Alliance For Massage Therapy Education Announces 2016 Election Slate Is Available For Review

The Alliance for Massage Therapy Education (AFMTE) has announced that the slate for the 2016 Election is now available for review at http://www.afmte.org/about/leadership/2016-election-process-2/. Since the organization will not hold a live conference this year, voting will be fully online. The deadline for voting has been set as July 15, 2016. The 2016 Alliance Election Slate includes interviews with each of the candidates.

Stephanie Beck from the Alliance for Massage Therapy Education says: "We currently have three sitting members: Pete Whitridge, Cherie Sohnen-Moe and Stan Dawson, who have applied to serve another two-year term. After due consideration we are recommending that they be re-elected and have included them on our proposed slate. Voting will end on July the 15th."

When the Alliance put out their call for this year's candidates to come forward, they were informed that Su Bibik, who has provided tremendous services to the Board since its inception, will not apply to be re-elected. Additionally, Gloria Lawrence recently announced that she had too much work pressure to be able to run for another year. Although disappointing, these announcements did lead to a wealth of new applications, specifically from four candidates.

Two of those candidates, who are Karen Hobson and Beverley Giroud, have been chosen and they have been added to slate for the now vacant positions. A full needs assessment survey was conducted among the current nine Board members. Through these interviews, they were able to devise a template to select the candidates that best match the needs of the organization.

Recommendations have now been made, including interview videos, and they are shared through the Alliance's website. Members are encouraged to review this information to determine whether they agree with the Board's candidate selection for leadership. In past years, decisions would be made at the annual business meeting. The 2016 Annual Business Meeting, however, will be held fully online. While this will enable more people to join the meeting in a more convenient way, it has also meant that the voting process had to be changed to an online format. This is the second time the Alliance will run the voting process in this manner, and they welcome comments on the management thereof.