SCB Governance Structure

The Governance Structure ensures voices of all members of the Society for Conservation Biology are heard and offers pathways for all members to be decision-makers with regard to strategy, identity, process and resource allocation. It is comprised of 4 key governance bodies. The Global Network Board is formed from these governance bodies. Learn more about how the Global Network Board is formed below. 

Global Network Board

The Global Network Board (GNB) is the legal board for SCB. It  is comprised of board officers, with equal representation of the Regional Council and Programs Council. They are tasked with ensuring health of the global network, ensuring connectivity and multi-partial communication within the network, processing justice, equitable distribution of resources, and higher-level decision making. It is charged to make the legal and fiduciary decisions for SCB as well decisions that integrate the interests of the Regional and Programs Council. 

Regional Council

The Regional Council is the regional representative body for SCB membership and drives the strategy for membership recruitment of the Society ensuring diversity, inclusion and equity.  It represents the affairs of members across geographic regions.  It comprises the six Region Presidents (Africa, Asia, Europe, LACA, North America, and Oceania). It supports the activities of members in the Regions including those members organized into location-based Chapters through allocation of funds, technical support and other resources. 
Programs Council

The Programs Council drives the programmatic direction of the Society.  It is comprised of the Societies programmatic groups: i.e Global Programs and Working Groups and Task Forces. The Programs Council is the collective voice of these groups and make decisions and recommendations on issues related branding, identity and programmatic direction of the Society. It determines the governance and oversight for the Programs Fund. It supports the activities and interests of the programmatic groups through allocation of funds, technical support, training, convening and networking. It may decide to form and deploy Task Forces to work on specific challenges or topics. 

The Programs Council will set procedure and policies concerning the creation and oversight of existing and new programmatic groups such as global programs, workgroups, task forces etc.  It is envisioned that the programmatic groups will have the opportunity to convene, fundraise, hold conferences, propose and create new journals, create policy statements and briefings and many other activities.

Global Services Team

The Global Services Team is the paid employees of the society and are charged to support network connectivity, information flow, communication, and convening across the governance spheres.
Committees

The Governance Committee ensures the highest standards of governance. They oversee elections of the board officers and provide guidance on By-Laws and Terms of Reference for Committees, Global Services Staff and board officer positions.

The Global Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice Committee is chaired by the Global DEIJ board seat and serves to operationalize DEIJ commitments across the governance spheres.

How the Global Network Board is Formed

Composition of the GNB
  • President
  • Treasurer
  • President Elect
  • Secretary
  • Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice Officer
  • 3 Representatives from the Programs Council
  • 3 Representatives from the Regional Council
Programs Council Representation

The Programs Council holds three seats on the Global Network Board, where it represents the interests of SCB programs. The GNB representatives include: 

  • Programs Council Chair
  • Global Program Representative*
  • Treasurer

*If the chair of the Program Council is a Global Program Representative or the Treasurer, then a Member-at-Large may be selected to represent the Program Council on the GNB.

Currently, Matthew Selinske (Program Council Chair), Shaili Johri (SCB Marine Program Representative), and John Cigliano (Treasurer) are serving on the Global Network Board for the Programs Council. 

Regional Council Representation

The Regional Council holds three seats on the Global Network Board, where it represents the interests of all the Society’s Regions. GNB representatives include Regional Representatives who may, or may not, also be serving as Regional Representatives on the Regional Council. Regions will be chosen to serve on the GNB on a rotational basis for one-year terms, with Oceania, Asia, and LACA serving at the same time and North America, Africa, and Europe serving at the same time.

Currently, the Oceania, Asia and LACA Region representatives are serving on the GNB: Koustubh Sharma (Asia Region), Micha Jackson (Oceania Region) and Karla Pelz Serrano (LACA Region). When their term ends, a representative from each of these three Regions: North America, Africa and Europe, will rotate on to the Global Network Board. 

Term Lengths

Officers: Elected Regional Council Officers (Chair and Secretary) serve one year terms. Elected Program Council Officers (Chair, Treasurer, Global Program Representative) represent the Program Council on the Global Network Board for two years. Officers may not serve consecutive terms.

Regional Representatives: Regional Representatives serve one-year terms, and may be renominated by their groups for up to three consecutive terms.