AHLA Announces New Nomination Procedures to Enhance Transparency and Mitigate Bias

AHLA’s Board of Directors has approved and adopted a revised board recruitment and selection process, effective immediately. Based on the consultancy and guidance of The Diversity Movement, a diversity and business strategist organization, the revised nomination process aims to enhance transparency to AHLA members, minimize bias through each step of both the nomination and selection process, and advance the Board of Director’s ability to identify and recruit a diverse pool of candidates for board service, furthering AHLA’s inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility (IDEA) goals.

The new process starts with publicly posting all qualifications needed to serve as a Director, expectations for the position, details of the selection process, and a timeline on the AHLA website with a link to the application. Anyone under consideration, either self-nominated or those suggested by others, must complete an application to ensure that all candidates are providing the same information.

Each application will be independently reviewed and scored by each member of the Nominating Committee, using the same criteria and definitions. Following this approach, the Nominating Committee will establish a pool of approximately 10 candidates who draw on all dimensions of diversity, including a minimum of 30% from underrepresented groups defined as racial or ethnic minority, disability, and/or LGBTQ+. This slate of candidates will be sent to the Board of Directors and Senior Staff to conduct a review of these top candidates using the same rubric; the scores will be provided back to the Nominating Committee for further consideration.

The Nominating Committee will then review the information and all aspects of the candidates to arrive at a final slate that it will then recommend to the full Board of Directors for election.  

“For decades, AHLA has identified, trained, and elevated the brightest leaders within the industry,” comments David S. Cade, AHLA’s Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer, “This well-considered improvement to AHLA’s procedures continues to pave the way for a more diverse and inclusive next generation of health law leaders, having a lasting impact on the entire industry.”

After the Nominating Committee has concluded its work, the Board of Directors will review the revised nomination process and assess whether the changes made to the process increased transparency, was effective in increasing diversity on the Board, and if any procedural changes should be made for next year’s nomination cycle. Additionally, the Board of Directors and Senior Staff will use what it learns from this year to then review nomination procedures for all other AHLA leadership appointments.

AHLA will post more details about the nominating and application process for AHLA’s Board of Directors on the Governance and Leadership page by mid-November, ahead of the Call for Leaders.