession planning committee (or the Talent Management Review Board)
Encourage each BOD member to mentor at least 2 potential leaders who are either minorities or someone different from you
Inclusion?
SWE BOD owns the Accountability pillar of D&I strategy.
Using the data and the trends of data include monitoring and communicating the progress against the existing goals and setting new goals.
Identify and mentor potential leaders – Naomi Brill shared her experience on mentoring potential leaders while she was on the Board when Rachel McQuillen, Alma Martinez Fallon and Vi Brown were the SWE Presidents. During those years, all board members, including Region Directors, were required to mentor 5 people and 3 of them must be minorities or someone different from you. Every board member had to identify her mentees by names. That had made a significant impact on the composition of SWE leadership.

8. Overall Pipeline, Succession Planning, and Election Processes
LETF held a meeting to discuss the overall processes, needs and D&I component at WE12. Attendees included LETF members, NC representatives, MCC chair, Succession Planning chair, DDR, DR, Director of Education, and PE.
An additional conference calls were made in early 2013 to further discuss and finalize the processes.

9. Interconnected Processes
Diverse Leadership Di
Diversity & Inclusion
Pipeline
Succession Planning
Nomination
& Election
In order to have a diverse leadership, SWE needs to build an inclusive environment and all membership needs to embrace it. D&I needs to be part of the Pipeline, succession planning and nomination/election processes as well.
Note: All processes are important. The size of the gear does NOT reflect the importance of the process it represents.

10. Leadership Pipeline and Election/Selection Process

11. Leadership Pipeline Process
Pipeline process is good but needs to be informal

12. Leadership Pipeline Process
Succession Planning Task Force
Incorporate Succession Planning Task Force requirements documentation
Flow down to leadership

13. Leadership Election/Selection Process
Formal Election/Selection Process is OK but need to incorporate D&I more

14. When To Have A Contested Election?
When NC feels there is more than one very well qualified candidate for a position, and the candidates have differing philosophies (Need to consider how diversity fits in this case)
When NC has more than one well qualified candidate for a position
It should be rare because the NC should consider the board to be broader overall. Contested election would make it more difficult for the NC to have a balanced board (i.e., a board with diverse perspectives)
In the case of a contested election with two well qualified candidates, there should be some thought given to keeping the unsuccessful candidate in the society's leadership pipeline
If there are two very great candidates, try to have both on the board or find a way to utilize both people
Never have a contested PE election
Other board positions would follow above recommendations
NC should not put candidates in a contested election just for the sake of having it.
NC needs to consider the following factors before finalizing the slate:
The needs of the board,
The composition of the board, and
If candidates can bring diverse perspectives to the board
Contested election should be rare after all above factors are taking into consideration.

15. SWE Membership DB Enhancement
Purpose: To keep all membership information in a centralized location so that the data can be used by all SWE processes (e.g., pipeline, election, succession planning, etc.)
Users: Members, Headquarters, Regions/Sections, Society Nominating Committee, future Society Succession Planning Committee or Talent Management Roundtable, etc.
Structural: Break the database into sections. For example:
Basic section – Contains objective data, such as SWE positions held by when, that would be updated by the HQ
SWE resume section – It would be updated by individuals
Committee data section – States X committee has data on subject “Y” but does not divulge the actual data
Personal reference section – Allows up to 5 to 7 references, including pertaining to and the date of each referenced item
This proposal is to update the current SWE membership database with additional data fields and capabilities.

16. Next Steps Diversity & Inclusion component
Develop plan to use the metrics we have
Board mentoring
Inclusion
Overall pipeline, succession planning, and election processes
Succession planning requirements document
Incorporation of D&I
Contested elections
Incorporate decision